§ Mr. A. G. C. HARVEYasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will state the number of persons employed in the cotton trade in the year 1880 and in the year 1907, giving the average weekly wages earned?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLThe number of workpeople employed and wages paid in the cotton trade were not ascertained in either of the years mentioned in the question. At the Censuses of 1881 and 1901 the numbers employed were 503,487 and 545,959 respectively. The numbers employed in factories, according to Returns issued by the Home Office, were 482,903 (including 61,923 half-timers) in 1878, and 523,030 (including 17,651 half-timers) in 1904. A Report dealing with wages in the Cotton and other Textile Trades will be issued almost immediately, and will give comparative wages in 1886 and 1906.