§ 99. Mr. Nabarroasked the President of the Board of Trade, in view of the proposition by the National Coal Board to continue opencast mining until 1965 and after, what steps he is taking to encourage the production of heavy opencast mining machinery in this country. thus avoiding dollar expenditure for continuing imports of American opencast mining machinery.
§ Mr. LowBritish manufacturers already make a wide range of heavy opencast mining machinery and I am sure that they will keep in close touch with the National Coal Board about future plans. The National Coal Board and its civil engineering contractors are, of course, subject to the same import licensing rules and have to pay the same import duties on imported equipment as private industry.