Mr. Edwardsasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will state the present total productive capacity of blast furnaces, and the present working capacity, giving the number of blast furnaces idle?
§ Mr. CrossThe capacity of blast furnaces in this country at the present time is about 10,000,000 tons of pig iron a year. The production of pig iron last month was at the rate of about 7,300,000 tons a year. Of the total number of effective furnaces in existence, 35 were idle at the end of last month.