asked the Minister of Labour, following the general reduction in working hours from 44 to 42 per week between 1959 and 1962, what information he has on the average number of extra minutes worked as overtime over that period.

The average amount of overtime in manufacturing industry was approximately 2 hours a week in 1959 and 2¼ hours in 1962.

Do not the Minister's own figures show that over this period there was an increase of only 30 minutes in overtime worked? Does not this contradict the current argument that claims for shorter hours are really only disguised wage claims, and also destroy the argument that if hours are reduced from 42 to 40 workers would only put in the same number of hours for more pay?

I cannot accept that. The figures I gave cover the whole field, of course, but in some industries the position is very different. For example, in the building industry the standard week was reduced by three hours between October 1959 and October 1962, and the hours actually worked by male operatives fell by 0·3.