Mr. C. WASONasked the Secretary for Scotland if his attention has been directed to the complaint of the parish council of Stromness, namely, that a firm of contractors, Topham, Jones, and Railton, of 11, Great George Street, Westminster, undertaking contracts have imported a number of decrepit men hardly able to walk from the steamer to their lodgings, absolutely unfit for either the work or the climate, and that these decrepits have become a charge on a parish already heavily burdened, and that the contractors repudiate all responsibility; and whether he proposes to take any action on this complaint?
§ Mr. MUNROMy attention has been drawn to the complaint referred to. I have made inquiries, and am informed that there is no ground for the suggestion868W that the labourers imported to Stromness include a number of decrepit men hardly able to walk to their lodgings. I am informed that there have only been from six to eight cases when the assistance of the parish council has, owing to special conditions of illness or for some other reason, been required during the past three years, and that in this period some thousands of men have been imported. The contractors take great care in the selection of men, and any men who have been certified unfit have been sent south at the expense of the Admiralty. I have had no complaint from the parish council, and on the facts before me and keeping in view the benefit accruing to the community from the contracts in question, I am not prepared to take further action.