Mr. Jenkinsasked the First Commissioner of Works whether he is aware that considerable dissatisfaction is being expressed in Monmouthshire, particularly by the unemployed, with the system of working 12-hour shifts at the Glascoed ordnance works; and will he take steps to see that the system is discontinued so as to enable the work to be more fairly distributed, and with a view to giving employment to some of the 14,000 people still unemployed in that county?
§ Mr. RamsbothamI understand that the tunnelling contractors, who employ only some 700 men out of the 6,000 employed at Glascoed, were compelled to abandon three shifts of eight hours in favour of two shifts of 12 hours, owing to the impossibility of obtaining sufficient men experienced in handling heavy iron segments, without whom additional unskilled labour cannot be employed. Having regard to the necessity of pressing on with the work, I cannot require the contractor to cease working two shifts.