99. Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he has examined the complaints made by the chief city corporations and other gas-producing companies as to the failure of the Price of Coal (Limitation) Act, 1915, to achieve the results it was intended to achieve; whether he has satisfied himself that the Act is not being evaded in practice and that its machinery is adequate to achieve its object; and whether, if the Act has failed to achieve its object, he proposes to take any other steps?
Mr. HARCOURTComplaints have been made from time to time by municipal and other gas undertakings with regard to the price of coal. Where sufficient particulars have been furnished the Board have taken the matter up with those concerned. No doubt the Act is not always effective, but it can hardly be said that it has failed to achieve its object.