§ 3. Mr. Bartleyasked the Minister of Labour if he will appoint an agricultural labour supplies officer in the Northern Region such as is employed in other regions, in order to facilitate the prompt engagement or re-engagement of all available agricultural labour in that region.
§ Mr. WatkinsonAn officer to meet this need has been in post in the Northern Region since 1949.
§ Mr. BartleyIs the Minister aware that his information is somewhat doubtful, as applying to the region as a whole? He will find that some localities in this region provide an officer for themselves but not for the region as a whole.
§ Mr. WatkinsonI think the answer to that point is that this is rather a large region. We are trying to meet that problem. For example, we are appointing a second officer in the Scarborough area for the potato harvest period.
§ Mr. BartleyThat reply scarcely answers my point. Scarborough is only a very limited area, whereas in the whole of the North-Eastern area there are very extensive agricultural areas to deal with.
§ Mr. WatkinsonI did answer the Question by saying that an officer had been in the post since 1949.