§ Mr. J. Griffithsasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will state the number of mills in operation in the tinplate, steel sheet, and galvanised sheet works in South Wales for each year from 1929 to 1938, and the number of work-people employed at those mills in each year?
§ Mr. StanleyInformation as to the number of tinplate and steel sheet mills working at the end of each month is published, for each of the years up to 1936, in a table on page 321 of the latest issue of the Statistical Abstract for the United Kingdom, to which I would refer the hon. Member. For 1937 the yearly mean number of mills working at establishments for which particulars were obtained was 478, and the mean for the first II months of 1938 was 323. A new edition of the Statistical Abstract, which will include the figures for 1937, will be published early in January. This information is not, however, necessarily complete and it applies to the whole country and not to South Wales alone.
3118Wlanded at the principal ports in this country, including Greenock?
§ Mr. StanleyAs regards the first and second parts of the question the desired particulars are set out on page 67 of Volume 11 of the "Annual Statement of Trade of the United Kingdom" for 1937. The following statement shows the total quantity and declared value of the imports of molasses and invert sugar landed at the principal ports of the United Kingdom during each of the last rive years.
With regard to the second part of the question, the number of insured persons aged 16 to 64 employed in the tinplate industry in Wales and Monmouthshire (including ancillary workers) about the middle of each year is estimated to have been approximately as follow:
1929 … … … 22,000 1930 … … … 20,700 1931 … … … 16,900 1932 … … … 14,100 1933 … … … 19,900 1934 … … … 17,800 1935 … … … 16,300 1936 … … … 17,400 1937 … … … 23,000 1938 … … … 10,700 I regret that corresponding information for steel sheet works is not available.