§ Mr. LeaveyI beg to present two Petitions on the subject of the cotton industry, one from the people of the Urban District of Whitworth and the other from the Urban District of Crompton, sometimes known as Shaw. On the Petition from Whitworth there are 1,153 signatures, and on the Petition from Crompton there are 2,573 signatures.
As the House knows, several Petitions on this subject have been presented in the last few months, and these have adopted wording similar to that in the two Petitions which I now seek to present. I hope very much, however, that this will not be a reason for supposing that these Petitions are presented with any less sincerity than those which have preceded them.
Both these Petitions refer to the background of the cotton industry in these towns. Both refer to the dwindling call on the traditional skills of the people in those districts, and in the case of the Petition from the Urban District of Whitworth, reference is made to the reduction in the overall population of that area of 2 some 10 per cent. in the last twenty-six years. Furthermore, both refer to the threat and to the existence of some unemployment in those districts. Finally, both Petitions finish with the traditional wording, and I will read out the wording inscribed upon one:
Wherefore, your Petitioners pray your Honourable House to take action without delay to limit the import of cheap textiles and to devote itself to saving the cotton towns of Lancashire from becoming derelict by taking action to stimulate and revive the textile industry.And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
§ To lie upon the Table.