§ Sir C. Edwardsasked the Minister of Fuel and Power the duties of the newly-appointed district commissioners; in what way they are better placed for influencing increased production of coal than they were before when filling important official positions such as colliery managers or agents; and whether these positions have been relinquished and full time given to their new duties.
Major Lloyd GeorgeThe appointment of Group Production Directors is in pursuance of the policy set out in the White Paper on Coal of "arranging, by the grouping of pits or otherwise, that all collieries have available to them the advice of the most competent mining engineers in their District." The services of some of the most prominent men in the industry have been secured as Group Production Directors, and, while their advice will still be available to the undertakings for which they were previously responsible, it is hoped that the result will be to raise the average level of productive efficiency in the industry. The new appointments are on a full time basis.