§ Mr. FINNEYasked the Minister of Transport whether his attention has been called to the serious shortage of ball clay at the pottery factories, Stoke-on-Trent-owing to failure of transport facilities; whether he is aware that the clay is forwarded in trucks from Newton Abbot only as far as Gloucester and district, and is there unloaded from the trucks, to be loaded up again into small boats and forwarded by canal to its destination; that this method of transport is not sufficiently expeditious to keep the factories supplied with clay, that the stocks of clay on the works are nearly exhausted, and that the factories are on the point of being stopped and the workpeople thrown out of employment; and whether he can arrange for the clay to be carried the whole distance by rail and so avoid the delay, that the potting industry can be kept going, the export trade kept up, and the workpeople found employment?
§ Sir ERIC GEDDESMy attention has been called to the matter to which the hon. Member refers. Inquiries have been made which show that the Great Western Railway Company are providing sufficient trucks to carry the clay by rail as far as Gloucester, whence it is forwarded by canal to its destination. This procedure is no doubt less expeditious than if the clay was carried the whole distance to the potteries by rail, but, in view of the shortage of trailway trucks; I am satisfied that it is the best and most economical one possible, and that it is inadvisable to change it for the present.