§ 11. Mr. W. Brownasked the Minister of Labour how far the civil servant acting as Secretary of the National Arbitration Tribunal, or the members of the tribunal itself, are responsible for the content and the form of awards issued by the Tribunal?
§ Mr. BevinThe content and the form of awards of the National Arbitration Tribunal are the collective responsibility of the Tribunal as constituted for the hearing of the particular case. The Secretary is an officer of the Tribunal and has no responsibility for the decisions reached.
§ Mr. BrownWould it follow from those two replies to the last two Questions that Press criticisms of the civil servant who acted as Secretary of the Arbitation Tribunal whose award was in issue in the Barrow strike—first, that he declined to give an interview, and second that the terms of the award were lacking in clarity—were wholly unjustified?
§ Mr. BevinYes, I saw the interview in the Press. I thought it was a great waste of man-power to send a journalist to interview the man and a great waste of paper which seamen had brought from overseas to print it.