35.
asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware of the shortage of valves and spare parts for wireless sets; and, in view of the numerous instructions issued by Government Departments as to food, clothing coupons, National Service Regulations, etc., by wireless, will he make the spare parts more easily available?
As the House knows, the production of valves and other components for civilian wireless sets is limited by the heavy demands of the Fighting Services for wireless equipment of all kinds. Nevertheless, the production of valves in this country for civilian sets is very considerable, and, in addition, substantial quantities of American type valves have been imported from the United States. But there are still shortages of a few types of valves. As regards components, the principal difficulty has been with electrolytic condensers. As I informed my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich (Mr. J. Dugdale) on 19th January last, steps have already been taken to increase the production of these.