§ 11. Sir I. Fraserasked the Minister of Fuel and Power the present level of distributed and undistributed stocks of domestic and industrial coal; and how this compares with the position a year ago.
§ Mr. Geoffrey LloydOn 1st November stocks of house coal were 2.1 million tons compared with 1.2 million tons a year ago. Stocks for power stations, gas works, railways, and the various industries were 16.4 million tons compared with 15.3 million tons. Undistributed stocks were 4.7 million tons as compared with 1.4 million tons a year ago.
§ Sir I. FraserCan the Minister say whether these satisfactory figures relieve him of any anxiety should we have a bad winter?
§ Mr. LloydI do not think it would be wise for any Minister of Fuel and Power to say at the approach of winter that he is satisfied when we are just emerging from a whole series of winters in which we have had continual fuel crises, but the situation is obviously better than it has been.
§ Mr. Noel-BakerCan the Minister say how much larger the stock was at the end of April this year than the year before, 1376 and how much less the domestic consumer has bought this year than he bought from the merchants at the end of 1951?
§ Mr. LloydI could not give the first figure from memory, but the second is about 2 per cent. less than the year before, which might well account for or take up the difference in the amount which the domestic consumer had in stock after the previous warm winter.
§ Mr. Noel-Bakeris it not a fact that the domestic consumer has bought about 900,000 tons fewer and that the stocks are now about 900,000 tons more?
§ Mr. LloydNo, Sir. The domestic consumer has bought only 300,000 tons fewer in the 26 weeks of the summer and that is 2 per cent. of the total amount.
§ Sir H. WilliamsWill the Minister consider publishing this information in future in the Statistical Digest, so that we can know about it from month to month?
§ Sir H. WilliamsThen why was this Question submitted?
§ Lieut.-Colonel LiptonDoes the Minister agree that coal stocks will continue to increase so long as the level of industrial production continues to fall?
§ 24. Mr. Fortasked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether he will arrange for returns of small industrial consumers' usage and stocks of coal to be made monthly instead of weekly in view of the improved coal situation.
§ Mr. Geoffrey LloydYes, Sir. This will be done as soon as possible for those who use coal only, but, owing to the shortage of hard coke, this change cannot be made also for those who consume hard coke as well as coal.