Mr. ALLENasked the Minister of Labour whether, in view of the fact that the Skoda works in Czechoslovakia have recently offered material for sale in Belfast at prices under the cost of production in Great Britain, she can state the wages paid and the hours worked in 295W the Czechslovakian steel industry by comparison with British conditions of labour in the same industry?
§ Mr. LAWSONIn the report, recently published, of the delegation on the industrial conditions in the iron and steel industry in certain countries on the Continent, the average weekly earnings of workpeople in the iron and steel industry in Czechoslovakia at the beginning of this year are estimated at 250 kronen, equivalent to 30s. 5d., and the normal weekly hours of labour in steel-smelting shops and rolling-mills are shown as 48. In Great Britain the average weekly earnings of workpeople in the iron and steel industry, in the first four months of this year, according to statistics issued by the National Federation of Iron and Steel Manufacturers, were 60s. 10d. in January, 63s. 1d. in February, 62s. 4d. in March, and 58s. 8d. in April. The normal weekly hours of labour in steel smelting shops, iron and steel rolling mills, etc., in Great Britain at October, 1924, the latest date for which comprehensive statistics have been collected by the Ministry of Labour, averaged 44.2.