Mr. T. WILSONasked the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he is aware that the wage now being paid to labourers in the dockyard, Gibraltar, is only 27s. per week inclusive; that at the present time, in making the necessary exchange into Spanish money, the men lose, approximately, 6s. per week; and whether he will make an allowance to meet this loss, as is done in the case of the men sent to Gibraltar from home dockyards?
§ Mr. LONGThe minimum rate of wages at present paid to locally-entered labourers at Gibraltar (whether Spanish or British) is 27s. a week, as stated in the first part of my hon. Friend's question. The wages are paid in sterling, and, in so far as purchases have to be made in local currency, there is at present a loss on exchange if the normal rate of exchange be taken as 25 pesetas to the £ although this loss would not amount to so much as 6s.a week in the cases in question. The cases of the workmen who have been sent from England under agreement for temporary service at Gibraltar are different from those of the locally-engaged employés; and I may add that the exchange factor has been taken into account in assessing the war advances in wages for the locally-engaged workpeople.