HC Deb 19 May 1930 vol 239 cc42-3W
Mr. EDE

asked the Secretary of State for War if he will give a list of the lands in the control of his Department which were subject to common rights when acquired by the Crown, showing the county and civil parish in which each such portion of land is situated, its acreage, the date of its acquisition by his Department, the date, if any, on which the common rights were extinguished, and the present use of the land?

Mr. SHAW

The list of the lands owned by the War Department, which are, or were formerly, subject to common rights, is as follows:

Labour is insufficient for the purpose of exact comparisons, but figures compiled by the International Labour Office, and published in the April issue of the "International Labour Review," show that the hourly time rates of wages fixed by agreement between the employers' and workers' organisations for certain classes of adult workmen in the engineering industry in London and Berlin at 1st January, 1930, were as follow. The figures in sterling are approximations, correct to the nearest ¼d.

London. Berlin.
s. d. Reichs marks. s. d.*
Fitters and Turners 1 4 1.29 1
Iron Moulders (Sand) 1 4 1.29 1
Patternmakers 1 5 1.29 1
Labourers 0 11½ 0.84 0
*Converted at the rates of exchange current at 1st January, 1930.

Figures which were also given in the same publication indicate that the retail prices of food, fuel, light and soap in six of the principal industrial towns (including Berlin) in Germany averaged about 6 per cent. higher than in seven of the principal towns (including London) in Great Britain. As regards Hungary, information published by the Municipal Statistical Office of Budapest shows that the hourly rates of wages in the engineering and metal industries at December; 1928, mostly ranged from 0.77 to 1.12 pengos per hour, equivalent, at present rates of exchange, to approximately 6.6d. to 9.7d. per hour, and those of labourers in the same industries averaged 0.54 pengo per hour, equivalent to approximately 4.7d. No figures are available for any later date. From certain particulars as to retail prices which are given in the same source of information, it would appear that, at December, 1928, the cost of food in Budapest was appreciably lower than in London, but the information available is not sufficient to enable the average level in Budapest to be expressed as a percentage of the average level in London.