Earl of RONALDSHAYasked the President of the Board of Trade if he can give the numbers of those employed, according to the Census of 1901, in the following trades and industries: mining, coke works, shale-oil, cotton, woollen, tinplate, and iron and steel?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLThe Census Returns being based primarily on the occupation of the individual as declared by him on the Census Schedules, and not on the trade with which he is temporarily connected, do not enable accurate figures to be given of the numbers employed in particular trades in the Censal year. In the following statement an attempt has been made to group together so far as possible the principal occupations which fall under the headings asked for in the question. It will be evident from the above considerations that the figures below cannot be compared properly with those published in the recent preliminary returns under the Census of Production Act, which relate to the actual average numbers of workpeople of all occupations employed by occupiers of factories and mines engaged in the trades specified.