The Petition states that the decline in the textile industry has caused a great deal of unemployment in the area and that, as a consequence of the closing down of mills, there is at present a feeling of great despondency in the town. It continues: Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your Honourable House will take immediate action to limit the import of cheap textiles produced under unfair competitive conditions; will devote itself to saving the cotton towns of Lancashire from becoming derelict by taking immediate action to stimulate and revive the cotton industry, and will use all possible means to encourage the establishment of new industries in the County Borough of Burnley. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.