§ Mr. ERNEST LAMBasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, in view of the fact that the establishment in His Majesty's dockyards has been suspended, and that the hired men engaged as skilled labourers, employed working machine tools, not being on the establishment, are thus not qualifying for pensions, he can see his way to revise the decision, recently issued by the Admiralty, and grant such men the nominal status of machinists, without necessarily any addition to their pay, in order that they may thereby become eligible for membership of the great engineering trades unions, and thus provide for their old age?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe matter was carefully considered quite recently, and a way cannot be seen at present to revise the decision which was issued in the Admiralty letter of the 4th instant.