§ Mr. C. BATHURSTasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that at the Barnwood House Hospital for the Insane, near Gloucester, 145 persons are employed as nurses, as attendants, as gardeners, and in other capacities, at wages of less than £160 a year; that the practice of the committee has always been to provide medical and other attendance during illness for all employés resident in the hospital, but that outdoor employés, while continuing to enjoy their wages without deduction during illness, have generally themselves made arrangements for their medical attendance; and that, in the event of any employé becoming unfit for service through confirmed sickness, age, or infirmity, the committee, in pursuance of a permissive regulation, grant to such employé a superannuation annuity not exceeding in amount two-thirds of his former salary and allowances out of the income of a fund of £70,000 vested in trustees for such purpose; and whether, under the above circumstances, if the above regulation is made obligatory and if the above trust fund is sufficiently increased to meet out of its income all claims for sickness, invalidity, and pensions without requiring any contribution from the employés, the hospital will be brought within Part II (b) of the First Schedule to the National Insurance Bill and thereby excepted from the provisions of Part I. of the Bill?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEI am not aware whether employment at the Barnwood 851W House Hospital for the Insane is employment under a local or other public authority. If it is, then, in the event of the course suggested being taken, on the assumption that the provision made for the employés under the terms of their employment is on the whole not less favourable than the benefits conferred by the National Insurance, and can be certified to be so by the Insurance Commissioners, the case would apparently come under Part II. (b) of the First Schedule.