§ Colonel Stoddart-Scottasked the President of the Board of Trade why large quantities of cotton linters are being imported at a total annual cost of £3,495,318 while our own flock factories are out of action owing to lack of Government orders; whether he is aware that, as a result, the British public are buying inferior bedding at high prices; and whether he will take action to remedy this state of affairs.
§ Mr. H. WilsonCotton linters are imported for a large number of essential uses. They are not displacing flock as a filling for soft mattresses but are required by the bedding trade in the form of cotton felt for spring interior mattresses, of which only limited numbers are produced. The reduction in Government orders for mattresses is due to the falling off in demand for bedding for the Armed Forces, but the industry is making more bedding than before the war, and of this a high proportion contains flock. Where cotton felt is used under utility specifications a strict price control is maintained.