32. Mr. ROBINSONasked the Minister of Labour the number of unemployed' persons in Brighouse; if his attention has been drawn to the request of the local trades council that a court of referees to deal with claims in respect of unemployment benefit be set up in the town; whether it will be possible to grant this request; and, if not, will steps be taken to pay the fare of the unemployed people who have to go to Huddersfield for their cases to he considered?
§ Sir A. STEEL-MAITLANDOn 5th November, 1928, there were 401 wholly unemployed persons registered at the Brighouse Exchange and 654 who were temporarily stopped. As I told the hon. Member in a letter recently, there are not enough cases—an average of only four a week—to justify a separate Court of Referees, but, in accordance with the usual practice, persons summoned to attend the Court at Huddersfield can claim expenses on the approved scale.