§ Mr. RAFFANasked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in selling by auction the shares in Conrad W. Schmidt, Limited, hitherto held by alien enemies, he will instruct the Public Trustee to make, as conditions of the sale, that the business shall not be closed down; that British employés who have served this firm for years shall be retained in employment; that any privileges they may have acquired in such service shall be continued to them; that the payments now being made by the firm to twenty-six married employés who are serving in the Army shall not be stopped or reduced during the period of the War; and that the guarantee of re-employment on their return given to thirty-four enlisted unmarried employés shall be carried out by the new proprietors?
§ Mr. PRETYMANThe sale of the shares of Conrad W. Schmidt, Limited, will not relieve the company from any obligations it may have undertaken to its employés, and I do not think it necessary that the suggested provisions should be made conditions of the sale of the shares.