§ Mr. D. GRAHAMasked the President of the Board of Trade the percentage of coal cut by machinery in America and also the amount of coal cut by machinery in Britain; whether there has been any case since the setting up of the Coal Control Department of employers being prevented from introducing coal-cutting machinery; and, if so, whether such opposition to the introduction of coal-cutting machinery was prior to or since the Armistice?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANI have no later figures than those given in Appendix 34 to the Report of the Coal Industry Commission, from which it appears that the percentages were about twelve for this country in 1918 and about fifty-six for the bituminous coal region of America in 1916. I am not aware of cases in which employers have been prevented from introducing coal-cutting machinery, except in so far as they may sometimes have had difficulty during the War in obtaining the necessary priority certificates from the Ministry of Munitions.