§ 20. Mr. Tinkerasked the Secretary for Mines what progress has been made during the last 12 months with hydraulic coal bursting; and what proportion of coal is got this way as against ordinary shot firing?
§ Captain CrookshankInformation furnished by the makers of the hydraulic "Coalburster" in January of this year was that 123 coalbursters were in use or undergoing trial by 36 colliery companies in this country by the end of 1936, of which 62 had been installed in the course of that year. I regret that information as to the proportion of coal gotten in this way is not available.
§ Mr. TinkerWill the Minister between now and the issue of the annual report have this matter thoroughly examined so that it may be possible, in time, to consider whether we cannot do away with shot-firing altogether?
§ Captain CrookshankI hope the Divisional Inspectors' reports will be published fairly soon, and there will not be time, therefore, for a very thorough examination, but I can tell the hon. Member that when they are published he will find a certain amount of information on this subject in them.
§ Mr. T. SmithAre these experiments confined to a particular coalfield or are they spread over the whole industry?
§ Captain CrookshankI do not know.