Mr. H. Wilsonasked the President of the Board of Trade to state the number of groups in the cotton-spinning industry who submitted reorganisation plans under the Cotton Spinning Re-equipment Subsidy Act, 1948; the total number of mule equivalent spindles controlled by these groups, and the proportion they bear to the industry as a whole; the number of mills and the number and proportion of spindles affected; the total cost of modernisation involved; and the total subsidy paid or due to be paid.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftTwenty-seven groups submitted reorganisation plans under the Act, but one of these later notified its intention to make no application for subsidy. On 15th August, 1945, the 26 groups in respect of which applications for subsidy have been or are being considered, controlled 21.5 million mule equivalent spindles, representing 51 per cent. of the mule equivalent spindles installed in the industry as a whole on that date. The plans submitted by these groups affected 145 mills and 12 million mule equivalent spindles, representing 30 per cent. of the mule equivalent spindles in the industry and 59 per cent. of the mule equivalent spindles controlled by these groups. The total cost of the modernisation involved is estimated to be £11.6 million and the total subsidy paid or due to be paid is estimated at £2.9 million.
Mr. H. Wilsonasked the President of the Board of Trade to give figures in his possession indicating the pace of re-equipment in the Lancashire cotton industry, spinning and weaving, since the war, and, particularly, since 1951.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftComplete figures of the total amount of new equipment delivered to the Lancashire cotton industry, including home produced and imported textile machinery and associated equipment are not available. The following estimates of home market deliveries of home-produced textile machinery for132W cotton and staple rayon spinning and weaving, however, offer a reasonably reliable guide to the pace of total re-equipment in the industry.
Year For spinning and processes subsequent to spinning but preparatory to weaving For weaving £ million £ million 1947 3.0 1.5 1948 3.7 1.7 1949 4.5 2.5 1950 4.3 2.8 1951 6.2 3.1 1952 6.3 2.8
Mr. H. Wilsonasked the President of the Board of Trade to state the number of automatic looms installed in the Lancashire cotton industry, including rayon weaving, and the proportion these bear to the total number of looms in the industry in 1938 and representative postwar years to the latest date available.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftFigures for 1938 are not available, but the following estimates, based on returns from United Kingdom mills weaving cotton, rayon and mixture fabrics, have been made before and since the war:
— Automatic looms Approximate percentage of total looms erected in running mills 31st December, 1936 15,224 3 1st September, 1948 25,719 7 31st July, 1952 34,282 10