§ MR. STAPLETONasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether, inasmuch as a Committee has been granted to inquire into the cause of the present dearness and scarcity of coal, and to report thereon to the House, the Government will move for the appointment of a Committee to inquire into the means of economizing fuel, with a view to prevent the unnecessary exhaustion of our coal fields, as well as to aid in relieving the present distress by collecting all the available information on the subject and placing it before the building trade and the public in an authentic form and with such authority as may belong to a Report made to this House by a Select Committee?
MR. GLADSTONEI am of opinion that the fact that this House has already appointed a Committee to examine into the present high price of coal is a reason against the appointment of another Committee for examining a subject so very near to it as that indicated by my hon. Friend's Question. A Royal Commission of very high authority has sat for the purpose of ascertaining, as far as can be ascertained, the state of our coal supply; and I think the Report of that Commission, together with the labours of the present Committee, ought to be sufficient to produce the results which my hon. Friend desires.
§ Afterwards—