Mr. T. WILSONfurther asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office if he is aware that the workmen employed at the Pitt Corner and Hursley Park military camps are allowed 9d. per day lodging money, plus ½d. an hour and one-hour, respectively, for walking timer whilst the men employed at the Brockton and Milford camps, near Stafford, which are under the control of Messrs. Trollope and Sons and Colls and Sons, receive only 6d. per day lodging money and no allowance for walking time, although many of them are compelled to live four or five miles from the camps; and whether he will take steps to place these men on an equality with men at the first-mentioned camps?
§ Mr. FORSTERThe War Department agents at Pitt Corner and Hursley Park, Winchester, pay men 9d. a day lodging money, and extra for "walking time" according to the distance they have to come. The agents at Brockton, near Stafford, do not pay lodging money nor for "walking time," but the men are paid 6d. railway fare if they elect to come from Stafford by rail; or, if they prefer it, they may have free lodging in camp. No complaints have been made to any War Office officials. The arrangement for wages is left to the War Department agents, who in these cases are firms of established reputation. It must be pointed out that the circumstances of Winchester are different from those, of Stafford. In the former case practically all the labour has to be brought from London, or come under the London rules, whereas in the latter case local labour and rules obtain.