§ 57. Mr. Douglas Marshallasked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that the home demand for china clay is covered by existing production approximately two and a half times and that the surplus of the home market is not sufficient to meet the export demanded due to the lack of mechanical equipment and shortage of export shipping space; and if he will take immediate action to put right these matters in the interests of our export drive.
§ Mr. BelcherIn order to help the china clay industry to expand its output and its exports, an increasing proportion of which are, I am glad to say, going to dollar markets, we have recently allocated to it more coal and are doing our best to help it build up its labour force. The Board of Trade is discussing the industry's shipping difficulties with the Ministry of Transport, and if 1010 the hon. Member will let me have details of cases where the lack of mechanical equipment is seriously holding up production I will be glad to investigate them.