§ 6. Mr. Iremongerasked the Minister of Labour what steps he proposes to take to allow foreign miners to help solve the problems of the coal industry.
§ 7. Captain Pilkingtonasked the Minister of labour what arrangements exist for recruiting Europeans in order to produce more coal from British mines.
§ Mr. WatkinsonMy Department has standing arrangements for bulk recruitment of foreign workers which could be 818 applied to the coal mining industry. I regret, however, that the National Coal Board has not been able to take advantage of these arrangements in the absence of agreement of the National Union of Mineworkers.
§ Mr. IremongerIs my hon. Friend aware of the grave widespread public dismay at what appears to the public, rightly or wrongly, to be a dog-in-the-manger attitude on the part of certain sections of the coal industry; and will he do his best to see that the considerations that weigh with the National Coal Board are given wide publicity? Will he, further, try to bring home to those concerned their share of responsibility for the national economy?
§ Mr. WatkinsonThe position is, as I think my hon. Friend knows, that the Executive of the National Union of Mineworkers has deferred a decision on the recruitment of foreign workers until a detailed examination has been made into the labour force in the pits. Until that examination has been completed and a decision reached between the Coal Board and the National Union of Mineworkers, I am afraid that my Ministry's services, although available, cannot be made use of.
§ Captain PilkingtonDoes my hon. Friend not think that when it is understood by the miners that the importation of some of this Continental labour will help the country as a whole, they will surely agree to it?
§ Mr. WatkinsonI hope that that will result from the inquiry that is now taking place.
Mr. T. WilliamsWill the Parliamentary Secretary be good enough to invite the hon. Member for Ilford, North (Mr. Iremonger) to do a bit of advertising for miners in his Ilford Parliamentary constituency?