§ Mr. T. SMITHasked the Minister of Labour if he is aware that persons other than farm workers are being imported into Norfolk to deal with sugar beet and other forms of land work; that there are hundreds of unemployed farm workers in the county available for this class of work; and will he take steps to prevent the transference of persons from other areas until the unemployed Norfolk farm worker has been provided with an opportunity to do this work?
§ Sir H. BETTERTONArrangements are made annually by the Department to obtain the labour required by farmers for the sugar beet and other crops, and first preference is ordinarily given to local unemployed labour so far as it is suitable to requirements. There was one case in which an employer specially wished to give work to men from a distressed area, and the Department arranged to provide the usual facilities consisting of advances of fares and certain other incidental expenses.
Industry. Estimated numbers insured at end of Jane. Numbers recorded as unemployed about end of April. 1929. 1930. 1931. 1932. 1933. 1930. 1931. 1932. 1933. 1934. Coal Mining 103,170 104,250 101,000 99,140 96,860 18,356 24,252 30,135 32,117 30,884 Cotton 498,310 508,740 494,020 465,490 447,390 159,777 202,501 129,793 136,336 103,833 Woollen and Worsted. 10,900 10,940 10,960 10,730 11,100 1,912 3,000 2,444 2,809 1,496 Silk and Artiflcial Silk. 15,900 16,390 16,280 16,150 16,900 4,208 4,122 3,067 3,363 2,420 Textile, Bleaching, Printing, Dyeing, etc. 58,740 58,430 58,170 56,370 55,610 17,024 22,494 15,340 16,225 14,273 Other Textile Industries. 22,810 24,800 25,840 26,060 28,210 4,770 6,332 4,777 5,350 3,928 At the end of April of the same years, the numbers of wage-earners on the books of collieries in Lancashire were as follow :
1930 … … … … 75,000 1931 … … … … 70,500 1932 … … … … 68,600 1933 … … … … 64,600 1934 … … … … 61,800