§ 69. Mr. LUNNasked the Secretary for Mines the total coal output for the County of Yorkshire for the year ending 31st March, 1923; what was the total amount paid in royalties; and what was the amount of such royalties paid, if any, towards the burden of local rates in the districts from which such royalties were derived?
§ The SECRETARY for MINES (Lieut.-Colonel Lane-Fox)The total output of saleable coal in Yorkshire during the year ended 31st March, 1923, was 43,266,000 tons. I cannot say what was the amount paid in royalties in Yorkshire alone; in the eastern district, comprising Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Cannock Chase and Warwickshire, with a total output of 85,154,000 tons, they amounted to £1,505,000. Royalties are not assessable to local rates in these districts.
§ Mr. LUNNIs the hon. and gallant Gentleman aware that in the King's Speech of 1921 there was a paragraph that the Government intended to nationalise the minerals, and does this present Government intend to introduce a Bill to make the minerals public property?
§ Lieut.-Colonel LANE-FOXI know of no such intention on the part of the Government.