§ 66. Mr. Woodsasked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether he is aware that Table 26 in the Statistical Digest is derived from returns made by coal distributors from each separate depot from which they operate; that it takes no account of the hundreds of firms who operate from several depots nor of the many units in the coal distributive trade which, while operating under their own names, are under the financial control of larger firms; and, as it gives an erroneous picture of the size of the units engaged in coal distribution and of the tonnage handled by each of the groups in the table, he will take steps either to amend or withdraw it.
Major Lloyd GeorgeI am aware of the point raised by my hon. Friend, and regret that any misunderstanding should have arisen. Owing to the necessity for speeding-up the last stages of the publication of the Statistical Digest, in order that hon. Members should have time for study before the recent Debate on the Estimates of my Department, two footnotes were 1167 inadvertently omitted from the table in question. These would have made it clear, first, that a considerable number of small dealers were excluded from the return, and secondly, that, for the purposes of the census in question, merchants operating from more than one depot were required to fill in a return in respect of tonnage handled from each depot. Thus the table, while giving a correct picture of the relative tonnages disposed of by merchants, depot by depot, does not, I agree, give a correct picture of coal disposals by undertakings. I had already taken steps not only to ensure that the table would be amended by the addition of these footnotes in any future issue of the Digest, but also to make this and any other necessary corrections in the next quarterly publication of coal figures in the "Board of Trade Journal," which I hope will be made this month.