asked the Minister of Labour if he is aware that at the Hull Employment Exchanges unemployment benefit is only paid to dockers on Fridays, and that, in consequence, a man who has obtained work on a Friday, but has money due to him on his unemployment insurance, has to wait a week, until the following Friday, before he can draw it, although the proceeds of the one day's work which prevents him attending the Exchange on Friday, when money due to him would be normally paid, may be the only earnings he has been able to obtain in that time; and whether he can explain why it is not possible to pay unemployment insurance money to dockers on Saturday mornings as well as on Fridays, so as to obviate this hardship?

I am not aware that any difficulty has arisen at Hull Employment Exchange in connection with the payment of benefit to dockers who are unable to attend for payment on Fridays, but I should be glad to investigate any specific case that the hon. and gallant Member has in mind.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that, while there may be no clerical difficulty, the men who work on the day on which their money should be paid have to wait another week before they can get it? That is the difficulty.

That, I think, should not be the case, because the Exchanges are kept open late on Friday on purpose to meet this difficulty, but, if that does not meet the situation, perhaps the hon. and gallant Member will communicate with me.

Is there any reason why the Exchanges should not be open on Saturday morning for the men who work late on ships?

There is always a great deal of work passing through an Exchange, so that the reorganisation of hours and the change of days, always constitute a difficulty but, if the hon. and gallant Member satisfies me that there is a real case, I will go into it.

where the doctors may work until 7 o'clock on Friday—and other workers, too—is it not a hardship if they cannot get their money before the following Friday; and cannot some arrangement be made to meet the situation?

The times of payment have to be kept together; otherwise, the administrative difficulties would be so great that it would really constitute a dislocation of the system and cause an inordinate increase in the expenses of administration. That would be to the disadvantage of the insured persons who have to pay for it.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that, if men employed by private firms cannot get their money on Friday, they get it on the following day, or Monday; and why cannot the right hon. Gentleman's Department do the same thing?