§ 17. Mr. GEORGE HALLasked the Minister of Labour why a comparable figure to that of 170,000 at 22nd August given in the "Ministry of Labour Gazette" for September, 1932, as the reduction of registered unemployed owing to legislative and administrative changes does not appear in the October Gazette; and if he will give this figure for 26th September?
§ Sir H. BETTERTONAs the hon. Member will see from the explanatory article published in the "Ministry of 1127 Labour Gazette" for last April it is not possible to continue these estimates indefinitely. As was stated in that article "the estimates can be valid only for the period immediately following the dates from which the legislative and administrative changes took effect. As those dates recede, other influences have a bearing upon the figures and it becomes practically impossible to distinguish the effects of the various factors at work." It was for this reason that no estimate was published in the October Gazette, but there is no ground for thinking that the figures for the end of September would differ materially from the previous estimate of 170,000.
§ Sir H. BETTERTONIf the hon. Gentleman will be good enough to look at the article to which I have referred, he will see that it is really misleading to continue these figures beyond a certain date. I may add that similar questions were constantly put to my predecessor with regard to other changes, and he was compelled to give the same answer as I am giving.