§ 24. Major-General Sir Alfred Knoxasked the Secretary of State for War how many soldiers are now employed by farmers for work on the land; whether he is satisfied that such employment does not interfere with military training; and whether he will put a stop to this practice, in view of the fact that there are numbers of unemployed men registered in Employment Exchanges who could do the work, and for whom farmers applied but cancelled their applications when they ascertained that soldier labour would cost them less?
§ Mr. Hore-BelishaI cannot give the numbers, as these are left to the discretion of the local military authorities. One of the conditions of the employment is that it does not interfere with military training. Soldier labour has been made available at the request of the Ministry of Agriculture, owing to the shortage of civilian labour in certain districts. The farmer who employs it is required to pay to public funds the statutory wage which he would have to pay if the men were civilians. It is part of the arrangement that soldier labour will not be demanded if the Employment Exchanges are able to supply civilian labour.
§ Sir A. KnoxDoes not my right hon. Friend agree that if we are trying to turn out soldiers in three months it is essential that they should train the whole time, especially if they have to compete with 149 people who have been trained intensively for something like two years; and that it is essential to keep them on their job and not to let them go off into side-lines?
§ Mr. Hore-BelishaYes, Sir. I agree in principle with my hon. and gallant Friend, but agriculture was in a difficulty and an appeal was made to us to help. It has been done in other countries.
§ Sir A. KnoxCould not labour be obtained from the Employment Exchanges?
§ Mr. Hore-BelishaNo, Sir. It was part of the arrangement that this labour would not be so used if the Employment Exchanges were able to supply sufficient men.
§ Mr. Benjamin SmithWould the right hon. Gentleman see that the money earned by the soldiers, which he says is paid into a public fund, is paid to the men who do the work? If they are to be soldiers let them be soldiers.
§ Mr. Hore-BelishaThey are better off by the arrangement which I have described.
§ Mr. HicksDoes not the right hon. Gentleman think it is desirable, and not only in the agricultural industry, that where civilian labour is required to carry on the economic life of the country, the Reserved List of occupations should be reconsidered, instead of men being called up into the Army first and then being put to work?
§ Colonel Baldwin-WebbIs this arrangement of a temporary nature to cover the harvest period, or is it to go on indefinitely?
§ Mr. Hore-BelishaIt is temporary to assist in a particular difficulty. In reply to the supplementary question of the hon. Member for East Woolwich (Mr. Hicks), the men are protected by the Reserved List of occupations from enlistment. If they are known to be on the Reserved List we have returned men from the Territorial Army who have been previously engaged and who are now required as key men.