§ Major HORE-BELISHAasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty how many established ropemakers and how many hired ropemakers, respectively, there were on the signing of the Armistice and how many there are at the present date; how many established ropemakers there are now working as labourers in each of the Royal dockyards in which rope is made; whether he is aware that established ropemakers in the Chatham Dockyard, for whom no ropemaking work could be found, were allowed to draw the same money as they did when employed in the ropery, whereas the established rope-makers in Devonport Dockyard, now employed as labourers, have been compelled to suffer a reduction in their pay; 1345W whether there is any prospect of their services being required again as rope-makers; whether he can see his way to pay them the money to which their skill as ropemakers entitles them; what are the wages of established ropemakers as compared with those of a labourer; and whether there is any precedent for paying skilled established men the wages of ordinary labourers?
§ Mr. HODGESThere were 49 established ropemakers and 50 hired rope-makers in November, 1918. Thirty-three established ropemakers are employed at present; there are now no hired ropemakers. No established ropemakers are now working as labourers in His Majesty's dockyards, Chatham and Devonport, but 11 men formerly employed as established ropemakers are now engaged as skilled labourers in the latter dockyard. I am not aware that established ropemakers, in Chatham Dockyard, for whom no rope-making work could be found, were allowed to draw the same money as they did when employed in the ropery; so far as is known all established ropemakers at Chatham Dockyard are, and always have been, employed or ropemaking only. The services of redundant established ropemakers at Devonport Dockyard will be required again in that capacity as soon as Fleet requirements necessitate increased output from the ropery, but until that time it is not possible to pay them wages higher than warranted by the work upon which actually employed. The wages of an established ropemaker amount to 54s. a week; a labourer's pay is 43s. a week. A precedent cannot be given for employing redundant established skilled men as labourers or skilled labourers. These men had, and still have, the option of being dealt with according to precedent which would be to discharge them on reduction with such allowances as they may be eligible for under the Superannuation Acts.