§ 61. Mr. Shephardasked the Minister of Agriculture if he will now make a statement on labour prospects for the 1948 harvest.
§ Mr. T. WilliamsI hope that the additional needs of agriculture for labour this year to carry out the new food production programme will be met by increased recruitment of British workers, by the Women's Land Army, and by the 30,000 Poles and European Voluntary Workers and the civilianised German ex-prisoners now being recruited. As regards additional seasonal labour, I am hoping for still more help from people in or near the countryside itself and from the expanded schemes of supplementary help of various kinds which my Department is sponsoring. Local conferences on seasonal labour, at which both sides of the industry as well as county agricultural executive committees are represented, are now being held under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour and National Service. As regards regular labour, I would again emphasise the extreme importance of farmers themselves doing their utmost to build up their own staffs against the needs of this summer.