§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Supply if he will give in tabular form the number of industries covered by the term "Iron and Steel Industry" as used by his Department; the number of companies in each separate industry; and the approximate amount of capital and persons employed in each of these industries.
§ Mr. G. R. StraussFor purposes of administration the iron and steel industry it regarded as comprising undertakings engaged on a number of diverse production activities. The extent of these activities is indicated in Table I below, showing the number of undertakings engaged in each. Many undertakings are engaged in more than one activity and therefore appear under more than one heading in the Table. Details of the labour employed in the industry are given in Table II. Information concerning the capital employed in the different sections of the industry is not available.
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TABLE I. IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY. Number of Producers by Trades. Iron Ore 55 Pig Iron 43 Ferro Alloys 22 High Speed Steel 94 Billets, Blooms and Slabs 32 Sheet and Tinplate Bars 22 Heavy and Medium Plates 35 Heavy, Rails, Sleepers and Fishplates 17 Armour Plate 5 Other Heavy Rolled Products 47 Light re-rolled Products 124 Wrought Iron 26 Bright Steel Bars 48 Cold Rolled Strip 31 Sheets (Coated and Uncoated) 43 Tinplate, Terneplate and Blackplate 17 Tubes and Pipes 29 Wrought Iron Pipe Fittings 38 Drop Forgings 189 Railway Tyres, Wheels and Axles 12 Other Forgings 68 Wire Rods 15 Wire 94 Wire Rope 34 Wire Netting 8 Wire Chain Link Fencing 16 Wire Nails 9 Reinforcement Fabric 10 Springs (certain) 48 Bolts, Nuts, Rivets, Screws, and Washers 183 Steel Castings 98 Iron Castings 2,100
TABLE II. LABOUR EMPLOYED AS AT WEEK ENDED 1OTH JANUARY, 1948. Trade. Total Employed. 1. General Process Workers— Iron Ore Mines 4,560 Coke Ovens 3,326 Blast Furnaces 10,902 Steel Melting 20,906 Rolling Mills 45,184 Sheet Making 18,097 Tin plate 12,888 Drop Forging 9,591 Other Forging 8,295 Steel Foundries 18,902 Wire Manufactures 17,111 Wrought Iron 2,176 Tubes and Fittings 20,266 TOTAL 192,204 General and Maintenance 94,008 Clerical Workers 25,666 TOTAL 311,878 2. Bolts, Nuts— Process and Maintenance 26,540 Clerical Workers 3,622 3. Ferro-Alloys— Process and Maintenance 1,739 Clerical Workers 186 4. Iron Foundries— Process and Maintenance 138,168 Clerical Workers 5,968 Total, Sections 1 to 4— Process and General Maintenance 452,659 Clerical Workers 35,442 488,101