§ 31. Mr. Price-Whiteasked the Secretary of State for War if the present N.A.A.F.I. ration of cigarettes in B.A.O.R. is the same for both the men's and women's services, and whether he will give an assurance that the future ration will be equal for all services.
§ Mr. J. FreemanThere is no N.A.A.F.I. ration of cigarettes. The free R.A.S.C. ration issue of cigarettes, recently withdrawn in B.A.O.R., allowed women's services half the number issued to men. Before the withdrawal of the R.A.S.C. free issue, the N.A.A.F.I. allocation to unit institutes was the same in respect of both men and women. Now, the cigarettes which were formerly a free R.A.S.C. issue are added to the N.A.A.F.I. allocation to ensure that the total number of cigarettes available to service men and women in the Rhine Army is not reduced. Unless further supplies of cigarettes can be made avail-
Industry Males 14–64 Females 14–59 Total Building … … 1,649 13 1,662 Civil Engineering Construction … … 1,989 29 2,018 Engineering … … 2,454 1,366 3,820 Motor Vehicles, Cycles and Aircraft … … 1,444 737 2,181 Explosives … … 3,822 3,047 6,869 Steel Smelting and Iron Puddling; Iron and Steel Rolling, etc. 1,882 1,679 3,561 Tin plates … … 1,768 77 1,845 Miscellaneous Metal Goods Manufacture … … 617 526 1,143 Hotel, Boarding House, Restaurant, Club, Catering, etc., Service 362 920 1,282 Railway Service … … 504 512 1,106 Coal Mining* … … 1,722 55 1,777 Distributive Trades … … 1,597 1,992 3,589 National Government Service (excluding N.F.S.) … … 1,765 877 2,642 Local Government Service … … 1,038 589 1,627 All other Industries and Services … … 11,683 3,764 15,447 Total—All Industries and Services … … 38,912 16,183 55,095 * The figures for coalmining exclude all the unemployed who, although their umenployment books bear the coalmining classification, have been found to be medically unfit for employment in that industry These men are, however, included in the total.
§ 40. Mr. G. Thomasasked the Minister of Labour what special shortages there are of certain grades of workers in the building industry, steel and tinplate industry and agriculture in Wales.
§ Mr. IsaacsIn Wales there is a considerable shortage of bricklayers, a shortage of plasterers and some shortage of carpenters. In the steel and tinplate industry the principal grades of scarce labour are behinders, scrap cutters, scalers,
6Wable, therefore, it is likely that men will continue to receive more cigarettes than women but the final allocation rests with the unit institute.