POLISH RESETTLEMENT CORPS. (Hansard, 4 November 1947)

§ VISCOUNT BRIDGEMAN
My Lords, I beg to ask the first question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

§ LORD BARNBY
My Lords, I also have a question down about the employment of Polish nationals.

§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (VISCOUNT HALL)
My Lords, I will with your Lordships' permission answer the question of the noble Viscount, Lord Bridgeman, and that standing on the Order Paper in the name of Lord Barnby, together. About 55,000 members of the Corps have been placed in employment or otherwise settled at a current rate of about 1,200 per week, and there are left about 44,000 at present in the Corps. These officers and men are not being kept in idleness while awaiting absorption in industry but are engaged on administrative and camp duties of one sort or another, or on tasks for the Services. Where necessary they are being taught English to facilitate their being placed in employment.
As to any who are in the camps following loss of employment on industrial grounds, the number is negligible. The range of employment offered is so wide that no Pole has been impeded by any cause from taking up employment. The main impediment to the absorption of Poles into employment has been the lack of accommodation for them in employment areas. This difficulty is being steadily overcome by the conversion of disused military camps into workers' hostels.

§ VISCOUNT BRIDGEMAN
My Lords, arising out of that answer, for which I am very much obliged, do His Majesty's Government not consider that the time has come to take more energetic measures to place the Polish officers in employment?

§ VISCOUNT HALL
My Lords, we are doing what we can in this matter, although I am sure the noble Viscount will realize that it is not quite as easy to find suitable occupations for the officers as it is for the men who are being absorbed into industry. I can assure the noble Viscount that what steps are necessary are being taken to see that the number is being reduced.

§ LORD BARNBY
My Lords, arising out of the reply, may I ask the noble Viscount if he will check up with his advisers as to whether he can be satisfied of the accuracy of the statement that there are no Poles in the country who have by any action been prevented from enjoying or receiving employment? That is not the actual situation and, in order that he may know to what I refer, I am able to give him an instance where the Minister of Labour is himself aware—

§ VISCOUNT ADDISON
I must ask the noble Lord to observe the rules of the House and not to make speeches.

§ LORD BARNBY
I appreciate the correction of the Leader of the House, which I think he was fully justified in making. My question to the noble Viscount is whether he will be good enough to satisfy himself from his advisers as to the accuracy of the statement which he makes, because I am in a position, in view of information which I have got from the Ministry of Labour, to correct the statement which he has made.

§ VISCOUNT HALL
My Lords, that is a rather serious charge to make, because the statement which I have submitted to the House is a statement which was prepared for me by the Ministry of Labour. But I will certainly take up the point which the noble Lord mentions, and if there is any difference between what the Ministry officials have informed him and the statement which I have made, I certainly will make inquiries into the matter.

§ LORD BARNBY
I appreciate the noble Viscount's assurance.

§ VISCOUNT BLEDISLOE
My Lords, arising out of the noble Viscount, Lord Hall's first reply, may I ask if any fixed proportion of these Poles are being earmarked for employment in the agricultural industry, in view of the very large number of Germans now employed in it who will be returning shortly to their own country?

§ VISCOUNT HALL
My Lords, I should think, indeed I have no doubt, that if the Poles can be persuaded to accept employment in basic industries, such as the agricultural industry and the mining industry, which, I think, have first preference for labour of this kind, the Minister of Labour will see to it that they do go into either of those industries. I know that the mining industry is now accepting Poles and, indeed, it is being discovered that they are doing a very good job of work.

§ LORD BARNBY
My Lords, if I may have a second opportunity of dealing with the matter which I have raised in my question I would like to ask the noble Viscount, the First Lord of the Admiralty, whether he will accept my apologies for any apparent insinuation? I would farther like to ask him whether he will satisfy himself that there are no Poles who have 415 been refused employment because of resistance arising out of trade union restrictions.

§ VISCOUNT HALL
My Lords, the noble Lord could not have heard exactly what I said. What I did say was: "as to any who are in the camps following loss of employment on industrial grounds, the number is negligible." I did not say "none"—I said "negligible."

§ LORD BARNBY
Did I not understand the noble Viscount to say, later in the reply, that there had been no preventions?

§ VISCOUNT HALL
There have been no preventions, because other employment was found for those men. The number which I had in mind here was ten. They very quickly found employment elsewhere.

§ LORD BARNBY
I must ask the indulgence of your Lordships if I appear to be embarking in a discussion, but I certainly thought that the latter part of the reply—if my memory is correct—was to the effect that there had been no resistance to employment.

§ VISCOUNT HALL
My Lords, also with the indulgence of the House, may I just read again a portion of the reply to which the noble Lord refers: The range of employment offered is so wide that no Pole has been impeded by any cause from taking up employment.

§ LORD BARNBY
That is the sentence to which I was referring.

§ VISCOUNT HALL
That is the position. There is such a variety of employment offered to the Poles that no Pole has really lost work or is out of employment because of being impeded in this way.