Mr Charles White: Will the right hon. Gentleman answer the last paragraph as to whether he is prepared to receive a deputation on the subject?
Mr Charles White: 23. asked the Minister of Labour whether his attention has been called to the action of the D.P. Battery Company, Bakewell, who, when discharging men from their employ, almost invariably make complaints against them to the Employment Exchanges of misconduct; whether, in all these cases, the charges have been found by the court of referees to be quite unfounded; and whether, as in these cases...
Mr Charles White: In the majority of the cases was that so?
Mr Charles White: 82. asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that trade is being handicapped by the delays and damage caused by the examination and sampling of goods by the Customs authorities to ascertain whether such goods are liable to duty under the Safeguarding of Industries Act; and whether, to facilitate trade, he will take steps to ensure that the shipping documents and, if...
Mr Charles White: 106. asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he can explain on what grounds His Majesty's Customs make a charge for opening packages to ascertain whether the goods are liable to duty; and on what bases these charges are made?
Mr Charles White: If I bring a case to the notice of the hon. Gentleman will he reconsider it?
Mr Charles White: I beg to move, That, in the opinion of this House, the reductions now being made in the pensions of ex-service men and dependants are unwarranted and are creating serious hardships, and that a Select Committee be appointed forthwith to inquire into the procedure and the grounds upon which these reductions are made and into the administration of pensions generally. I make no apology for...
Mr Charles White: I am coming to that. I want to ask, What would have happened if she had not had a friend in this House, and I want to know, why did the right hon. Gentleman overrule the verdict given by the medical board at that hospital, unless he knew that they were wrong? I agree he gave the pension, but if it had not been fought in the manner it was, the probability is that to-day this woman would be...
Mr Charles White: I am aware that he was examined after that, and has had a pension allotted to him of 60 per cent. I am also aware that he is receiving treatment at the present time in a hospital or sanatorium, and that he is suffering from tuberculosis. Let me refer to another case. This is a matter for which I do not think the Pension Office can be blamed, but it is surely a matter that ought to receive...
Mr Charles White: I have said so. I know her perfectly well, and she has had to go out to service.
Mr Charles White: I agree that, after I had taken the case up, it was paid to her. But what I was complaining about was that this woman had to take 2s. 3d. a week out of £2 for her only son, who would have been her sole support, had he not gone into the Army and been wounded. Let me refer to another case, that of Mrs. D—, which I have brought to the right hon. Gentleman's notice more than once. She had two...
Mr Charles White: Your information, with all respect, is entirely wrong, because the man who lives there, her half-brother, does not get 30s. when he is in work, and he has been out of work for nearly three months. The son who is away gets very little and he is living at Mansfield. She has never had a single inquiry as to her circumstances for the past twelve months. I am prepared to bear that out in evidence,...
Mr Charles White: He does not know them all.
Mr Charles White: He does not mix among them. He knows very little about it.
Mr Charles White: I shall not withdraw.
Mr Charles White: During that time I was interrupted on three or four occasions by the Minister of Pensions.
Mr Charles White: I should like to support the Amendment, especially with the insertion of the word '"solely." We all know dozens of cases where a boy is the sole support of his widowed mother. It is not a bit of good unless the Minister accepts this, because the empty Benches across there will very soon be filled, or at any rate hon Members will come out from the subterranean passages and crowd into the Lobby...
Mr Charles White: Is there anyone more worthy of consideration than the widowed mother of a boy, such as many of us here know? Under this Bill the mother gets nothing. A man can live in adultery with a woman and the woman can get 5s. a week. If a man or boy has a widowed mother solely dependent on him she gets nothing at all. Surely this is a matter which must receive consideration from an intensely human...
Mr Charles White: This is the 15th time I have risen, and I have not been fortunate enough to catch Mr. Speaker's eye.
Mr Charles White: I quite agree, but at one time to-night there were only about 20 Members here and I was one of the 20. I will endeavour to obey your ruling, Sir, as to no repetition, although it is difficult, 'speaking so late in the Debate, not to repeat what has been said before. I want, however, to refer to what has been said by the hon. Member for Mossley (Mr. A. Hopkinson).
