HC Deb 01 June 1943 vol 390 cc16-8
27. Mr. R. J. Taylor

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether he is prepared to make any exceptions to his general rule that surface workers cannot be allowed the choice between serving in the Armed Forces or going to work underground?

Major Lloyd George

As far as general policy goes, I have nothing to add to the reply made by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour and National Service to the hon. Member for Burslem (Mr. MacLaren) on 18th March last. My right hon. Friend is not, however, asked to issue directions to go underground to surface workers who are unwilling to go because they have lost a father or brother in a pit accident.

Mr. Taylor

May I ask the Minister whether this answer will be conveyed to those who have the duty of getting these boys to go underground?

Major Lloyd George

Quite apart from the publicity given by the answer itself, I will take steps to do that.

Mr. J. Griffiths

Will the Minister consider the desirability of going beyond that and provide some other machinery for deciding some very difficult cases of boys who it is known have an objection to going down the pit, and an objection which is quite valid and would be sustained by a doctor's opinion, and in such cases should not the Committee consider on medical evidence the desirability of a boy not being sent underground?

Major Lloyd George

As my hon. Friend knows, there is an appeal tribunal to which a boy can go and produce medical evidence of the nature referred to, and the case can be dealt with at that tribunal.

Mr. Shinwell

Is the Minister not aware that one of my constituents, a lad of 19, is serving three months' imprisonment for refusing work underground when he actually wanted to join the Navy?

Major Lloyd George

I cannot answer that question here now, because that is not the only reason.

Mr. Shinwell

Yes, it is the only reason.

Mr. Bowles

May I ask the Minister whether he does not think that if a psychological option could be provided it would have the effect he really desires? If men had an option to go down the pit, he would find that nine out of ten would go down to the coal face.

Major Lloyd George

As my hon. Friend will appreciate in this industry, as I have already indicated in answer to a question, the man-power question is a very serious one, and this is one of the few industries which has not had an influx of young people since the war. The whole of the industry is covered by a blanket reservation not applied to any other industry in the country, and if an option was granted to those on the surface, you would have no alternative but to grant it to underground workers as well.

Mr. Bowles

Does the Minister recall that I sent him from my own constituency two weeks ago particulars of two pits that were idle through the men striking in sympathy with the action of men going to prison rather than going down to the coal face?

Major Lloyd George

I can only say that that is quite deplorable at the present juncture. But out of 2,200 surface workers who have gone underground, only 80 have made any real fuss at all, and in the existing circumstances I do not think it is asking too much, when the age of miners has increased very much since the war, that we should ask young men between 18 and 25 to go and do their share down below.