§ 78. Mr. Wyattasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that it is still almost impossible to obtain gas mantles in Birmingham; and what further steps he is taking to ease the position.
§ Mr. BelcherThe position has not changed materially since the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for50W Burslem (Mr. Edward Darcey) on 27th January. The output of mantles is improving in spite of seven days' loss of production through the recent power cuts, but there is still a general scarcity throughout the country and considerable arrears of demand remain to be overtaken. The number of mantles sent to the Birmingham gas undertaking and wholesalers in the last four weeks was well up to the average distributed throughout the country.