§ Sir R. Glynasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he is satisfied that scales of wages based on a Resolution of this House on the 10th March, 1909, should still remain the determining standard of pay in 1939 for civilian employés in Government establishments; and whether he will now consider setting up a commission of inquiry composed of trades union representatives and other persons acquainted with the facts and circumstances that govern industrial rates of pay so that a report may be made to the appropriate Departments of State without delay in order that existing discrepancies of remuneration for skilled and unskilled civilian workers in Government employment may be brought into better comparison with normal payments in industry and thus eliminate many serious anomalies?
§ Captain CrookshankI see no reason to modify the general basis under which the conditions of service of industrial employés in Government establishments have for many years been fixed in accordance with the principle embodied in the Fair Wages Resolution. There is ample machinery on Whitley Council lines for the settlement of any matters concerning the wages and conditions of Government employés by discussion between representatives of the Government and of the employés concerned, and I feel sure that it is better to leave the solution of any alleged anomalies or discrepancies to this well-established machinery.