§ Colonel WEDGWOODasked the Minister of Labour whether, especially in view of the £8,000,000 back pay bonus paid to miners now in employment, any steps are contemplated to increase the compensation pay of injured miners whose present pay is based on lower and pre-war standards?
§ Mr. SHORTTMy right hon. Friend has asked me to reply to this question. An Act was passed in 1917 by agreement with the representatives of the employers and the workers which provided for an increase of 25 per cent. in all cases of total disablement for the period of the War and six months after. This agreement was made to apply to all past cases in which compensation was still running as well as to future cases, and it was a condition of the agreement that it should be regarded as a final settlement for the period of the War. My predecessor was approached on the question of a further increase by the Miners' Federation last November, and it was arranged that in view of the condition referred to the Federation should approach the Employers' Association. In the absence of any agreement between the parties, it would be difficult for the Government to re-open the matter; but I hope the proposed Commission of Inquiry into the working of the Act will be appointed very shortly now, and I will ask them to give the whole question their early consideration.