§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House do now adjourn."— [Mr. James Stuart.]
§ Mr. James Griffiths (Llanelly)In our recent Debate upon the War Situation, representatives of all sides of the House have agreed, in the end, on the same point, namely, that production is the key to victory in this great struggle. My right hon. Friend the Member for Keighley (Mr. Lees-Smith), speaking from this Box on Tuesday, said that this was a "workshop war," and, in the discussions which we have upon what we can do to bring this war to a successful conclusion swiftly, we must always come back to the workshops and to the question of how to secure the maximum production for our war effort. There are many aspects of this problem of production, and to-day I desire to initiate a discussion on its not least important aspect, namely, its relation to the amount of food which we are able to secure and to distribute to those engaged in the tasks of production. I think our food policy will have to be, if not re-cast, amended so as to ensure that the food which is available in this country is distributed in accordance with the need of the people for food and not on the basis of what people's pockets can afford.
To-day, I wish to concentrate attention upon the case of those who are generally described as heavy workers. There is con- 758 siderable difficulty in giving any precise definition of a "heavy worker." I am of opinion that the Ministry of Food, because of these difficulties of discrimination and perhaps of definition, have not altogether satisfied the demand in the country, and I hope that as a result of this Debate and other representations, we shall be able to induce the Ministry to give attention to this very serious problem. During the Recess I made inquiries in my own constituency, which I think is a fair sample of an industrial constituency, and I propose to give the House the result of those inquiries, because I think it will light up the problem. Constituencies differ, and there is a wide variety of industries in the country, but I think that if each of us gives examples from his own constituency, we shall provide the Ministry of Food with a good deal of information which will assist them in framing their policy. In my constituency I have made investigations among the following classes of workers, all of whom, I claim, are engaged in doing heavy work and whose food is inadequate for their jobs: Coal miners, limestone quarrymen—they have been forgotten; though they are not numerous they are a very important group and their work is very heavy—steel and tinplate workers, and railwaymen.
I also made investigations among what is a new class of workers in that area. For the first time many hundreds, even thousands, of women are being drawn into factory work in that area. They have worked all their lives, but this is new work to them, and there is a new physical strain and a new psychological strain upon those women entering factory life for the first time, and there is need for investigation as to whether the food they are receiving at home and at work enables them to meet that strain. Added to the physical and psychological strain of working in a new occupation, there is the strain of long hours spent in travelling. My inquiries show that some of the women, in addition to doing a full day's work in the factory, have to spend 1½ hours a day, or longer, in making the journey, in each direction, to and from work. It is a strain which is considerable.
Let me tell the House first what was revealed by the investigations among coal miners. I took a fair sample of conditions at a coal mine before what is called a canteen was established there. They have a canteen there now, although frankly that 759 word is a misnomer, because it is really what is called a "tuck shop.". If the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food wishes it, I will send him these documents, which are interesting human documents, at the close of the Debate. I asked a reliable friend of mine who is well known in our industrial movement and is known to my hon. Friend the Secretary for Mines to make as thorough a survey as he could at the colliery where he works, and where he is a responsible officer of the South Wales Miners' Federation. He kindly undertook this task. He writes:
I made investigations amongst 300 miners employed at my colliery, and I found that out of the 300 men, during this week in which I made the investigation, 100 can only bring to work in their tommy boxes plain bread and cheese.On the average the miner spends eight hours in the pit, working a 7½ hours shift, plus his winding time. For the eight hours that they were doing their job in the pit those 100 men had nothing except plain bread and cheese to eat, and un-sugared tea to drink. I say frankly as one who for many years—