§ 18. Mr. Edelmanasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been drawn to the decline in output of machine tools at Alfred Herberts, Ltd., Coventry, and the redundancy at Messrs. Wickmans, Ltd., Coventry, manufacturers of machine tools; and what action he has taken to stimulate output in the industry in view of the urgent demand in other industries as well as in the North American market for machine tools manufactured in this country.
§ Sir D. EcclesYes, Sir; in the case of certain types of machine tools demand has slackened over the past year. Output in general has been well maintained 757 and British exports to North America so far this year are 60 per cent. higher than last year, with the result that Canada and the United States are now among the industry's best overseas markets.
§ Mr. EdelmanDespite that fact, is the Minister not aware that the situation, generally speaking, is serious not only for Coventry but for the whole country? Is he aware that the level of orders for forward delivery of machine tools is lower than it has been since the war? In those circumstances and as the whole of industrial progress depends upon the machine tool industry, what concrete action will the Minister take?
§ Sir D. EcclesIt is true that orders are less for certain types of machine tools, but for the heavy machine tools they are still so large as to cause considerable anxiety. I think that the machine tool industry will run better if it has not quite such a long order book.