§ 104 and 105. Sir W. Darlingasked the Minister of Labour (1) what he proposes to do to remedy the shortage of 2,000 men for work at Surrey, Millwall, Royal and Tilbury docks;
(2) if he is satisfied with the recruitment of labour for dock work; and what reports he has had of dock work being held up owing to labour shortages.
§ Mr. WatkinsonThough there has been some shortage of labour in London recently the daily shortage has on average been considerably smaller than my hon. Friend suggests. It is for the National Dock Labour Board, in consultation with the local dock labour board, to determine whether the number of workers should be increased. In general there is not much difficulty in recruiting the numbers required, but, owing to the fluctuating volume of traffic passing through the ports, dock work is always liable to be held up on occasion by short-term labour shortages.