HC Deb 10 July 1928 vol 219 cc2030-4
69 and 70. Mr. LANSBURY

asked the Minister of Labour (1) which Exchanges in South-East London or any other part of the Metropolis notified the authorities in the mining areas from which 270 men were recently drawn; and if he will state the number of unemployed labourers, skilled or unskilled, on the registers of the Exchanges notifying the vacancies;

(2) whether he will place in the Library a copy of the instructions issued to Employment Exchanges respecting the placing of unemployed miners in vacancies which occur in London and other places; and in which districts of London there is any shortage of unskilled labour?

Mr. BETTERTON

I am sending the hon. Member a list of the Employment Exchanges referred to in the question in the areas of which these men were placed. The total number of labourers of all descriptions on the registers of these Exchanges on 25th June was about 26,000, but these belonged to a great variety of trades and the hon. Member will appreciate that a great many of them could not be regarded as in competition for the jobs here in question. In any case, the level of employment was much better than in the areas from which the men were drawn. As I explained in my reply to the hon. Member on 5th July, the object of these arrangements is to give to unemployed men from the hard-pressed areas some share of the vacancies in the districts in which employment is relatively good. In order to place the matter in its right perspective, I would point out that during the four weeks in which employment was found for these 270 men, the Exchanges in the South-Eastern Division found labouring work for between 5,000 and 6,000 men altogether, and a great many others secured such employment without the intervention of the Exchanges. It is not the practice to publish the text of the instructions issued to officers of the Department. The substance of the instructions to which the hon. Member refers was given in the reply I gave to his question on 5th July.

Mr. LANSBURY

Does the hon. Gentleman consider that with the 26,000 men registered in these areas, and with 70,000 or 80,000 men registered in the districts all around, it is fair either to the men in London or in South Wales or elsewhere to bring them to an already overcrowded labour market, and is he not aware that the work of a painter's labourer is work that any labourer is capable of performing?

Mr. BETTERTON

As I have stated, many of these men were placed in occupations where they were not in competition with many of those who are out of work. To give an example, we placed a man as a hotel porter. It is not to be supposed that he was in competition with a labourer.

Mr. LANSBURY

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that a man who registers as an unskilled labourer, or a labourer of any kind, is a man who is capable of performing the work of a painter's labourer, or of carrying sandwich boards?

Mr. JOHNSTON

If the hon. Gentleman finds it impossible to put all the instructions he has given on this matter in the Library, will he place in the Library, for the information of the House, a statement of the orders issued to Employment Exchanges to the effect that where a man gets a week' work, and gets priority, he is to be put upon the live register of the new area to which he goes in order to show fictitious figures for the distressed areas?

Mr. BETTERTON

I do not at all admit that any of the figures I have given are fictitious. As I have said, it is not the practice of this or of any previous Government to place in the Library the text of instructions issued from the Department.

Mr. W. THORNE

Is it not a fact that, unless these authorities are in a position to create some new employment for the men transferred from Wales to another district, it is on all fours with digging a hole and filling it up again?

Mr. BETTERTON

As I said yesterday, there is no doubt at all that there are areas in this country where the state of employment is such that we are justified in giving some share of it to these men in distressed areas who are out of employment. To give an example, we brought 20 men from Blaina, in South Wales, to Brighton, the situation in Brighton being 3 per cent. of unemployment and the state in Blaina being no less than 62 per cent.

71. Mr. HALL

asked the Minister of Labour the Employment Exchanges in South Wales from which the 270 men were recently drawn for employment in London; will he give the nature of the employment offered; and the number placed in employment?

Mr. BETTERTON

I will circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT a list of the Exchanges in South Wales from which these men were drawn and the principal occupations in which employment was found for them. The number placed in employment in the South-Eastern Division, including London, during the four weeks ended 30th June, was 270. Work was found for all the men brought up under the arrangements, and, according to my information, very few of them have failed to retain it up to the present.

Captain GARRO-JONES

Will the hon. Gentleman circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT the names of the areas where these men were found employment in London, and does he intend to continue the practice of importing men from distressed areas to equally distressed areas in London?

Mr. BETTERTON

The hon. and gallant Gentleman has quite misunderstood the purport of my answer. We are not bringing men from areas that are distressed to others that are equally distressed. What we are doing is to bring men from areas which are distressed to places where employment is relatively good.

Following is the list:

List of Employment Exchanges in South Wales from which ex-miners have been transferred to work in the South-Eastern Division during four weeks ended 30th June, 1928.

Aberdare. Mountain Ash.
Abertillery. Neath.
Bargoed. Ogmore Vale.
Blackwood. Pontlottyn.
Blaenavon. Pontnewydd.
Blaina. Pontycymmer.
Brynmaur. Pontypool.
Cardiff. Pontypridd.
Caerphilly. Porth.
Crumlin. Port Talbot.
Cymmer. Risca.
Dowlais. Swansea.
Ebbw Vale. Tonypandy.
Ferndale. Tredegar.
Maesteg. Treorchy.
Merthyr Tydfil. Tonyrefail.

List of Occupations in which ex-miners have been found work.

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