§ 25. Mr. W. Shepherdasked the Minister of Labour the total number of strikes notified to his Department during 1948; and how many originated in the mining industry.
§ Mr. IsaacsThe number of disputes causing stoppage of work which came to the notice of my Department in 1948 was 1,758, of which 1,115 were in the coal-mining industry.
§ Mr. ShepherdDoes the Minister consider that this answer lends colour to the suggestion that nationalisation is the means of wiping out disunity in industry?
§ Mr. IsaacsMany of those strikes affect a comparatively few people and last only for a day or so but, judging from the information as to the causes of them, I 190 am afraid they would have been much wider and longer had it not been for nationalisation.
§ Mr. McAdamCould the Minister give the comparable figures for 1921?