HOMAGE TO LANCASHIRE: THE COTTON INDUSTRY, 1945-65. by John Singleton B.A. Lancaster, M.Sc. London (L.S.E.). A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ECONOMICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LANCASTER. LANCASTER SEPTEMBER, 1986. ProQuest Number: 11003725 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11003725 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. I would like to express my gratitude to a number of people who have helped in the preparation of this work. * I am indebted to Baloo, John Channon, Maurice Kirby, Mary Rose, Bob Rothschild, and Jim Taylor for their invaluable comments on earlier drafts of various chapters; to Marguerite Dupree for allowing me to consult the Streat Diaries at Cambridge; and to the late Elizabeth Brunner for arranging my return to Lancaster in 1983. There are two people who deserve special thanks: John King, for being an efficient, accessible, and constructive supervisor; and Oliver Westall, for his encouragement and guidance over the last eight years. ABSTRACT. HOMAGE TO LANCASHIRE: THE COTTON INDUSTRY, 1945-65. This thesis analyzes the fortunes of the U.K. cotton industry during two sharply contrasting periods: 1945-51 and 1951-65. Chapters are devoted to government policy, investment, labour practices, coljusive agreements, and changes in the structure of the industry. During World War Two British cotton textile production was concentrated in a nucleus of mills. After the war output and exports expanded within the constraints set by a chronic shortage of labour. In the late 1940s the Attlee government regarded cotton as a spearhead of the national export drive, and the temporary elimination of Japanese competition ensured that cloth woven in Lancashire was in high demand throughout the world. By the early 1950s Japan's cotton industry was fully recovered from its wartime depredations, while India, Hong Kong, and Pakistan were rapidly emerging as major exporters of cotton textiles. Lancashire's fate was sealed. Decline continued unabated until the remnants of the industry were absorbed by the man-made fibre producers during the 1960s. 'Homage to Lancashire' places the decline of the cotton industry within the context of British de-industrialization. Britain was the technological leader in textiles when the industry was established in iv the late eighteenth century. By the mid twentieth century most countries had access to the same technology as Britain. Consequently the centre of gravity of the cotton industry passed to Asia with its lower labour costs. The tragedy is that this did not happen earlier. 200,000 workers were employed in Lancashire"s^mills during the 1950s, representing a serious misallocation of resources, and illustrating Britain's failure to secure an expeditious transfer of factors of production from declining industries to those with a long-term future. v Contents. Acknowledgements Abstract List of tables Abbreviations 1 COTTON AND THE DE-INDUSTRIALIZATION OF BRITAIN 2 PLANNING FOR COTTON, 1945-51 3 LABOUR SUPPLY IN THE COTTON INDUSTRY, 1945-51 4 TIME AND MOTION: WORKLOADS AND WAGE LISTS IN THE COTTON INDUSTRY, 1945-50 5 INVESTMENT IN THE LANCASHIRE COTTON INDUSTRY, 1945-51 6 DECLINE AND FALL: THE LANCASHIRE COTTON INDUSTRY, 1950-70 Appendix I: British exports to W. Africa, South Africa, and Australia Appendix II: An accounting procedure 7 INVESTMENT IN THE LANCASHIRE COTTON INDUSTRY, 1950-65 8 LABOUR IN THE COTTON INDUSTRY, 1950-65 9 IN RESTRAINT OF TRADE: THE COTTON INDUSTRY, PRICE FIXING, AND THE CAMPAIGN FOR PROTECTION, 1950-65 10 CONCENTRATION IN THE COTTON INDUSTRY, 1950-70 11 THE END OF THE LINE Bibliography vi List of Tables. 2.1 The British cotton and allied textiles industry, 1937-50 61 3.1 Employment and machine activity in cotton spinning, 1945-51 85 3.2 Employment and machine activity in cotton weaving, 1945-51 86 5.1 U.K. output, exports, and imports of ring spindles, 1937-51 179 i 5.2 World cotton spinning capacity, 1939-50 181 5.3 U.K. output, exports, and imports of automatic looms, 1936-52 183 5.4 World cotton and rayon weaving capacity, 1936-52 184 5.5 Demand and capacity utilization in the British cotton textile industry, 1937-50 194 5.6 Index of cotton textile shares, 1938-51 196 5.7 Net profits and textile machinery prices in the Lancashire cotton industry, 1930-51 199 5.8 Cost savings from re-equipment, 1948 203 6.1 The share of U.K. cloth exports in world trade, 1937-68 226 6.2 The U.K. cotton and allied textiles spinning industry, 1950-70 227 6.3 The U.K. cotton and allied textiles weaving industry, 1950-70 228 6.4 U.K. exports of cotton cloth to selected markets, 1938-69 229 6.5 British cloth imports from selected countries, 1938-69 230 6.6 Percentages unemployed and on short-time in the cotton industry, 1950-70 237 6.7 Factors accounting for the decline in employment in the U.K. cotton industry, 1950-70 253 6.8 Prices of British and overseas cloth in the U.K. market, Jan.-Feb. 1962 259 6.9 Comparative production costs: 20s yarn, 1967 260 vi i 6 . 10 Comparative production costs: cotton/ polyester shirting cloth, 1967 261 6 . 11 Cloth exports to British West Africa, 1937-69 268 6 . 12 Cloth exports to South Africa, 1938-70 269 6. 13 Cloth exports to Australia, 1938-70 270 7. 1 Productive capacity and excess capacity in the spinning section, 1950-65 283 % 7.2 Productive capacity and excess capacity in the weaving section, 1950-65 284 7.3 Automatic and semi-automatic looms as a proportion of all looms in place in selected countries, 1939-64 285 7.4 Comparative investment expenditure per operative in the cotton industries of selected countries, 1954-63 291 7.5 Ring spindles in the course of erection, 1951-7 292 7.6 Looms in the course of erection, 1952-8 293 7.7 Cotton textile share prices, 1950-64 298 7.8 Net profits of the leading cotton textile combines, 1950-65 302 7.9 Net profits of independent cotton textile companies, 1950-65 303 7. 10 Export prices of new ring spindles and automatic looms, 1950-60 305 7. 11 Shuttleless looms as a percentage of all looms in selected cotton industries, 1958-68 322 7. 12 The case for re-equipment in spinning, 1968 326 7. 13 The case for re-equipment in weaving, 1968 327 8 . 1 Shift systems in the British cotton industry, 1954-64 355 8.2 Machine hours worked per year in selected cotton industries 356 8.3 Machine complements for Lancashire loom weavers, 1948-55 363 8.4 Unemployment in cotton, 1950-70 369 VI 11 9. 1 Prices of raw cotton, yarn, and cloth, 1946-64 397 9.2 Rayon cloth prices, 1952-64 409 10. 1 U.K. cotton industry: size of firm, 1939-58 452 10.2 Spindles and looms in vertically integrated (spinning-weaving) firms as a percentage of total spinning and weaving capacity, 1939-56 453 10.3 Five firm concentration ratios in cotton and allied textiles, 1959-68 457 10.4 Concentration in industry groups: shares of five largest firms in manufacturing net output, 1957-69 458 ix Abbreviations. A.E.R.: American Economic Review. A.W.A.: Amalgamated Weavers' Association. B.S.D.A.: British Spinners' and Doublers' Association Cardroom Workers: National Association of Card, Blowing, and Ring Room Operatives. C.B.C.: Cotton Board Conference Papers. C.B.Q.S.R.: Cotton Board Quarterly Statistical Review. C.J.E.: Cambridge Journal of Economics. C.M.C.: Cotton Manufacturing Commission. C.S.M.A.: Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' Association. C.S.O.: Central Statistical Office. Ec.H.R.: Economic History Review. E.J.: Economic Journal. F.M.C.S.A.: Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' Associations. G.A.T.T.: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. G.M.R.O.: Greater Manchester Record Office. I.F.M.C.S.A.: International Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' Associations. J.C.C.T.O.: Joint Committee of Cotton Trade Organisations. J.E.H.: Journal of Economic History. J.P.K.E.: Journal of Post Keynesian Economics. J.R.S.S.: Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. L.R.O.: Lancashire Record Office. Manchester School: Manchester School of Social and Economic Studies. O.E.C.D.: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. O.E.P.: Oxford Economic Papers. X Operative Spinners: Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton Spinners and Twiners. P.R.O.: Public Record Office. Q.J.E.: Quarterly Journal of Economics. R.W.A.: Rayon Weaving Association. U.T.F.W.A.: United Textile Factory Workers' Association. 1 Chapter 1. COTTON AND THE DE-INDUSTRIALIZATION OF BRITAIN. The mills of Lancashire are silent. Little remains of am industry which once dominated Britain's overseas trade, and inspired a mixture of horror amd admiration aimong foreign visitors. Recently, the Bolton steeplejack Fred DibneLh has become a television celebrity as a * result of his skilful demolition of mill chimneys.