The problem to which my hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Mr. Rhodes) has so ably drawn attention is one that is met with in my constituency, where woollen cloth is manufactured. In Batley and Morley it is well known that the undetected presence of even tiny pinheads of tar causes unsightly marks when the piece is subjected to heat in the later processes of manufacture. The British Wool Federation has tried for many years to educate farmers about the advisability of marketing wool in a good, clean condition, but, so prevalent has become the use of tar, that the Wool Marketing Board, which buys all wool clipped in the United Kingdom, has now found it necessary to impose a financial penalty of 4d. per lb. on fleeces shorn in this 1953 season and marked with tar.

I have made inquiries about the fleeces coming from Devon selecting that at random from among wool growing areas. I am informed that there is very little trouble with tar on the Devon breed of sheep, which are usually kept in fields, but that it is found on Scotch sheep that graze on Dartmoor, and on the Exmoor Horn sheep that roam on Exmoor. These findings support the contention that the culprits are usually hill sheep farmers who use tar, paint, or other objectionable marking substances because they are cheap, easily applied, recognisable at a distance, and capable of withstanding wet, hot, or hard weather and rough wear on growing wool.

Manufacturers in the West Riding, whose world-famous products are of immense value to the nation, are complaining bitterly about the contamination of wool with tar, pitch and paint. The petition of persons in the West Riding of Yorkshire, presented to this House 200 years ago, on 10th January, 1752, complained of the iniquitous practice of the wool growers of this county in laying upon the fleece excessive quantities of injurious marking stuff. Unfortunately, Parliament did nothing to help; the iniquitous practice has persisted, it has become more widespread recently, and I hope that the Minister will put forward useful ideas for discouraging this troublesome and wasteful practice.