§ Mr. HANNONasked the Minister of Labour why the Order on proposals M 25 and M 31, passed by the Brush and Broom Trade Board on the 28th February and the 1st March, was not issued until so late that the rates of wages laid down therein could not become effective until the week beginning 20th March in place of the week beginning 13th March as proposed; whether he is aware that a resolution containing a suggestion as to a sliding scale was unanimously passed by the Brush and Broom Trade Board for immediate issuing as a proposal and has not yet been published; and if he can 2056W explain the delay which is postponing unnecessarily a measure considered by workers and employers alike to be for the benefit of trade?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAThe Board submitted the rates to me for confirmation on 3rd March and suggested 13th March as the date from which they should come into operation. It was impossible within this short period to consider the Board's determinations and, when I had decided to confirm them, to arrange for the printing and distribution of the notices; and I therefore specified 20th March as the operative date. I may remind my hon. Friend that the Act allows me a month for the consideration of rates. As regards the second part of the question, I received on the 15th March a request from the Board for my consent to the issue of proposals to vary rates on a sliding scale. These proposals are among the first of the kind to be adopted by a Trade Board; they needed very careful consideration, and the work of printing and distribution is heavy. The notices should, however, be in the hands of employers to-morrow.