9. Mr. A. T. DAVIESasked the Minister of Labour what number of industrial disputes involving changes of wages have been satisfactorily settled by the Ministry without stoppage of work during the three months ending 31st May; what numbers of men and women employed were involved; and in what cases were reductions of wages involved in the settlement?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAMy hon. Friend will recognise that it is impracticable to give a precise statistical statement on this matter because the intervention of the Ministry vares considerably from unobtrusive advice to formal intervention, and it is very frequently impossible to say exactly how far the less formal action was directly responsible for a settlement in any particular case. The less formal cases are, of course, much more numerous, hut of the disputes in which the Department has formally intervened there are 26 instances of differing importance in which my Department intervened in the period mentioned. Seventeen of these cases were settled without a stoppage of work. Altogether about 500,000 workpeople were concerned, and in the majority of cases reductions of wages were involved. I am, of course, not referring to the numerous cases where settlements were effected through machinery for negotiation which my Department have helped to establish, such as joint industrial councils and conciliation boards.