§ Sir CLEMENT KINLOCH-COOKEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that non-continuous naval shipwrights are debarred from entering into the new conditions of service, and that in certain cases after working under the new scheme for three months these men have been ordered to revert to the former rating and repay the extra money received; and whether he can see his way to remedy what appears to be a hardship to a class of men who are recognised experts in the various departments of their work?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAThe new system and rates of pay apply to continuous service shipwrights only. No case has been reported in which a non-continuous shipwright has been inadvertently placed on the new scale. But if overpayments have been made in error, they would have to be recovered in the usual way. Non-continuous service shipwright ratings, of whom there are twenty-eight now serving, are entered under a temporary engagement for local purposes, and it is not considered that they have a claim to be placed on the same footing as continuous service men, who have different conditions of service.