§ 53. Mr. O'GRADYasked what steps the Government intend taking to bring to a speedy conclusion the present dispute in the transport industry of the Port London?
§ The PRIME MINISTERWe have during the last ten days done what we could to bring about the first step towards a settlement, namely, the meeting of persons who could speak for both parties to the dispute. We understand that interviews have followed which up to the present have not led to any definite result. 787 There appears to be no further step which at the moment the Government can usefully take.
§ Mr. O'GRADYHas the Board of Trade issued any instructions to its representatives upon the Port Authority to protest against the casualising of labour and the congestion in the Port, and to insist upon a meeting between the men on strike and the Port Authority?
§ The PRIME MINISTERThat ought to be addressed to the Board of Trade. I know nothing of that.
§ Mr. O'GRADYIn view of the unsatisfactory reply of the Prime Minister, I beg to give notice that I shall ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House at the end of Question Time.
§ Mr. CHIOZZA MONEYIs the Prime Minister aware that the re-export trade of the Port of London is being lost; that the re-exports went down £3,000,000 last month; that this class of trade, once it is lost, is not easily regained; and, in view of these facts, will he direct the attention of the Port Authority to the grave responsibility they are undertaking in refusing to meet the men?
§ The PRIME MINISTERI am fully alive to all the aspects, and they are very grave, of this dispute. I can do no more than I have done.
23. Mr. FRED HALL (Dulwich)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his attention has been called to the statement of Mr. Ben Tillett on 10th July in Southwark Park that arrangements would be made for the dock strikers to be provided with revolvers; and if he proposes to take any steps to prevent further incendiary speeches by this person?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. McKenna)I have seen no shorthand report of the speech referred to, but I am informed by the Commissioner of Police that the statement made by Mr. Ben Tillett was not as given by the hon. Member, and no action on my part appears to be called for in respect of it.
24. Mr. FRED HALLasked the Home Secretary if his attention has been called to an assault in Gravel Lane, on 1st July, by a number of dock strike pickets on a labourer, partially blind, who had obtained a job after a long period of unemploy- 788 ment; if he can state whether there were any circumstances justifying this attack on a man working to keep his family from starvation; and if he will take steps to increase the police available in the district for the protection of men desiring to work?
§ Mr. McKENNANothing is known of any assault in Gravel Lane on 1st July. On the evening of the 3rd, however, a man complained to the police that he had been attacked by four men, whom he could not identify, struck on the eye and kicked. Had he raised an alarm when he was attacked, the assailants would probably have been caught. He was escorted on his way by police, and was ultimately treated at the London Hospital as an out-patient for contused eye and shock. Ample police arrangements are made in this neighbourhood, and assistance is promptly rendered whenever and wherever it is called for.