HC Deb 14 March 1939 vol 345 cc191-3
10. Mr. W. Joseph Stewart

asked the Secretary for Mines the total output of oil from coal in this country from low temperature carbonisation and by hydrogenation, respectively, during the years 1936, 1937, and 1938, and the average cost per gallon?

20. Mr. David Adams

asked the Secretary for Mines the amount of oil from coal extracted during the years 1936, 1937, and 1938, respectively, with the total market value in each year?

The Secretary for Mines (Captain Crook-shank)

The available information for the years 1936 and 1937 is given on pages 18 to 21 of my annual report for 1937. Particulars for 1938 are not yet available. I have no information as to the cost per gallon or the market value of these products.

Mr. Stewart

As the country largely depends for oil supplies on imports from abroad, is it the intention of the Government at an early date to set up oil-producing plant in this country so as to make us somewhat independent of foreign imports?

Captain Crookshank

That has nothing to do with this question.

Mr. Batey

The Minister says he has not the figures for 1938. As he has been asked before for that information, and as there are so few plants, when does he expect to have the figures?

Captain Crookshank

I cannot say offhand.

Mr. Batey

Is not the Minister trying to get the figures of output?

Captain Crookshank

The hon. Member must realise that it is not so easy as he imagines. These figures are called for at regular periods and are incorporated in my annual report.

Mr. Batey

Have we to wait until the Minister issues his annual report before we get the figures?

Captain Crookshank

Not necessarily.

Mr. David Adams

In view of the advantage in the matter of defence, and of the benefits in the matter of employment, does not the Minister intend to prosecute this form of production?

Captain Crookshank

That is quite another question.

18. Sir William Jenkins

asked the Secretary for Mines whether he is aware that an experimental plant for getting oil from coal is working at Bedley, near Glasgow; will he inquire whether it is satisfactory; and will he try such experiment in the South Wales depressed coal field?

Captain Crookshank

I would refer the hon. Member to the answer which I gave on 28th February to the hon. Member for East Middlesbrough (Mr. Edwards). The question of the erection of any further plants is a matter for the commercial interests concerned.

19. Sir W. Jenkins

asked the Secretary for Mines the result of the latest experiments taken by his Department, or any other concern, in extracting oil from coal; whether it is now a commercial proposition; and will he take steps to establish new plants in the South Wales area, where there is an increasing number of miners being rendered idle through the closing down of collieries?

Captain Crookshank

I would refer the hon. Member to the annual report of the Fuel Research Board for the latest results of the Government's research work on oil from coal, and to the report of the Falmouth Committee for a statement of the economic issues. As to the third part of the question, the principal recommendation of the Falmouth Committee was that Government assistance to oil from coal should take the form of a continuation of the guaranteed preference, and effect to this was given in the Finance Act, 1938. The Government do not grant direct financial assistance to oil from coal schemes, apart from assistance for which such schemes might qualify under the Special Areas Acts, and I would remind the hon. Member that a plant will shortly be completed in South Wales which has been partly financed under those Acts.