§ Viscount DUNCANNONasked the Minister of Labour whether Trade Boards, when fixing minimum wages in trades where from time immemorial it has been the custom to provide board, and in many cases lodging, as part of the remuneration of the worker, were under any obligation to take this into consideration when fixing such minimum wage; and, if not, is he aware of the apprehension with which employers view the fixing of minimum wages without consideration of such value by a Board on which they have only a minority representation?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAThe Trade Board Acts do not prescribe the bases on which a Trade Board is to fix minimum rates, but I have no doubt that a Trade Board in considering what were appropriate minimum rates would take into consideration so important a factor as that to which my Noble Friend refers. I would add, in case there is any misapprehension, that a Trade Board is constituted of representatives of employers and of workers in equal numbers together with a small number of independent persons of standing appointed by me.