§ 41. Mr. T. J. Brooksasked the President of the Board of Trade the number of units of the following basic industries operating in the year 1937: collieries, ironstone mines, blast furnaces, steel producing plants, coke ovens and shipyards.
§ The President of the Board of Trade (Mr. Dalton)As the answer contains a number of figures, I will, with my hon. Friend's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the answer:
§ The numbers of collieries, ironstone mines, blast furnaces and coke oven were as follows:
| Description. | 1937. |
| Collieries: | |
| Number of mines at work in Great Britain | 2,120 |
| Ironstone Mines: | |
| Number in operation in Great Britain | 37 |
| Blast Furnaces: | |
| Average number of furnaces in blast in United Kingdom | 125 |
| Coke Ovens: | |
| Number in use in Great Britain | 6,980 |
§ The latest information available for shipyards and steel producing plants is for 1935. For that year the number of shipyards was 158 and the number of plants producing steel of different descriptions (as recorded at the 1935 Census of Production) was as follows:
| Description. | No. | |
| Steel ingots: | ||
| Other than of special steel | … | 64 |
| Of special steel: | ||
| Stainless and non-corrosive | … | 21 |
| Other descriptions | … | 56 |
| Steel castings, direct: | ||
| Other than of special steel | … | 30 |
| Of special steel: | ||
| Stainless and non-corrosive | … | 12 |
| Other descriptions | … | 16 |