SALE OF TEXTILE EXPORTS NOW BRITAIN’S PROBLEM

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22696, 22 July 1948, Page 5

SALE OF TEXTILE EXPORTS NOW BRITAIN’S PROBLEM

(11.30 a.m.) LONDON, July 21. The present rate of coal production would make it impossible to

maintain the export programme, said the President of the Board ol' Trade, Mr. 11. Wilson.

There had been considerable exports of raw wool and the increase in wool production had been continuous, exceeding the average for 1947. The rate of deliveries of finished cloth had increased more slowly, being 13 per cent, up on June, 1947.

Exports of machinery were a record and had recently doubled the average of 1938. Mr. Wilson said Britain had "cracked” the mid-1948 target of 140 per cent, and had advanced considerably towards the end-of-the-year target of 150 per cent. That was a very fine achievement, Mr. Wilson added.

The woollen industry was finding the problem one of selling rather than production because of import restrictions abroad which were hitting the textile industry badly. This problem of selling and producing cheaply enough was a big difficulty in many industries.