§ 55. Mr. ANDERSONasked the Minister of Munitions whether a letter has been sent from his Department to the Surveyors' Institution and similar organisations regarding the supply of tool-setters, in which it is stated that the demand for such skilled workers is greater than the supply and that the most suitable type of man to be trained for this work is of the higher educated type who in ordinary times would be in the university or just leaving one of the public schools; whether the letter proceeds to argue that the skilled mechanic is not useful material to train for this purpose owing to the high level of accuracy required; and, since skilled mechanics have had to accomplish the most delicate and accurate tool-setting up to the present time, whether he will state the facts and experience upon which the conclusion of the Ministry of Munitions is based?
§ Dr. ADDISONI think my hon. Friend is under some misapprehension as to the precise purport and intention of this letter. In the present very acute shortage of this particular kind of highly-skilled labour it is absolutely essential to increase the supply by giving a specialised training in a single operation to persons who were previously not in the trade, and there are manifest advantages in utilising so far as possible for this purpose persons of a class 1708 who are unlikely to remain in the engineering trade after the War, since we thus avoid depleting other branches of the engineering trade whose services are required for munitions, and also the danger of overstocking the market with this particular kind of labour after the War. Fortunately it has been established by experience that persons of a good general education are quite well adapted to take the rapid emergency training provided in the schools established by the Ministry of Munitions, sometimes even more readily than men who, though possessing ordinary industrial experience and manual skill, may be accustomed in their ordinary occupation to work to a lower degree of accuracy. This was explained in the letter, for the purpose of making it perfectly clear that well-educated persons without previous industrial experience are eligible, in suitable cases, for training in the schools. I hope that no one will imagine that there was the least intention to institute a comparison between the general industrial capacity of the school-trained munition worker and the professional engineer. Any such comparison is obviously out of the question.
§ Mr. PRINGLECan my hon. Friend say whether the people to whom a preference was to be given were mainly men of military age?
§ Dr. ADDISONNo, I think not.
§ Mr. PRINGLEIf they come out of the universities and public schools obviously they must be?
§ Mr. BARNESMay I ask the hon. Gentleman whether he will publish this letter?
§ Dr. ADDISONNo, it was a letter sent to the heads of public schools and universities. It was not a public document; it was only an exhortation to certain persons.
§ Mr. BARNESIn view of the uncertainty which has arisen and the misrepresentations which have been made, would it not be better to clear it up?
§ Dr. ADDISONI have endeavoured to clear it up by the long answer which I have given.
§ Mr. ANDERSONIs it not a fact that the letter does draw the comparison of which I speak, and does say that skilled workpeople who have been doing the work up to the present time are of less value than university students?
§ Dr. ADDISONThat is not a fair way of putting it; it makes the matter much worse than it really is.
§ Mr. ANDERSONThen why not publish the letter?
§ Mr. PRINGLEWhy should these people who are of military age be specially favoured?