Abstract
THE industrial region of West Cumberland coincides in the main with the coalfield and has its foci in the ports of Whitehaven, Workington and Maryport. With a total population of 150,000, there were 35,340 insured persons in 1932 and 36,870 in 1937. Out of the 1932 total, no less than 15,577, or nearly 45 per cent, were unemployed, and West Cumberland was scheduled as a depressed or 'special' area by the Special Areas Act of 1934. A careful and detailed study1 by Prof. G. H. J. Daysh (at present directing the regional research work of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning) has surveyed the rise and fall of the chief industries and serves to emphasize the overwhelming dependence on coalmining, iron and steel—industries which were especially affected by the depression of the 'thirties. The activities of the Special Areas Commissioner, Mr. E. G. Sarsfield-Hall, aided by the West Cumberland Development Council, were accordingly directed towards securing a diversification of industry and particularly to attracting light industries able to employ the available female labour.
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References
"West Cumberland (with Alston), A Survey of Industrial Facilities" . (Whitehaven: West Cumberland Development Council, Ltd., 1938.)
"An Industrial Plan for West Cumberland, 1944." By W. C. Devereux. (Slough: High Duty Alloys, Ltd., Trading Estate.)
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STAMP, L. West Cumberland and its Utilization. Nature 154, 647 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1038/154647a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/154647a0
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