HC Deb 15 July 1935 vol 304 cc743-5
28. Mr. MAINWARING

asked the Secretary for Mines whether, in view of

them in groups representing years of unemployment suffered by each, and giving the percentage of unemployment at each of the exchanges during the month of June last?

The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the MINISTRY of LABOUR (Lieut.-Colonel Muirhead)

As the reply includes tables of figures, I will, if I may, circulate a statement in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Following of the statement:

As regards the first part of the question, particulars are available only for unemployed insured persons who are applicants for insurance benefit or unemployment allowances, and only as to the length of the last spell of continuous unemployment of such applicants. The table below analyses the numbers of male applicants on the registers of the Ferndale, Porth, Tonypandy and Treorchy employment exchanges at 24th June, 1935, according to the length of the last spell of unemployment.

its importance in order to reduce unemployment in the distressed mining areas of the country, he will call for a special report from His Majesty's inspectors of mines in respect of the extent to which overtime now worked in the mines may be dispensed with, so making it possible to give employment to additional men; and whether he will arrange for such special reports to be laid upon the Table of the House?

The SECRETARY for MINES (Captain Crookshank)

As I announced the other day, in reply to a question by the hon. Member for Hamilton, the report of the recent special overtime inquiry in Scotland will be published very shortly. Pending its publication, and proper opportunity for all parties concerned to consider and discuss the problem as a whole, in the light both of this report and of the Lancashire report which was published last year, I cannot commit myself to any particular course of action.

Mr. MAINWARING

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that complaints are broadcast throughout the mining industry about the unnecessary amount of overtime now being worked, and that, in the opinion of the mining representatives in this House, here is scope for employment of additional men?

Mr. GODFREY NICHOLSON

Would the hon. Gentleman approach the Miners' Federation and ask them to call upon their members not to be so anxious to work overtime?

Mr. DAVID GRENFELL

Will the hon. Gentleman inform the House why he regards what is known to be deliberate evasion of the law as a problem?

Captain CROOKSHANK

The questions put to me could be more satisfactorily dealt with in the Debate which is to take place, I understand, next week. What I would say again is that, if there are any specific cases which the hon. Gentleman or his Friends like to bring to my notice, I will have them looked into. In the meantime, I consider that we had better discuss the implications of the two reports which we now have rather than start calling for other reports.