HC Deb 10 March 1960 vol 619 cc629-32
40. Mr. W. Hamilton

asked the Prime Minister whether, in order fully to inform himself of the anxiety currently prevailing in the mining industry, he will make a tour of the major coalfields to obtain the views of the people most intimately affected.

The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Macmillan)

The Government are well informed about the problems and prospects of those employed in the coal industry. I fear I could not undertake such a tour at the present time. However, six out of the nine divisions of the National Coal Board have been visited either by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Power or by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary during the last four months.

Mr. Hamilton

Does the right hon. Gentleman appreciate that there is tremendous anxiety among miners and their families, and that, with the best will in the world, he cannot appreciate the problems unless he visits the areas? If he can find time to visit Africa, surely he can find time to visit the centres of this great industry and at least give the people in it some assurances about their future.

The Prime Minister

That is why I said that I could not do this at present. We have quite a lot of things ahead of us, both here and overseas. I have great confidence in the knowledge and sympathy of my right hon. Friend the Minister of Power. One satisfactory aspect of the matter is that, broadly speaking, the reduction in the size of the industry and the men employed has been carried out so far largely by normal wastage and by non-recruitment, and, to a large extent, those thrown out have been found alternative occupations.

Mr. J. Griffiths

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that those of us who come from mining constituencies think that there is a very sharp contrast between how this matter has been handled under nationalisation and how it was handled by private enterprise in the 'thirties?

The Prime Minister

I do not think that the right hon. Gentleman is entitled to make that point. What we are trying to do is to ensure that, if this is an industry that has to shrink for technical reasons, we are able by all these various Measures, the latest of which is the Measure just passed by this House, to find alternative occupations.