§ Mr. WADSWORTHasked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that the Coal Mines Minimum Wage Act, 1912, provides that nothing in that Act shall prejudice the operation of any agreement entered into or custom existing before its passing for the payment of wages at a rate higher than the minimum rate settled under the Act, and that some of the district rules in some of the districts state that, in ascertaining the earnings of coal getters or their workmen paid by the piece, there shall not be deducted from their gross earnings, for their trimmers, fillers, or others working under them, a wage more than 1s. in excess of the minimum rate of wages fixed for those classes of workmen, respectively; and whether he proposes to take any action in the matter, seeing that numbers of men have been reduced in their wages by the operation of these rules?
Mr. BUXTONThe Board of Trade have no power to give an authoritative opinion260W upon the legal question whether or not such a rule as that referred to by my hon. Friend is ultra vires, but I understand that in South Yorkshire the matter has been referred to Sir Edward Clarke, the chairman of the Joint District Board, who has stated that, after careful consideration, he is of opinion that the rule, as it stands, is not ultra vires, and is a reasonable and proper rule.