§ Mr. SMITHERSasked the Secretary for Mines whether he will introduce legislation which will abolish the quota provisions of the Mines Act in view of the fact that many collieries have a potential 1321W annual production far in excess of the quota allowed them, and the Carlton group of South Yorkshire mining companies, in particular, are limited to 2,600,000 tons, instead of the 4,500,000 tons which they could produce?
§ Mr. E. BROWNIt is inevitable that the quota granted to many individual collieries must be less than their potential production, since the productive capacity of the coal mining industry, in its present state of development, is about 300,000,000 tons per annum, as compared with a demand of only just over 210,000,000 tons. That is indeed the justification for the maintenance of the regulation of output under the Coal Mines Act, 1930, rather than for its abolition.