§ 18. Mr. T. SMITHasked the Secretary for Mines the number of wage-earners employed underground on the latest date available and the comparative figures for 1925 and 1930?
Captain CROOKSHANKIt is estimated that at 15th June, 1935, 606,000 wage-earners were employed below-ground at coal mines in Great Britain. The numbers so employed at the corresponding dates in 1925 and 1930 were 874,200 and 743,500, respectively.
§ Mr. SMITHCan the Secretary for Mines give the House any indication of the Government's policy to deal with this great diminution in man power in the pits, and say whether any meetings have been arranged, or are contemplated, with the mineowners with regard to shortening the working day?
Captain CROOKSHANKI cannot answer the second part of the supplementary question without notice. As to the first part, the Government's policy cannot be stated in reply to a supplementary question.
§ Lieut.-Colonel HENEAGEDoes not this decrease in the number of workers show the folly of the general strike?
§ Mr. KIRKWOODAccording to the figures there are about 200,000 fewer miners employed now. May I ask whether the output has in any way diminished?
§ Mr. SPEAKERThat is getting a long way from the Question on the Paper.