§ Mr. HASLAMasked the Minister of Labour whether there are regulations in connection with bricklaying, and issued by trade unions, limiting the number of bricks laid per man per hour; whether fewer bricks are now laid per hour than was the average in recent former years; whether more bricks are laid per man per hour in the United States than in this country; is he able to give an estimate of the wage percentage per 1,000 bricks laid in this country compared with similar figures for the United States; and what is the average wage per hour of bricklayers in the United States and in this country?
§ Sir R. HORNEI have no reliable information that any of the trade unions in the building trade have made regulations limiting the number of bricks laid per man per hour. In reply to the second and third parts of the question, my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health has been making some inquiries, but the results are inconclusive. No data are available to enable me to give the estimate referred to in the fourth part of the question. In reply to the last part, the hourly rate of wages for bricklayers in this country varies in different districts from Is. 2d. (and in a few cases less) to 2s. per hour. In the United States the rate varies from 2s. 1¼d. in South Atlantic cities to 1949W 4s. 2d. in the Western and South Central cities. The New York irate for July, 1919, was 3s. 7¾d. per hour.