HC Deb 01 July 1915 vol 72 cc1921-2
21. Sir ALBERT SPICER

asked the Minister of Munitions if he will direct that in future sufficient orders are sent to the Royal Gun Factory, at Woolwich, to keep the men and machines in full work, it being confidently stated by those having knowledge in the district that machines in the factory are idle and the men lacking work?

The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for WAR (Mr. Tennant)

My right hon. Friend has asked me to answer this question. I am informed that the machines and the men in the Royal Gun Factory are kept as fully at work as is the case in any works dealing with engineering, regard being had to the dependence of one trade on another or to the occurrence of special causes of interference with work, such as breakdowns and the necessity of putting through urgently special repair jobs. I must also point out that certain of the large machines at this factory cannot be run continuously as there is not always a constant flow of large work and they are not capable of handling smaller work. It is only in exceptional and unavoidable cases that men or machines are not fully employed at the Royal Arsenal.

Mr. SNOWDEN

Is it not a fact that 97 per cent. of the kind of work which can only be done by these large machines has been given to private contractors, leaving only 3 per cent.?

Mr. TENNANT

I do not think those figures are accurate, but if the hon. Member will give me notice, I will furnish the correct figures.

Mr. CROOKS

It the right hon. Gentleman aware that since April last the same complaint has been made, and that billets of steel and other manufactured articles, which were there for the manufacture of articles the Government required, were sent to private contractors?

Mr. TENNANT

Again, I should like to have notice of that question, because I am not able to give an answer to my hon. Friend off-hand.

Mr. CROOKS

That is the same reply I got in April last.

Mr. TENNANT

It stands to reason that you cannot always keep a great factory like this going in all its departments at its full speed. One department must depend upon another.

Mr. CROOKS

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the orders were actually placed, and the materials for the execution of these articles were in the department, but were transferred to a private firm of contractors, and your own men were kept idle?

Mr. TENNANT

No, Sir, I am not aware of it.