Mr John Hills: 13. asked the Minister of Labour how much money has been spent on subsidising the transport of juvenile labour and on maintaining it where the employer pays wages below standard rate; what has been the cost of partly financing hostels run by voluntary associations, such as the Young Women's Christian Association and the Girls' Friendly Society, in order to accommodate juvenile labour; what...
Mr John Hills: To what section of the report is the right hon. gentleman referring?
Mr John Hills: When did I do that?
Mr John Hills: I agree with almost everything the hon. Member for the Isle of Ely (Mr. de Rothschild) has said. I agree with him that a subsidy is an invidious way of giving the assistance that he and I want agriculture to receive. By far the best way of giving that assistance is by means of a duty. On that question the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Darwen (Sir H. Samuel) seems to me not to realise...
Mr John Hills: We can produce it here as cheaply as many foreign countries can, and why cannot it have the same protection as other crops? The right hon. Gentleman would sweep away at one stroke the whole of the industry that has grown up and throw on the labour market the men employed, and his only justification for that is that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would get more revenue. If you ceased all...
Mr John Hills: Would they not rather have cheap sugar?
Mr John Hills: Other sections of the agricultural industry have to be subsidised.
Mr John Hills: Will the noble Lady agree that the subsidy ought to be replaced by protection as soon as possible? If so, she and I would be in agreement.
Mr John Hills: The hon. Member for South Bradford (Mr. Holdsworth) has called attention to a feature of this Debate which is very obvious to me. He has pointed out that the speeches have been mainly critical of my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture and that some of them have indicated a fear that the Government's policy is a failure. I have felt a great air of unreality about this Debate for that...
Mr John Hills: I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time." If this Clause were carried, it would put the light oils in the same position in which the heavy oils are under the present Budget. Under this Budget, all heavy oils used industrially in Diesel engines, or in any engines that burn heavy oil, are given a rebate of 7d. a gallon off the Customs Duty. The Customs Duty is 8d. per gallon, and,...
Mr John Hills: 47. asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will have an inquiry made on the question whether female labour is in the long run of less value to the State than male labour?
Mr John Hills: Is my right hon. Friend aware that the Royal Commission came to no decision on the question of equal pay, but stated that they were about equally divided on it? May I take it that my right hon. Friend is in agreement with the Financial Secretary to the Treasury who stated in the Debate on the adjournment before Whitsuntide that the State get less value from women's work than from men's work?
Mr John Hills: I have not my speech by me, but my recollection is pretty clear that I argued that changes up or down in the Income Tax were accompanied by changes in the unemployment level up or down. I said that I did not think that was the only cause, because that would be an overstatement, but I said that the curve of unemployment did follow the Income Tax rate.
Mr John Hills: That is where we differ.
Mr John Hills: I made the case so fully on the Motion that I did not think I was entitled to trouble the Committee again.
Mr John Hills: One point only. The figures I gave on the lath May were not selected figures. I covered the last 15 years and showed that the level of employment up or down followed the level of the standard rate of Income Tax up or down, and the figures have not been challenged and cannot be challenged. The hon. Member has taken selected years and selected figures. If I heard him aright, he went back to...
Mr John Hills: I want to deal with the Civil Service, but first I want to say a word with regard to the speech to which we have just listened. My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary asked what was equal work. In the Civil Service men and women enter by the same examinations, do the same work, and do not get the same pay. Then he made an admission which to me destroyed a large part of the case which he...
Mr John Hills: Certainly they are. But the case we make is one of unequal pay for equal work. To some back to the Civil Service, I will deal very shortly with the history of this question. In 1920 and 1921 the House passed two Resolutions in favour of equal pay. I may add in passing that the 1920 Resolution was supported by the present Minister of Health, and the 1921 Resolution was seconded by the...
Mr John Hills: I welcome paragraph (4), and I agree that it will certainly be a relief, but I am sure that the Chancellor of the Exchequer knows of the terrible position of many local authorities. I do not want to weary the House, but I desire to put before hon. Members, quite shortly, facts from my own knowledge. After the War a great many local authorities were strongly urged by the Government to...
Mr John Hills: I beg to move, in line 3, to leave out "and sixpence." I will put my case quite shortly. I move the reduction, not mainly with the object of helping the taxpayer, but to assist the recovery of the country, to reduce unemployment and, incidentally, to do something for the distressed areas. How much money will be wanted? How do I suggest that the Chancellor of the Exchequer should get the...
