§ Mr. Fortasked the President of the Board of Trade what are the Raw Cotton Commission's stocks of raw cotton in the main classes of staple lengths.
Mr. H. WilsonIt is not the normal practice to disclose details of the stocks of cotton in the United Kingdom. I assume, however, that the hon. Member is primarily interested in United States and similar cottons and in view of the general concern with this question, I am prepared to say that stocks of cotton in the United Kingdom of a staple length of less than 1⅛ in., aggregated 24 weeks' consumption at the beginning of March. This total includes many different growths and conceals serious shortages of some important individual growths, notably of U.S. cotton itself.