HC Deb 04 December 1911 vol 32 cc1012-3
Mr. FELL

asked the hon. Member for the Doncaster Division as representing the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, if a lease has been granted, or is proposed to be granted by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, to a German company or syndicate of a large acreage of land in Kent, said to contain seams of hard steam coal, and if any offers have been received from any English companies to lease the land or the coal under the said lands?

The PARLIAMENTARY ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSIONER (Mr. C. N. Nicholson)

The Ecclesiastical Commissioners have recently agreed with the Anglo-Westphalian Kent Coal Syndicate, Limited, a company registered under the Companies Acts in England, the terms of a lease for exploration and development purposes of the coal (if any exists) under some 3,400 acres of land near Chislet in the county of Kent. German members of the syndicate join with English members in providing the capital. The German members are representatives of a German Deep Boring and Shafting Company, and their interest in helping to finance the undertaking is that they will secure the contract for the boring and sinking. The opinion of the Foreign Office as to whether there would be any objection to the proposed letting to a syndicate so constituted was asked before the negotiations were completed, and the Commissioners were informed that there was no objection on the understanding that the bulk of the workmen employed would be British. This stipulation will be observed both as to the work of shaft sinking and the later development of the colliery. The Commissioners had not, before terms were named to this syndicate, received any application for a lease of the coal under this area from any other company or person.

Mr. FELL

I did not quite catch the answer, but I would ask if the Ecclesiastical Commissioners consulted the Foreign Office and the Admiralty before they entered into this arrangement? Is the controlling interest in this Anglo-German syndicate German?

Mr. NICHOLSON

The only interest of the German syndicate is in regard to the shafting and boring. We understand that the English syndicate control the coal getting.

Mr. FELL

Is the agreement final, and has the lease been granted?

Mr. NICHOLSON

I understand that the lease has already been granted; at any rate the negotiations have been completed.