§ 51. Mr. Fairhurstasked the President of the Board of Trade how many spinning mills and weaving establishments have respaced their machinery; how many are in the process of so doing; and how many have not yet commenced such work.
§ Mr. J. EdwardsI regret that the detailed information requested is not available. A considerable amount of respacing has been carried out, and a sample inquiry of nearly 600 weaving sheds in fact showed that 60 per cent. had been respaced.
§ 52. Mr. Fairhurstasked the President of the Board of Trade how many automatic looms have been installed in the cotton textile industry since 1st July, 1946; and if he is satisfied with the present rate of delivery.
§ Mr. J. EdwardsThe preliminary results of a recent survey of the cotton and rayon weaving industry showed that there were approximately 27,000 automatic looms, and approximately 3,000 Lancashire looms fitted with automatic attachments, in the industry on 1st September, 1948. These figures compared with 18,000 and 1,350 respectively 828 in 1939. Information concerning the position at 1st July, 1946, is not available, but the bulk of the increases have taken place since that date. I am not entirely satisfied with the recent rate of delivery of automatic looms to the home market, but an improvement has been arranged for the near future.