§ 6. Mr. TOM SMITHasked the Secretary for Mines if he is aware that exporters of coal in Yorkshire are complaining that contracts are being lost to the Yorkshire coalfield owing to lack of supplies of suitable coal; and whether he has any information on the matter?
§ Mr. FOOTI have made inquiries and I am assured, on behalf of the Yorkshire coalowners, that there is no shortage of suitable supplies of Yorkshire coal for the export market.
§ Mr. SMITHIs the hon. Gentleman aware that I have seen correspondence from the Yorkshire collieries to exporters stating that they would not supply coal, and shipowners at Hull are complaining that orders are being lost to this country?
§ Mr. FOOTThe hon. Member's information is contrary to that which I have received from the coalowners. If he will give me specific instances, I shall be glad to have inquiry made.
§ Mr. SMITHI am quite willing to do that. Have the executive board of the amalgamated districts applied to the 176 central council for a bigger allocation of coal on account of the changed circumstances?
§ Mr. FOOTIt would be perfectly open to them to make that application, but I understand no application has been made.
§ Mr. SHINWELLIs it not a fact that the allocation for Yorkshire and other districts is entirely in the hands of the central council of coalowners and it has nothing whatever to do with the Department?
§ Mr. FOOTWhat the hon. Gentleman has said is correct. If there is any complaint as to allocation, they can make direct application to the central council.
§ Mr. McSHANE(by Private Notice) asked the Secretary for Mines whether he is aware that Aldridge Colliery near Walsall is closing down for one week thus throwing out of work 800 men while at the same time about 70 men at Messrs. Lambert Brothers, Tube Works, Green Lane, Walsall, are said to be thrown out of work for lack of coal supply; and if so, what action he proposes to take in the matter?
§ Mr. FOOTI have made inquiries this morning, and I am informed that the Aldridge Colliery is closed down, but that it will re-open on Thursday next, 1st October, when the new allocation period commences. I am also informed that immediately it was known that Messrs. Lambert Brothers were short of coal as a result of the closing down of Aldridge Colliery, another colliery in the district offered them supplies of other coal of the class to which they were accustomed. This offer was not accepted.
§ Mr. McSHANEWhile thanking the Minister for the trouble that he is taking, I would ask him whether, in cases like this, it would not be possible, where the quota has been run out and where firms are getting coal from collieries like that, an arrangement could not be come to whereby a week or two in advance the colliery concerned would inform the firm so that ample time would be given them to go elsewhere for a supply?
§ Mr. FOOTIt is very largely a question of arrangement between one colliery and another. In this case I assume that the colliery concerned produced more coal than it was allowed, and that it had this difficulty at the end of the quota period.
§ Mr. ERNEST BROWNDoes my hon. Friend not think that it is time to repeal these notional ideas?
§ Mr. SHINWELLWould the Secretary for Mines state what the actual facts of the situation are, and whether it is not the case that the question of allocation to the various collieries is entirely a matter for the colliery owners themselves and does not come within the purview of the Mines Department?
§ Mr. FOOTI do not think I indicated anything to the contrary. I gave the information that was obtained for me in answer to the question. It is open, of course, for any adjustment to be made in the district itself, or as between the district and the central committee, by the coalowners themselves.
§ Major BEAUMONT THOMASIs the Minister aware that there is a shortage of domestic coal in the Midlands and that the price is going up to the domestic consumer?
§ Mr. McSHANEDo we understand from the answer of the Minister that the tube works concerned could, if they cared, have obtained sufficient coal in order to open yesterday instead of closing down?
§ Mr. FOOTThe information I have received is that coal of a quality to which they were accustomed was immediately offered to them, but that the offer was not accepted.