§ 81 and 82. Mr. LAWSONasked the Secretary for Mines, (1) the total amount of wages reduction for the miners of Durham county for the quarter ending December, 1921, as compared with the previous quarter, and the increase or decrease of costs in other items of production for the same period;
(2) the total amount of wages reduction suffered by miners of Great Britain for the quarter ending December, 1921, as compared with the corresponding quarter of 1920, and also the total increased or decreased cost of other items of production for the same period?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANInformation with regard to the wages and other costs of production in the coal mining industry in each of the principal districts of Great Britain during the quarter ended December, 1920, will be found in Parliamentary Paper Cmd. 1182. Similar information for the quarters ended June and September, 1921, will, I hope, be ready for presentation to the House very shortly. The question of the continuance of these quarterly returns beyond the 30th September last is at present under the consideration of the Advisory Committee for Coal and the Coal Industry set up under Section 4 of the Mining Industry Act, 1920.
§ Mr. LAWSONIs the hon. Gentleman aware of the fact that on the last quarter over the whole of Durham County there was a reduction of £365,000 in wages, whilst in other items of the cost of production there was an increase of £60,000, and is he aware that the details of these items have been refused?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANI wish the hon. Gentleman would put these things down in a special question, and not in a Supplementary, so that I might have the opportunity of going into them!