HC Deb 28 June 1910 vol 18 cc911-3W
Sir JOHN ROLLESTON

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that it is the practice of the management of the Government works at Enfield and Waltham to lay off workmen from time to time, namely, to discharge

Mr. BIRRELL

presented the following statement of offences (agrarian or otherwise) in which firearms were used from 1st January to 1st June, 1910, with results of police proceedings:—

them subject to a summary notice to return if required, and that these workmen leave other employers that they have; found without notice and to the inconvenience of those employers; and whether, in the interest of the men, he will take steps to provide that the service they can offer, when discharged by the Government, should not be subjected to these summary demands to report themselves if required to return and to leave their engagements without notice?

Mr. HALDANE

It is not the practice of the management of the Ordnance Factories to discharge workmen subject to a summary notice to return if required, and no case such as is described in the question is known to the management. If a man is temporarily suspended on account of insufficiency of work, his name is retained on the books, and a notice is sent to him when further work is available. He is not ordered to rejoin on any given date, and it rests with him whether he rejoins at all, and if he does, what arrangements he makes with any employer with whom he has obtained work.