§ Sir JOHN BENNasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that the naval plumbers and plumbers' mates have not received any increase of pay since 1867, whereas during the same period several advances have been granted to the plumbers in the Royal dockyards; and whether he will take steps to adjust any disparity of the wages of the plumbers in the two branches of His Majesty's Service?
§ Mr. McKENNAI would refer my hon. Friend to the full statement made on behalf of the Admiralty in reply to a question from the Member for Portsmouth on 16th April, 1907. The Admiralty remain of opinion that there is no reason for reconsidering the position and pay of men holding plumbers' ratings in the Royal 199W Navy. The work and conditions of life of the naval rating are entirely dissimilar from a dockyard man's. The former lives on board and is victualled free, and no real comparison can be made between his scale of pay and the wages of the civilian workman in the dockyard.