§ Mr. GRUNDYasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that, as a result of the inquiries made into the pay and conditions of service of the men employed by the Timber Supply Department at Tunbridge Wells, the reason for these men, whose wages have been reduced from £2 5s. to £2, receiving no war bonus is because they are not on muni- 1854W tion work; whether, in view of the fact that the present cost of living is felt by all and that practically every class of worker is receiving bonuses, he will again consider the advisability of conceding a bonus to these men; whether he is aware that the local rate for similar labour is not less than 1s. per hour for a 48-hour week, whereas the men employed under his Department receive less than 10d. per hour for a fifty-one hour week, and have to travel one and a half miles to work; and whether further inquiries will be made with a view to the pay and conditions of employment of these men being raised to the level of local labour?
§ Sir A. GEDDESThe Timber Controller has already advised the hon. Member, in the course of correspondence, that the rate of wages which is being paid by the Department to the men in question is the rate advised by the local Labour Exchange as the correct standard rate ruling in the district for such labour. The case for further inquiries as suggested by the hon. Member in his concluding paragraph would therefore appear not to arise.