Britain: An official handbook > 1966

324
BRITAIN: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
Glass
Cement
PAPER, PRINTING
AND PUBLISHING
and Cornwall. It supplies nearly all home needs for domestic and industrial
pottery and its exports have recently been at an annual rate of about £20
million. Canada and the United States are important markets.
The largest section of the industry, about half, makes domestic pottery,
sub-divided into china, earthenware, stoneware, jet and Rockingham; the
other main divisions are glazed tiles, sanitary ware and electrical ware, but
other specialised industrial products such as acid-proof stoneware, porous
ceramics and laboratory porcelain are also manufactured. Among famous
makes of British pottery are Wedgwood, Spode, Royal Worcester, Royal
Doulton, Minton, Coalport and Royal Crown Derby. Total sales of domestic
pottery were valued at ^38-6 million in 1964, including export sales of
^15-2 million.
The 350 firms in the industry employ about 67,000 people, of whom some
40,000 are women. There has been considerable re-equipment; gas or
electrically fired kilns have replaced almost all the coal-fired kilns and new
decorating techniques and automatic and semi-automatic machinery have
been introduced.
Britain’s glass industry is the third largest in the world. The section of the
industry devoted to the manufacture of plate and sheet glass in their various
forms is organised for quantity production, much of it in the form of the
‘float’ glass process, which was developed in Britain. Its use for internal
decoration and as a finish for internal and external walls has greatly increased
in recent years. Large quantities of safety glass are produced for the motor
industry. Other products include glass bricks, tubular glass (produced on a
large scale), mirrors, lamp and bulb glass, scientific and medical glassware,
glass fibres, and all types of glass container (often made by fully automatic
machinery). A traditional product is hand-made lead crystal glassware of very
high quality, much of which is exported.
Direct exports of glass and glassware reached the record value of £2$-2
million in 1964. Those of glass were worth £16 million, the most important
markets being Australia, South Africa, the United States and Canada. The
figures included ^4-2 million of float glass.
Collective research is undertaken by the British Glass Industry Research
Association, and much research work is also carried on by the Department
of Glass Technology at Sheffield University.
The cement industry of the United Kingdom is chiefly concerned with the
manufacture of Portland cement. Invented by Joseph Aspdin and patented
in 1824, ^is material and the methods of its production have been the subject
of continuous technical improvement and intensive research. The capacity
of the industry, which has some 18,000 employees, has increased substantially
since the war to meet the growing demands of the building industry and
further expansion is planned. About one-third of production comes from
plants situated in the Dartford-Gravesend district of Kent. Annual output,
which reached 7-7 million tons in 1938, had risen to the record level of
16-7 million tons in 1964. One group of companies is responsible for about
two-thirds of total output. In 1964 direct exports of cement, which have been
tending to fall, were worth £2-7 million.
The paper, printing and publishing industries have a labour force of over
632,000 including 97,000 in the manufacture of paper and board, 70,000 in
the production of cardboard boxes and packing cases, 141,000 in the publishing