§ Mr. HARNEYasked the Secretary for Mines the output of coal and slack from the coal mines of the British Isles, with wage and salary costs of such output at pit-head, for the two periods January to 63W April, inclusive, 191, and January to April, inclusive, 1926?
§ Colonel LANE FOXIt is estimated that the output of saleable coal during the period January to April, 1914, was 921 million tons and the wages cost nearly .,,E2W; million. The corresponding figures for January to April, 1926, are 88 million tons and nearly £50 million. I have no information about salaries other than that supplied by the Mining Association of Great Britain in Table 23, Volume 3, of the Report of the recent Royal Commission.
64W
STATEMENT A. Summary of Action taken on those Recommendations of the Linlithgow Committee which admit of Legislative or Administrative Action. The references are to:— Cmd. 1854. Interim Report on Milk and Milk Products. Cmd. 1892. Interim Report on Fruit and Vegetables. Cmd. 1927. Interim Report on Meat, Poultry and Eggs. Cmd. 1971. Interim Report on Cereals, Flour and Bread. Cmd. 2008. Final Report. Reference to Report, Paragraph, and Recommendation. Action taken. Cmd. 1854: Paragraph 240. Cmd. 2008: Paragraph 42. The Government should consider the advisability of introducing legislation to require holding companies which are in a position similar to that of the United Dairies to file with their annual return at Somerset House a co-ordinated balance sheet giving various particulars. This is a matter for the Board of Trade. Cmd. 1854: Paragraph 247. The Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with local authorities should take steps to revive and extend the scheme of co-operative dairy schools. A circular on this subject was issued to all local authorities, and steps are taken as opportunity offers. Cmd. 1854: Paragraphs 255 and 256: A standing Milk Advisory Committee should be appointed jointly by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Scottish Board of Health, and the Board of Agriculture A4for Scotland to consider administrative questions affecting the industry. Separate Committees have been set up for England and Wales and for Scotland. Cmd. 1854: Paragraph 257: The imposition of a legal minimum standard of fat-content applicable to both home-produced and imported whole milk cheese, and also to cream and milk powder. The Minister of Health has made Regulations which came into force on 1st May, 1925, fixing standards of fat-content for dried milk. The proposal as regards cheese and cream has been the subject of prolonged inquiry, including the examination of a large number of samples by the Government Laboratory. As a result, and after consulting the Milk Advisory Committee, the conclusion has been reached that there is not a sufficient case for the new legislatin which would be required in order to establish legal minimum standards.