§ Mr. NEEDHAMasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will state the number of trade disputes in which the assistance of the Board of Trade has been employed under the Conciliation Act of 1896, and the number of workpeople directly concerned in such disputes; and if he will give the figures separately for each of the years since the Act came into force?
Mr. BUXTONThe following statement gives the information available:—
Year Number of Cases under Conciliation Act, 1896. Number of Persons affected in Cases involving a stoppage of work. All Cases Cases in Which an actual stoppage of work took place. 1896 (5 months only) 11 9 6,500 1897 37 23 62,300 1898 12 8 103,600 1899 11 5 2,300 1900 21 13 28,200 1901 33 20 12,400 1902 21 10 3,800 1903 17 8 15,800 1904 12 4 1,500 1905 14 3 500 1906 20 8 4,100 1907 39 15 3,500 1908 60 24 56,900 1909 57 24 21,900 1910 67 27 190,200 1911 (7 months only) 35 14 41,000 467 215 554,500 NOTE.—Information is not available as to the number of persons affected in cases in which no stoppage of work occurred, but the number is very large.