§ 30. Mr. Burkeasked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that a number of joiners have been sent from the Burnley Employment Exchange to Devonshire and other remote places involving heavy expenses; and what system is adopted by the exchanges in filling vacancies occasioned by the Government's need for camps and other new buildings?
§ Mr. E. BrownI am having inquiries made with regard to the cases referred to and will communicate with the hon. Member as soon as possible. The general arrangements are designed to secure that the nearest men who are suitable or available are submitted for filling vacancies.
§ Mr. BurkeIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the last set of cases of this character was inquired into 10 weeks ago, and does he think that there is any real efficiency in sending people right from the North of England to the South when there are thousands of joiners unemployed in Bristol and London and very near the spot, and, at the same time, joiners are travelling from the South to the North?
§ Mr. BrownI could not accept the hon. Member's statement, and I would add that it might be a very great advantage to a man in Burnley to have an offer of this kind.
§ Mr. BurkeDoes the right hon. Gentleman think it is an advantage for a man who has four children, that he has to put out in the care of other people at very great cost to himself, to have to come up here, pay for his lodgings and be left with hardly any money for his week's work; and can the right hon. Gentleman not get work for these men somewhere nearer to their homes than 300 miles away?
§ Mr. BrownI have not had the case put before me, so that I cannot express any judgment about it. The whole House knows that the regular system which is adopted is that jobs are found for these men, if available, in their home towns and home districts, and only elsewhere if there are no jobs there.