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Catalogue Reference:CAB/23/18
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LIU..
CONCLUSIONS of a Meeting of the Cabinet held In Mr Tionap
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*Phe Prime liinlstee (-in the Chair),
Hi ttit Hon.-A. B b i w Law.:
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jj The Ri^ht Hon. Sari Guffson of
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- Kedleston, K , 0 , , 0 . 0 . , 1
lord Privy Seal.
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pis Right Hen. A*J.Balfoux% 0.&l..,M.'i?.J
for Foreign Affairs.
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lord President of the Council.
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I The Riglit Hon. visoount siilner,
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Secretary '
She Bight hoiii A^iipoerlain, M.P., ?
m-!,--: .,i?ic^ht
f?on* Lord Bir&enheed*
lord Chancellor.
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f The Sishht Hon. h h
0*sure hill. ?..
Secretary of ntat e for War andh
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Air.
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fion. E.3.Shortt, tCC . , . J
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Secretary of State for Home
a The night Hon. h.S.55ont.ar*u
Affairs.
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Secretary of State for. India,
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ihe Rir.ht Hon. fJ. Lon^ ' Li.?,,
First Lord of the Admiralty.
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1 ion. Sir ft. Geddea, G.C1L
0 * . M * F . , Minister of
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The follo^inn w
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"Right Hon. Sir.Hobert Borne,
K , 3 . , K . C . , Minister of
Labour,
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slight Ron. Lord'Lee of F&refcam,
President of the -Board- cf
Art r i. eo It ur e a rid Fiaheri e**
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The Right Hon. A. Illingworth,
Pbettsaet er-General.
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Lieut.-Colonel Sir M.P.A.Hanfcey, G.G.D., Secretary.
**
Nfll
(1) With reference to Cabinet 3 (19), Minute 5, the
Cabinet resumed their discussion on the.subject of Out-of­
"vforjs. Donation.
In addition to the Me.iaprandu.ra by the Minister
of labour (Paoer G.P.-S4), which had been under discussion
at the previous Meetings, they had before them Memoranda by;
the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Paper C P . - 6 2 ) , stating
six facts bearing on the subject under consideration, and
oy the First Lord of the Admiralty (Paper 0,P.-69),
During the discussion it was recalled that the Chan­
eel lor of the Exchequer, on October ft9th, in the course of
a review of the national prospects in regard to finance,
had informed the House of Commons that the' ordinary civil
Out-of-vforit Donation would come to an. end on "-oveober 24th,
,nd
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*if it is renewed, it will be - the act of the
House, and the responsibility will rest with
the House". (Harvard. Vol.i?,0. 0.415.)
In view ef this announcement the Cabinet caise to the
,on
That it would not be right to -continue the
Out-of-SFork Donation to civilians generally,
unless exceptional conditions, such %s could
not at present be foreseen, arose.
In order to make provision for the Dockyard men, the
To approve in principle the Admiralty scheme
(jnpi-s''AVT/
discharges, as descrihed in
-the Minutes "of t be" last ^Meeting,'sub ject to
its feasibility being agreed to by a Committee
The Prime Minister,
The Chancellor of the-Exchequer,
The First Lord of the Admiralty,
that is to say, the Ministers principally
concerned in the Deputation from the Royal
Dockyard towns, which had waited on the
Prime Minister on the previous day.
The cost of this scheme is estimated by the
Admiralty at £450,000 for four months.
It waa decided —­
u fiat t:!e rate of trie Out-of-*?oJ*.\S. Donation to
forraer members of the Eo^al Navy Ariav arid
Fbval Air Porde should hA ­
20/- a week for men. and
15/- a week, for women.
It was further decided that
-
The Allowances -for Children should he can­
celled,, although, of course, the cancellation
of Children^ Allowances would.not apply to
Finally4 it was decided
—
That the annbun cement of these:decisions
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Since the decisions on the various heads of the
thpe/mployment Scheme are spread through the.:.Minutes of three
-
Meetings of the Cabinet, and the earlier decisions have in
seme oases been superseded by later ones, they are summarised
be lev;
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a f?!' c le : ­
fa) The policy of he Government is to introduce
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ouiploy eps? employed, and. the St at - shall con-?
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tjr-eparhd to stand or fall'by this;.
As a
matter of -nf''v"'iele* Such ext-ehslbhs of the
Chit-of-Worlt Ponation Scheme as the present
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framed in such svanner as net to prejudice
(b) The extensions of the Gui-of-Work Ponation
63Sf i"enc ' and temporary arrange sent to meet ­
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the exceptional conditions produced by the .
War and toforldireover the period reouired
to brinrt the Pneraployment Insurance Scheme
into operation. Their announcement must be
accompanied by a statement that the Unera- '
-oleeaasnt Insurance Scheme' is being pushed
on as rabidly as possible *
(o) The issue of the .0ut-of--?ork Donation to
Ma-vy.-. Army j and Royal' Air Force shall be
continued after November 34-th. at the rate of
"SO/- a. week to men, and IS/- a week to wonion.
(&) ?he. Allowance for Children shall be disoon­
tinued, but this, of course, will not apply
to members of the Royal iMavy, Artsy and
Royal Air Force receipting their Donation
for the first time.
(e) The O u t - o M o a Donation to civilians, other
than £ X sailors, soldiers and airmen, shall
cease on November 2-4 th. and shall not be
renewed unless unforeseen circumstances of
sreat urgency arise.
(f) In order to provide against extensive unemploy­
me ni ih the ^^o^ai Dockyard towns, where it is
^pf^pi sed tliitt exeunttohii dondiiihhs r,Mv-ii
posed oy t*he Admiralty*­
(i) To suspend all discharges for four
months, at an estimated cost of
,£450,000,
(ii) To brinr forward necessary and im­
Li'fht Cruisers, which, though profit­
and advantageous to the Mavv and
the areat financial pressure.
(iii) To introduce throughout the Poyal
s ahe P
svstet! of drbooinp one or
'"'Vi wi'it't i nd in one rat ion of this scheme,
however, to be conditional en approval,
as to its feasibility and desirability,
by the following members of the Cabinet,
vfhc are engaged in negotiations with a
Deputation'frorj) the PeyalDoehyard towns:­
,
(2) The Cabinet bad, before them a Memorandum by the
Secretary of State for the Colonies, dealing ^ith the
affairs of Malta, covering also a report by the Parliament-*'
ary Under Secretary of State and a despatch from the Governor
(Paper .0.?.-831?).
In these documents certain changes and , "
developixfenta were poaonftaended in the Constitution of the
:
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tisoanai. had b8^o?e thsat Memor$kn'&& -by the- Sinister
of Labour (Paper C.P.-43), and the Secretary of State for
iVar (Paper C.P.-53), on the Employment of Disabled ex, Service asen in the Post Office.
The issue placed before the Cabinet in these Memoran­
da was as to whether, in consequence of an agreement enteredb
into by the Post Office before the 3Rr (whereby 50 per cent *
of certain classes of vacancies in the Post Office are
*
reserved for oj^ professional sailors and soldiers), prefer­
enoe should be given to ejt sailors and soldiers of the
Pef?ular servicss ever men - who ^?ere not members of the pro­
feas.tonal Wavy and Army but had become disabled in the
present War.
Sir Maic-plsa Ramsay* s Cosaaitt-ee on the question \
of the Employment of Disabled Men in Government Departments
(whose Report is included with Paper G.T.-7889, approved b y
the -Sar Cabinet on August 13, 1919 -
War Cabinet 3IS, Minute
S) had recofiiratended that posts expresslv reserved for pro­
feeatonal sailors, soldiers and airmen should not be allo­
cated to disabled men when a qualified ex Regular sailor,
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soldier cr airman was available.
This point- of view was
developed in the Memorandum by the Secretary of State, for
War (Paper G.P.-55), in which it was pointed out that the
n?*oyv)i**a of these posts had been held out by the har. Office
f
as one of the strongest inducements- for enlistment in the
Army before the War.
The general feeling of the Cabinet was that it would-".'
not be right to take any course that ruled out disabled men,
or which gave preference to able-bodied men over disabled
men,
It was generally agreed, however, that among disabled
sen ex-Hegulags should have precedence.
Having regard to the fact, elicited during the die­
cue 3 ion, that eoase 3,000 disabled gyg-Regular Service men
are awaiting absorption
—
sailed to
following Parliament ary
one
a Fnst
a-'a answer to this
aarx%e
*.hs*t
th^t*f!
is
.ha former arrangement
(5) The attention of the Cabinet was called to the
following Parliamentary Question, put down on the Paper of
the house of Commons for Monday by Mr Floratio Bottosaley to
the Pri?ae Minister:­
"Mr Bottomley to aak the Prime Minister whether
it ia the fact, as stated.' in certain poster??
issued by the "Save the Children Fund*, that
the Government has agreed to give -SI for every
£1 raised by voluntary contributions for the
purpose of feeding.children inArmenia, GseehoSlovatsia, Poland, Austria, - South Russia and
Hungary, and, if so* under which Vote the
Government contribution will fail".
It was explained that a portion of the moneys allot­
t**d by the British Government to the relief measures, under­
taken and administered by the Supreme Economic Council,
had, at. the request of Lord Robert Cecil, who was at that
time the British Representative on the Supreise Economic Coun­
cil and is President of the *S&ve the Children Fund", been
allowed to be used for the purpose of raising; voluntary
contributions in the manner explained in the Question.
was - understood that similar action was being taken in
France.
The Secretary was instructed to send the
Question to the Treasury for the wspara­
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