§ SIR JAMES JOICEY (Durham, Chester-le-Street)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to a resolution, passed unanimously by the Mining Association of Great Britain, to the effect that to meet the requirements of the Government this year, and to give time for full inquiry, the money to be produced by the tax should be raised this year by a tax on the whole output of the Kingdom for last year, and that an impartial tribunal be appointed by Parliament invested with the fullest powers to consider and report on the advisability of the proposed tax on export coal, its incidence and its probable effects upon the coal trade, the workmen employed therein, and the country generally; and whether, if such a proposal is submitted to him, he will be disposed to consider it favourably.
MR. JAMES LOWTHERBefore the right hon. Gentleman answers the question, may I ask whether it has been brought to his knowledge that the resolution referred to was submitted to the various branch mining associations, and that some of them dissented from it?
§ SIR M. HICKS BEACHI do not think that the facts are quite accurately represented in the question. I understand that the Council of the Mining Association have made a suggestion of this kind, the precise nature of which I do not quite understand, to their local associations, with the view of considering the answers that may be received; but I have seen it stated that one at any rate of these local associations is opposed to it. The hon. Baronet's question is therefore too hypothetical for it to be possible for me to reply to it, except by saying generally that any proposals that might be made by the Mining Association on behalf of the whole trade would be respectfully considered by His Majesty's Government.