§ 44. Mr. LAWSONasked the Secretary for Mines whether he has considered the report of the proceedings of the annual conference of the various districts of the mining industry held on 20th November, 1934, at the Board of Trade offices to discuss the administration of the Miners' Welfare Acts, when there was a general demand for funds to administer existing schemes; and whether he will take steps to provide funds by restoring the ½d. per ton that was taken from the welfare levy recently to be used for administration and upkeep of those schemes for culture and recreation that exist througout the coalfields?
§ Lieut.-Colonel COLVILLEMy hon. Friend is aware that two or three of the speakers at this conference asked for grants to be made for the maintenance of existing welfare schemes, but his information does not suggest any general support for such a policy. In any case the allocation of the fund is a matter for the Miners' Welfare Committee, and it has been their settled policy, throughout the life of the fund, to confine grants, broadly speaking, to capital expenditure. The answer to the last part of the question is that my hon. Friend is not prepared to recommend that the amount of the levy be reconsidered. The hon. Member will be aware that the recent amending Act was passed as lately as last March, after full consideration by Parliament of all the circumstances, and that this Act did not merely reduce the rate of the levy, but extended its operation for 20 years.