34. Captain Cazaletasked the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs the estimated output of iron ore from Newfoundland for the year 1937; the number of men at present employed at the mines; and the total amount distributed monthly in wages, together with the comparable figures for 1935 and 1936?
Mr. M. MacDonaldI am glad to say that the iron-ore mines at Bell Island, Newfoundland, are now working to capacity. The Governor reports that the estimated output this year is 1,610,000 tons, as against an actual output of 1869 662,000 tons in 1935 and 893,000 tons in 1936. The number of persons employed at the mines in September, 1937, was 1,982, an increase of some boo on the figures for the two previous years, when moreover many of those employed were on part time. The wages paid in September amounted to rather more than $217,000, an increase of some $150,000 over the two previous years.
Captain CazaletCan my right hon. Friend say whether those satisfactory conditions obtain not only in iron mining but in other industries in the Island?
Mr. MacDonaldImprovement is generally true with regard to all the industries in the island with the exception, I am afraid, of the important industry of fishing.
Mr. MacDonaldI understand that some 250,000 tons will be coming here this year, a quantity far in excess of any which came to this country in any previous year.
35. Captain Cazaletasked the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs the number of vessels entered and cleared from ports in Newfoundland for the first 10 months of 1937, together with the figures for 1935 and 1936?
Mr. MacDonaldThe number of vessels entered at Newfoundland ports in the first 10 months of 1937 was 1,077, the figures for the full years 1935 and 1936 being 872 and 1,033 respectively. Vessels cleared from Newfoundland ports during the first 10 months of this year numbered 989, as against 803 and 917 in the full years 1935 and 1936.