Lieut.-Colonel W. GUINNESSasked the Under-Secretary of State to the Air Ministry who is responsible for fixing the rate of wages paid to labourers in the Orford and Aldeburgh aerodromes, East Suffolk; whether, whilst the Agricultural Wages Board have fixed 36s. 6d. as the rate of weekly wage in that district, the rates for unskilled labour at those aerodromes is 70s. and over, and that the hours worked at the aerodromes are shorter than those worked on the farms; and whether, in view of the approaching harvest, when every man's labour in the harvest field will be of advantage to the nation, he will either reduce the aerodrome wages to the level fixed by the Wages Board or release the men for work in the harvest field?
§ Major-General SEELYThe rates of wages paid to the labourers at Orfordnesa and Aldeburgh aerodromes are those fixed by Award No. 2197, dated 20th August, 1918, of the Committee on Production. Under this the wages of an unskilled man for a week of fifty hours in this district are £2 18s. 7d.; and it is possible for an unskilled man to receive a maximum of 71s. 1d. a week if he lives more than three miles from his work, the additional 12s. 6d. being an allowance for walking time. The hours worked on the aerodromes are the normal hours for the building trade throughout the United Kingdom,i.e., fifty hours a week; and the Air Ministry, with other Government Departments, are bound to pay the rates laid down by the Ministry of Labour. I am unable to deal with the question of the wages and hours of agricultural labourers, but I can, I think, meet my hon. and gallant Friend's point as regards the harvest. There are only seven men employed at Aldeburgh and sixty at Orfordness—the latter being retained only until certain material has been cleared away, which should be within three or four weeks. There should, therefore, be very few men on these aerodromes when the harvest begins, and if the work does not progress as fast as is 636W anticipated instructions will be given for any agricultural workers to be released for work on the land, retaining only bona fide building trade labourers.