§ 72. Mr. HANNAasked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that, in their returns to the Larne Urban Council for the purpose of ascertaining the maximum price which might be charged for the sale of coal by retail for domestic purposes in that area, as required by Section 9 of the Retail Coal Prices Order, 1917, the coal merchants concerned supplied to the council figures in respect of freight charges in excess of the maximum rates of freight as fixed by the Ministry of Shipping, and that the council fixed the maximum price as from the 9th October, 1919, on the basis of those figures and that, as a result, the consumers have been overcharged about 2s. 6d. per ton on their supplies; and what action, if any, he intends to take in the matter?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANThe responsibility for fixing maximum retail prices of house coal in Ireland, and of revising such prices as and when required, rests with the Local Authority concerned. In view, however, of representations made to the Coal Controller by the Larne District Trades' and Labour Council in the sense indicated by the hon. Member, the Controller's representative in Ireland has been requested to inquire into the matter, and I will inform the hon. Member of the result.