HC Deb 11 May 1938 vol 335 c1605W
Mr. Edwards

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is now in a position to make a statement as to what action the Government propose to take to avoid the closing down of blast furnaces?

Captain Wallace:

An Order has been made to-day, on the recommendation of the Import Duties Advisory Committee, imposing a duty on foreign pig iron.

TABLE I.
Warships under construction at the dates and places shown, according to information supplied by the Admiralty.
Place. 1st April, 1938. 1st April, 1937. 1st April, 1936.
Number of ships. Tonnage (in standard displacement tons). Number of ships. Tonnage (in standard displacement tons). Number of ships. Tonnage (in standard displacement tons).
United Kingdom 151 560,000 117 385,000 69 180,000
Of which at Greenock 9 17,780 6 20,860 4 13,320
Other places in Clyde area 42 165,933 31 66,282 16 38,760
complete statistics regarding warship tonnage under construction abroad cannot be given.
TABLE II.
Merchant vessels of too tons gross and over under construction at the dates and places shown, according to Lloyd's Register Shipbuilding Returns.
Place. 31st March, 1938. 31st March, 1937. 31st March, 1936.
Number of Ships. Gross Tonnage. Number of Ships. Gross Tonnage. Number of Ships. Gross Tonnage.
Great Britain and Ireland 239 1,089,077 233 1,014,454 220 842,361
Of which at Greenock 26 146,765 27 146,075 29 141,016
Other places in Clyde Area 54 288,420 52 279,507 52 245,270
Total Clyde Area 80 435,185 79 425,582 81 386,286
World, excluding Great Britain and Ireland. 588 1,805,619 470 1,437,597 317 977,753