§ Mr. ELLIS DAVIESasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will state to what extent per cent. the number of workmen employed in the building trade and slate quarrying, respectively, fluctuated during the last ten years?
Mr. BUXTONAccording to the mineral statistics published by the Home Office, the number of persons employed in slate mines and quarries declined from 17,793 in 1900 to 13,168 in 1909, or by 26 per cent. The figures for 1910 are not yet ready. No annual returns of the numbers employed in the building trades are collected, and we must await the results of the approaching census of population to obtain a figure comparable with that for ten years ago.