§ 13. Major COLVILLE (for Colonel CLIFTON BROWN)asked the President of the Board of Trade if he can give the amount of coal exports for the months of January and February, 1931, as compared with the same months of 1930?
§ Mr. W. GRAHAMAs stated in the latest issue of the "Accounts relating to Trade and Navigation of the United Kingdom" the total quantity of coal exported from the United Kingdom and registered during the month of January, 1931, was 3,271,331 tons, as compared with 5,493,410 tons during January, 1930. Similar particulars for the month of February, 1931, are not yet available, but during February, 1930, exports amounted to 4,735,657 tons.
§ Major COLVILLEIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the figure would have been larger this year but for the operation of the quota?
§ Mr. R. RICHARDSONMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman if he is aware that at a large number of pits in Durham which export coal the workers have been given notice, and a lot of them have been working short time during the whole of the year?
§ Mr. GRAHAMI regret the difficulties in the export trade of this industry, but it is quite wrong to attribute those difficulties to the Coal Mines Act.
Sir F. HALLWhat does the right hon. Gentleman attribute the difficulties to, and what steps are being taken to increase the exports?