§ 15. Mr. HORE-BELISHAasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether his 973 attention has been called to the fact that, in spite of the declared readiness of the Admiralty to explore avenues for alternative work in the dockyards, his Department has declined to undertake by Devonport Dockyard either the design or the erection of a 2,000,000 cubic feet gas-holder which it is proposed by the Plymouth City Council to erect at St. Levan Road, Devonport, at a cost of £32,000; and whether, seeing that the work involved would provide the employment of local labour, he will in future see that it is the policy of the Admiralty not to reject offers of this nature but actually to seek them?
Mr. ALEXANDERThe invitation to tender for this work was warmly appreciated and carefully considered by the Admiralty, but it was found that to accept the invitation would require a detailed and particular knowledge of the designing and erection of modern gasholders, for which a special staff would be required without any prospect of further orders. The utmost that the Department could, in the circumstances, offer was to tender for the fabrication of the steelwork, this being the portion of the work which would, in fact, give employment to dockyard labour. An offer was made to undertake this part of the work.
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that, when he announced that it was the intention of the Government to explore avenues for giving employment for the dockyards, the city council of Plymouth offered this work to the Admiralty in conjunction with other tenders, and that the Admiralty wrote a most off-hand letter refusing the work? Is it the policy of the Government to explore avenues for alternative work or to reject them out of hand?
Viscountess ASTORIs it not true that this proved to be an important scheme, and is it right for Liberal and Labour Members of Parliament to raise false hopes in the dockyard workers?
Mr. ALEXANDERWith regard to the supplementary question of the hon. Member for Devonport (Mr. Hore-Belisha), 974 may I say that there is no possible foundation for the statement that an offhand reply was sent, and I submit to the hon. Member that he would be the first to criticise any action taken by us to provide alternative work which afterwards proved to be economically unsound. As there was no prospect of any further work of this kind for the dockyard, it was decided not to engage a special staff to design and prepare plans only for the purpose of submitting tenders.
§ Mr. KIRKWOODSeeing that negotiations are now proceeding at the Conference in London, which we hope will be successful in restricting navies, may I ask whether the Admiralty is making any provision to ensure that my fellow engineers who will not be required will find some work in the dockyards?
Mr. ALEXANDERI have stated in the House that we are making careful inquiries all the time with a view to providing alternative work wherever possible; and the hon. Member may rest-assured that inquiries in that direction will be continued.
§ 24. Sir BERTRAM FALLEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he is aware that a number of established drillers, riveters and machinists employed in Portsmouth dockyard have been served with notices of discharge as being redundant after 20 years' service, and have been offered alternative employment at greatly reduced rates of pay, some on the lowest rate for skilled labour; if he will inquire into the matter; and if he can say how these men's pensions will be affected?
Mr. ALEXANDEROwing to a dearth of work on riveting, drilling, caulking, etc., a number of workmen, including 14 established riveters and one established machinist have become redundant. The alternatives are discharge on reduction with pension and/or gratuity earned by service or such other employment in the dockyard as is available at the appropriate rate of pay. They have been offered the only available employment, which is in the grade of painter's assistant, and it is open to the men to accept or reject this offer. By remaining in employment, these men retain a possibility of filling vacancies that may arise in their former 975 grade. The effect on their pensions if they accept cannot, therefore, be estimated as pensions are assessed on the average earnings for three years prior to retirement.
§ Sir B. FALLEWill these men continue to pay their establishment fee of 2s. 6d. a week?
Mr. ALEXANDERI should imagine so, but I do not want to be committed to that statement. I would like to make inquiries. I shall do so and communicate with the hon. Gentleman.
§ Sir B. FALLEThe right hon. Gentleman is aware that at any rate their wage will be lower than that of any other hired men in the yard?
Mr. ALEXANDERI have already stated the facts, and, if the hon. Gentleman requires any information arising out of them, I shall be pleased to give it to him.
§ 26. Mr. HORE-BELISHAasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he will state the reasons for the abandonment of the cruiser programme in His Majesty's Dockyards; whether he will give particulars of the effect of the Government's decision on employment in His Majesty's Dockyards and of the loss of money on the Dockyard Vote; and what steps are being taken to provide alternative work for the workpeople in the dockyard towns who would have been engaged?
Mr. ALEXANDERI assume the hon. Member is referring to the cancellation of His Majesty's Ships "Surrey" and "Northumberland." The suspension of work on these ships was decided upon by His Majesty's Government in July last for reasons of high policy fully set out in the statement the Prime Minister made in this House on the 24th July (OFFICIAL REPORT, Columns 1304–11). As very little work had been done on these ships at that date the recent decision to regard them as cancelled is of no material significance and was taken as a matter of administrative convenience in connection with the framing of the Navy Estimates. As regards the second part of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the answers that have already been given on various occasions to questions in this 976 House, showing that it has not been necessary to reduce dockyard employment in consequence of stopping work on these and other ships. As regards the future, I am not yet in a position to make any statement on the question of alternative work. The matter continues to engage the attention of the Admiralty.
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHACan the right hon. Gentleman tell us that the abandonment of two cruisers is going to have no effect whatever on the employment in the dockyards? Does he mean to say that he cannot provide any estimate of the number of men who would have been employed if the cruisers had been built?
Mr. ALEXANDERI should have thought that the hon. Member, representing a dockyard constituency, would have known that a good deal depends upon the other classes of work done for the Navy with the particular yard, and that, as there is more than one yard, when a ship is being constructed in one yard arrangements are made with the various yards and the work is spread over Up to the present I have had no difficulty, and I do not anticipate any difficulty.
Viscountess ASTORWill the right hon. Gentleman account for the fact that some of us have never made a party question out of the dockyards, and will he look at some of the promises that some of the Labour men have made?