Mr Thomas Naylor: The last three words of Clause 2 are, "between masters and masters." There is no definition of "masters" in Clause 11. I am sorry that the word has crept into the Bill. I intended to move to substitute "employers," but unfortunately I was detained and arrived too late to do so. I hope the Minister will consider it of sufficient importance to make the change on Report and to substitute...
Mr Thomas Naylor: It is true that he can be a master in his own house, but he is not a master, in this sense, in the factory.
Mr Thomas Naylor: If an employer at the end of the 18 months' period feels a desire to eliminate a trade union practice, we may take it that he is not privileged under this Bill to report to the Minister. Would it be correct to say that in such an event the usual methods of negotiation between trade unions and employers will be followed and that these will take the usual course?
Mr Thomas Naylor: Who is to initiate the legal proceedings in the event of the verdict going against the employer?
Mr Thomas Naylor: Will my right hon. Friend answer the question I asked just now?
Mr Thomas Naylor: There is evidently a great misunderstanding as to the real meaning of this Bill. It has been assumed by all hon. Members who have spoken up to now, and even by you, Sir, just recently, that this is a Bill to prolong the life of Parliament by 12 months. That is not in agreement with the wording of the Bill. If I understood the Home Secretary correctly, he said that the effect of the Bill was...
Mr Thomas Naylor: I have listened with very great pleasure to the speech made by the hon. Member for Duddeston (Mr. Simmonds). I could not help feeling that he based one or two general criticisms of workmen upon cases which were merely individual. We can all agree with the hon. Member for Eye (Mr. Granville) that the immediate need in the industry is the maximum production and the introduction and maintenance...
Mr Thomas Naylor: Will the inquiry extend to the question of the desirability of stopping the publication in the Press of prices of gilt-edged securities?
Mr Thomas Naylor: On a point of Order, Mr. Speaker. Would it not be more in accord with the constitution of both Houses of Parliament if the initiative in matters of this kind came from another place rather than from this House?
Mr Thomas Naylor: Has the question of the drainage of surface shelters been considered? In the recent rains those shelters have become very damp, and in most of them there is no provision for draining off the rain water.
Mr Thomas Naylor: Some of us cannot sleep now unless the guns are firing.
Mr Thomas Naylor: asked the Secretary of State for War whether he is now in a position to state the result of his inquiries into the conditions prevailing at the Auxiliary Military Pioneers' camp at Nits-hill, Glasgow?
Mr Thomas Naylor: Can the hon. Gentleman say whether the inquiries extended to the rank and file of the regiment as well as to the officers responsible for the administration?
Mr Thomas Naylor: I am afraid that at this stage of the discussion there can be very little left that has not already been said, and therefore I need not explain that to avoid repetition I shall not detain the Committee, as we are all anxious to get into the Division Lobby and record our vote against this Clause. When the ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer introduced the Purchase Tax in the earlier Budget he said...
Mr Thomas Naylor: I thank you for that direction, Colonel Clifton Brown; but I was really dealing with the actual wording of this Clause. I am trying, somewhat imperfectly perhaps, but diligently and to the best of my ability, to get some explanation from the Financial Secretary as to the application of the words in this Bill relating to purchases made from a wholesale merchant or manufacturer. I was pointing...
Mr Thomas Naylor: I share, as many Members of the Committee will share, the regret of the Chancellor of the Exchequer that an agreement has not been found possible to enable us to secure the best possible results from this Bill. I note that the right hon. Gentleman said that he hesitated to disagree with the views expressed by my hon. Friends in favour of this Amendment. I will not inquire too closely into...
Mr Thomas Naylor: Perhaps the wife of the Parliamentary Private Secretary will compare notes with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and come to a decision as to whether she will pay 150 guineas for a coat or buy a cheaper one at 100 guineas. The hon. Gentleman can take his choice of the two alternatives. I have lost all hope as far as the Chancellor of the Exchequer is concerned. I never knew a Minister of the...
Mr Thomas Naylor: I would like to know whether the so-called high rates of wages to which the hon. Member refers are not the subject of agreement between the employers' organisations and the trades unions?
Mr Thomas Naylor: In view of what the hon. Member has said, may I ask whether the workman is not entitled to receive the higher market rate, independent of any trade agreement, if he can secure it because labour in that department is scarce? That is to say, is he not entitled to reap the advantage of scarcity of labour in the market? Would the hon. Member agree that, if the workman is prevented from earning...
Mr Thomas Naylor: I have just heard your decision, Mr. Deputy-Speaker, with regard to the purpose of this Resolution and the extent to which Members may be allowed to speak upon it. You mentioned that there would be a further opportunity to speak on the question of the tax on newspapers and books when the question of machinery came under consideration. I am subject to your Ruling, but I would like to make this...