§ 41. Mr. DICKIEasked the Secretary for Mines whether the quota allocation to the county of Northumberland was exhausted prior to the increase of 150,000 tons recently granted; if not, what was the quantity unused; and whether the increase was required to meet a demand for any particular class of coal?
§ The SECRETARY for MINES (Mr. Ernest Brown)I would again remind my hon. Friend that the administration of the schemes in force under Part I of the Coal Mines Act, 1930, is placed by that Act in the hands of the coal owners themselves. I have no detailed information on the subject of my hon. Friend's question, but I presume the Northumberland Executive Board is satisfied with its additional allocation, as, so far as I am aware, it has not exercised its right to submit the matter to arbitration.
§ Mr. DICKIEIs the Minister not aware that the allocation asked for was 350,000 tons, and that they only received an allocation of 150,000 tons; and that, as a result, they may have to stop production altogether or find themselves faced with the necessity of having to pay a fine of 2s. 6d. a ton?
§ Mr. BROWNI have already pointed out that, if the Northumberland Executive Board are dissatisfied with their allotted share, they can apply for arbitration. That is their method; I have no powers in the matter.
§ Sir N. GRATTAN-DOYLEIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the best solution of the quota difficulty would be a repeal of Part I of the Act?
§ Mr. BROWNThere is a disease known as intellectual myopia, and some of my bon. Friends appear to have it in the form ofmyopia quotatis.
Mr. LAWSO NIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the miners' wages are very low now, particularly in that part of the country, and that, if there were no quota and no organisation, they would he much less?
§ Mr. BROWNI had that fact in mind when I called attention to the nearsightedness that prevails in some quarters. There are many factors which have to be taken into consideration.
Captain A. RAMSAYIs the hon. Gentleman aware that there are other districts where production is hung up and men are likely to be put on short time, because, although extra quotas have been applied for, they have not been granted?
§ Mr. BROWNI am aware of a great many facts in connection with this difficult subject, but I am now answering a question with reference to Northumberland. If information is desired about any other district, perhaps a question will be put down.
§ Mr. DICKIEIs it not a fact that the best way to obtain good wages for the miners is to enable the pits to work at full capacity?
§ 42. Mr. DICKIEasked the Secretary for Mines if he is aware that when an increase of quota is granted by the central council the tonnage allotted is divided amongst owners of collieries who may not need it as well as those who require it urgently, so that the former are at once placed in the position of being able to make profits by disposing of it to the latter, thereby increasing unnecessarily the costs of production?
Mr. BR OWNSection 3 (2) (d) of the Coal Mines Act, 1930, provides, inter alia, "that the quota fixed as respects coal or any class of coal shall be the same proportion of the standard tonnage of coal, or of the class of coal, as the case may be, for all coal mines in the district."
§ Mr. DICKIEIs there any parallel in any other industry for such a state of affairs as exists in the export trade of the mining industry?
§ Mr. BROWNThe hon. Member must realise that under the Sub-section that I have quoted, coal owners may vary the standard tonnages so as to meet the circumstances of particular mines to secure the result that the hon. Member has in mind.
Captain A. RAMSAYIs the hon. Gentleman aware that, whatever they may or may not be supposed to be able to 1613 do, in fact the trade is being strangled because the Act is strangling the industry?
§ Mr. BROWNI am not aware of that fact. In fact, one of the problems that have now arisen is that, whereas up to the present the Act has had to be operated in a contracting market, at the moment the difficulties are because there is an expansion of the market.
§ 43. Mr. DICKIEasked the Secretary for Mines if, in view of the fact that holders of unused quota are refusing to sell except at prices which render economic production impossible, thereby rendering the Act of 1930 unworkable, he will introduce amending legislation to enforce sale or transfer of unused quota at the reasonable figure anticipated when the Mines Act of 1930 was passed?
§ Mr. BROWNI have received no representations from the coal industry that difficulties with regard to transfers of quotas have made the Coal Mines Act, 1930, unworkable.
§ Mr. DICKIEDoes the hon. Gentleman consider that from 1s. up to is. 6d. or 2s. is a fair price to charge for the transfer of coal quotas?