An occasional utterance of condemnation by the right hon. Gentleman to his colleagues when he sees foolish unofficial strikes destroying the very industry which we are trying to maintain would do some service to the country.

Then we had the dilutee strike at Fisher and Ludlow, in the right hon. Gentleman's own Constituency, when 300 members of the Amalgamated Engineering Union threw 20,000 of their trade union colleagues in various parts of the country out of work without a word of warning. This strike cost the country and the motor industry millions of pounds—and still no word of condemnation from and no action by the right hon. Gentleman. Furthermore, a most disturbing feature, as I understand it, is that exactly the same basis as originated that unofficial strike at Fisher and Ludlow a few weeks ago exists today, just as it existed for 12 months or so before that unofficial strike. What guarantee, what undertaking, can the right hon. Gentleman give that this will not flare up again into unofficial strike action, and what action is he taking about it? Is he consulting the Minister of Labour? I certainly hope so.

More recently we had a dock strike at Cardiff, which was a crippling blow at a time when all three hon. Members for Cardiff are trying to restore Cardiff as a port to be used substantially. On this occasion it involved hundreds, not thousands, of members of the Transport and General Workers Union, and I believe that it cost £1 million. It is, of course, impossible to assess what it cost Parliament, the country and the balance of payments. Still no action was taken. We read today of another unofficial strike, at John Summers in Flint-shire, threatening to put 12,000 steel workers out of work. I hope that the right hon. Gentleman is keeping a close eye on that.

There have been others. We had an unofficial strike at Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds in Cardiff when the unofficial strikers obtained temporary employment cards from the National Insurance office and got temporary jobs to tide them over while they were out on strike. Then we had the tea urn strike at another time. Happily this had less impact on the industrial scene, but this was no thanks to the right hon. Gentleman.

I want to be fair and reasonable. We do not expect the Secretary of State to intervene in every unofficial strike which takes place, but when his own industry is involved, when his own constituency is involved and when the country which he represents in the Cabinet is involved, then we are surely entitled to a little more courage and initiative than we have seen so far.

I want to take up with the right hon. Gentleman a question of social justice. When will he initiate an inquiry into the monstrous injustice which is taking place in the case of Michael Reardon, a ship repairer of Cardiff? Although this ex-Welsh Guardsman has been cleared of any charge by an inquiry comprising both the management and the Transport and General Workers Union—his union—he has been banned from work by his fellow trade unionists for the past nine months, and instead of earning an average wage of £37 a week, he and his family are living on National Assistance, and although he is reporting for work each day, he is never taken on strength.

The complaint against Mr. Michael Reardon was that when he was a supervisory charge hand at the Mount Stuart Dry Docks he exercised a discipline which was too tough for his colleagues. His version is that he believes in a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, but apparently that did not go down too well. I cannot help feeling that I wish that we had 100,000 Michael Reardons in this country today. We should then show some of these foreigners what competition means. Now, although he is admitted to be an excellent worker, he is ignored by the management, ostracised by his colleagues and deserted by his union when he needs it most. Even non-union labour is engaged in preference to him. Although Mr. Reardon is admitted by the union to be right and his colleagues wrong, nothing is done about the matter. It is a pity that the Secretary of State has left the Chamber, because I wanted to know whether he can do something to stop this blatant victimisation of one union member, for I feel that if it were a company rather than a union which was to blame the right hon. Gentleman would have something to say.

I cannot understand why the right hon. Gentleman has been so silent. Or perhaps I can, for it seems that the right hon. Gentleman's silence on this and other important issues stems from the fact that his office as Secretary of State for Wales does not carry the authority that was forecast and foreshadowed before the appointment was made. I regret that the right hon. Gentleman is not in his place because I was going to say something nice about him. He has occupied his office for about 12 months, is a man of obvious sincerity and considerable charm. I maintain that the experiment so far has been an utter failure and that it will continue to be unless we devise a means of increasing the authority of the post in future.

In the past hon. Gentlemen opposite have always complained that it was wrong that the office of the Minister of Welsh Affairs should be supplementary, tacked on, to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Home Office or whatever other Ministry it might be. Would it be possible to reverse the order; in other words, still to have the Secretary of State for Wales but to give him additional responsibilities and so increase his authority? I suggest that we consider tacking on the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources. After all, we have plenty of land and natural resources in Wales and we hope that the right hon. Gentleman will introduce a measure of leasehold reform in the coming Session, for this is a subject which is vital to Wales. Or perhaps we could tack on the Ministry of Power. After all, the Minister of Power is responsible for coal and Wales is a big coal-mining area. Indeed, we produce more coal than any other part of the United Kingdom. The right hon. Gentleman might even be able to resolve the curious case which is going on between the Welsh Gas Board and the Ministry of Power. On all counts, most people will agree that the present office of the Secretary of State for Wales is profoundly unsatisfactory.

For the first time we have a Secretary of State for Wales, assisted by a Minister of State and an Under-Secretary of State as well. He also enjoys a greatly enlarged staff. I hope that the House will be told by how many his staff has been increased. There have been many occasions today when there have been more members of his staff in the Ministry box than there have been on the back benches opposite. The right hon. Gentleman is entitled to more support from his back benchers. He got it last year, but not today. There is too much gloom in the air.

It seems that the representation—despite the increased staff and the increased number of Ministers appointed to look after Wales—is more ineffectual now than it was before. It is time that some of the promises were implemented, some of the forecasts achieved and some of the pledges redeemed. Unless some of these things happen in the near future, the people of Wales will take a cynical view of the Government and will be forced to the conclusion that the Labour Party means to treat Wales as a second-rate country.