LORD MUSKERRY:My Lords, I beg to ask the noble Marquess the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs a Question of which I have given him private notice—namely, whether His Majesty's Government have seen the statement in the public Press of July 20th and 21st, that a coalfield in Wales has been purchased by a German firm; and if this is true, whether, in view of the great importance to our Navy of possessing an adequate supply of Welsh smokeless coal, and also in view of the said coal being declared as contraband of war by Russia, the Government intend to take any steps in the matter either now or later on.
§ THE SECRETARY OP STATE FOE FOREIGN AFFAIRS (The Marquess of LANSDOWNE)My Lords, our attention has been called to the statement 128 to which the noble Lord refers, and we have made inquiries in regard to the facts. So far as we have been able to ascertain, the particular coalfield to which the statement has reference is outside the area in which steam coal available for naval purposes has hitherto been found. We also learn that the property in question has been for sale for the last twenty years, and that the quality of the coal believed to be found within it is inferior. I should say upon the whole that the transaction does not seem to be one affecting the adequate supply of Welsh smokeless coal for the Navy.