MR. WEBSTERI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will give Returns of the inward and outward tonnage of shipping at the Port of London for the past 12 months, and for the 12 months immediately preceding the London dock strike; and whether the number of dock labourers employed for casual work has decreased since that strike; and, if so, to what extent?
§ MR. MUNDELLAThe hon. Member will find a practical answer to the first part of his question on pages 362-3 of the Annual Statement of Navigation for 1892, which shows that the total tonnage entering at the Port of London in 1888 was 13,115,000 tons, and in 1892, 13,565,000 tons. The clearances in the same years (omitting the clearances coastwise in ballast) were 7,498,000 tons in 1888, and 8,205,000 tons in 1892. I scarcely think that it is necessary to compile a Return for months other than those comprised in a calendar year. As regards the last part of the question, a re-organisation of the work at the docks managed by the London and India Docks Joint Committee has largely increased the proportion of permanent to casual labourers. It is impossible to say, arithmetically, to what extent, for the statistics now available do not extend so far back as 1888.