§ 28. Mr. PETOasked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that, at the national conference of representatives of over thirty associations of employers, held at Westminster on the 10th December last, to consider a united policy on the part of employers with respect to the proposals of the Government in relation to industrial reconstruction and the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes, resolutions were adopted to the effect that in the interests of personal freedom and public order and industrial peace an inquiry into the working and effect of the Trades Disputes Act, 1906, should be set up to report specially as to the effect of picketing by unlimited numbers in unlimited areas, and the necessity for rendering unlawful combinations for disorganising trade and social conditions; whether, in the national 1937 interests, all trade unions should be subjected to the ordinary law of the land and made responsible, like all other classes, for their actions; and whether it is contemplated to institute an inquiry into this aspect of the industrial question?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANMy right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour has been asked to answer this question. His attention has been called to the resolutions in question, but he does not consider that an inquiry of the kind suggested is necessary or desirable at the present time.