§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that according to a statement in the "Ministry of Labour Gazette" there were 922 trade disputes, involving the stopping of work on 940,000 days in 1940; and will he give the corresponding figures for the first six months of this year?
§ Mr. BevinThe articles in the May issue of the "Ministry of Labour Gazette" in which the figures quoted by my hon. Friend were published, pointed out that the great majority of the 922 disputes involved only employé's of single firms, and that the aggregate of 940,000 man-days lost was the lowest recorded in any year during the period of 48 years for which statistics are available. During the first five months of 1941 the number of disputes reported as involving stoppages of work was 487, and the aggregate number of man-days lost is estimated at about 594,000. Statistics for June are not yet available.