HC Deb 12 December 1911 vol 32 cc2153-4
Mr. ALFRED BIGLAND

I beg to ask the Home Secretary a question of which I have given him private notice: Whether he was correctly informed in stating, in reply to a supplementary question yesterday, that the number of employés in Messrs. Cammell Laird's yards was about 2,500; and, if so, will he now state the correct number?

Mr. McKENNA

Through the courtesy of the hon. Member, I received a telegram from the firm, in which they state that the number of their employés is 7,500. The figure given to me was, as I told the House yesterday, 2,500. I am very glad to hear from the hon. Member the true figures should be 7,500, which renders the proportion of accidents, not as stated by my hon. Friend below the Gangway—one in two each year—but something more like one in fifteen each year.

Mr. WILLIAM CROOKS

Having regard to the fact that the inspector did not know the number of employés, are we quite sure we have now got the proper number of accidents.

Mr. McKENNA

Oh, yes. It was not the duty of the inspector to inform us of the number of employés. The figures were obtained through the office.

Mr. WEDGWOOD

Does the right hon. Gentleman believe that those 7,000 employés are the whole of the employés of Messrs. Cammell Lairds' yards, and whether the accidents are only shipyard accidents?

Mr. McKENNA

I cannot say any more on this question without notice. I have given the figures as they were supplied to me.