§ 43. Mr. Sutcliffeasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give an assurance that cotton mills which are able to build up a stock of coal this summer will be allowed to keep it during the winter months; and whether employers can make their fuel assessments on the basis that allocated deliveries will not be reduced or withheld for diversion to mills which have not laid in stocks.
§ Sir S. CrippsIn announcing to the House the coal allocation to industry for the summer months on 1st May, I explained that the winter allocations would be based on the assumption that each firm had accumulated a stock sufficient to meet three weeks' winter requirements by the end of October. I also stated that if firms accumulated larger stocks, these would not be taken into account in framing the winter allocations.
§ Mr. SutcliffeCan the right hon. and learned Gentleman give a definite assurance that those firms now able to lay in stocks, even on a small scale, of low grade fuel, will not have their allocations of high grade fuel lessened during the winter ?
§ Sir S. CrippsI cannot do more than repeat what I have already said twice.
§ Mr. PrescottIs the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that many mills have received nowhere near their allocation of solid fuel?
§ Sir S. CrippsI am not aware of that. On the whole they have received more because they are putting more to stock than was anticipated.