SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— E. 341 



of the region as a whole. Examination of the economic life of the area shows 

 conclusively its basis in the winning of coal. Coal-mining is the largest 

 single occupation, and coal shipments provide the largest item of trade. 

 Basic industries have been developed, and in each a fundamental connec- 

 tion with coal may be discerned. There is important regional specialisation 

 within the area. Its southern portion contains almost the whole of its iron 

 and steel industry and constructional engineering. Other activities tend 

 to be developed along each of the three main rivers, with the Tyne taking 

 the first position in importance. During the prolonged economic difficul- 

 ties of the post-war period the Tyne gained relatively to the Wear and Tees, 

 notably in shipbuilding and marine engineering. This makes complex 

 the question as to where future development in the North-East may be 

 anticipated. Successful industrial activity does not depend upon natural 

 advantages alone ; organisation too is important. The spaciousness of Tees- 

 side does not provide, therefore, either an obvious or a simple answer, though 

 it may well be that it is in this that the answer may finally be found. 



Mr. W. B. Crump. — The wool-textile industry of the Pennines in its physical 

 setting. 

 Much of the cotton region of Lancashire had formerly a share in the 

 woollen and worsted industries that are now restricted to the West Riding. 

 This wider textile region of the Pennines viewed as a whole is almost co- 

 terminous with the Millstone Grit and Lower Coal Measures where these 

 are adjacent. The industry thus had at its service abundant soft water and 

 water-power, iron and coal. Its market-towns, to which the cloth was 

 brought for sale, were, with one exception, situated upon or near to the 

 Lower Coal Measures. The higher, wilder country of the Millstone Grit, 

 scored by innumerable doughs and narrow valleys, was their hinterland ; 

 wool was spun and cloth was woven in its upland villages and scattered 

 farmsteads along the flanks of the moors. This is the historic weaving 

 district, and cotton has inherited the tradition. Fulling-mills driven by 

 water-power began the descent into the valley bottoms before 1300. and 

 more so after the dissolution of the monasteries. After 1780, when first 

 scribbling-mills and then spinning-mills sprang up on every little stream and 

 canals threaded the valleys, the descent became an avalanche. But manu- 

 facturing still clung to the uplands, for weaving was long done on the hand- 

 loom, and when the power-loom came the manufacturer could often find 

 an outcrop of coal on the hillside to drive his steam-engine. 



Mr. H. C. K. Henderson.— T^e distribution of occupations in the West 

 Riding, with particular reference to textiles. 



The source material for this paper consists of the 1921 Census, the List 

 of Mines and the large-scale maps. 



The method adopted has been to construct circular graphs to a scale 

 relative to the total number of persons occupied in each of the districts 

 quoted in the Census. Angular divisions represent the proportions em- 

 ployed in the several groups of occupations— by this means it is possible to 

 delimit the extent of respective activities of the population ; in this case, 

 that of the textile industry is of most interest. Thus it is found that the 

 region of textile workers is essentially to the west of the coalfield, and that, 

 once the mining region is entered, the textiles die out just as suddenly as 

 the mining increases in importance ; similarly, southwards there is a sudden 

 change in the leading industry from textiles to metallurgy. Makers of 



