§ Mr. MACQUISTENasked the President of the Board of Trade (1) whether he is aware that the ss. "Trostan" has been lying at Grangemouth from 17th to 28th June awaiting the shipment of 2,000 tons of duff or waste material from colliery bings; whether the said duff was duly loaded on to railway wagons; whether, owing to the district coal and coke supplies committee deciding to suspend the shipment of duff, the said material could not be unloaded from the said wagons and shipped on the "Tros- 1047W tan" to its destination at Copenhagen; whether he is aware that the demurrage on the wagons and on the "Trostan" amounts to over £1,500 and the loss of freight to nearly £5,000, irrespective of the loss of profits to the consigners of the duff; whether the case of the ss. "Trostan" is one of many similar cases of loss and damage caused by the stoppage of the shipment of duff, which are calculated to run to a very large sum; whether the allocation of the shipment of coal from Scotland being 700,000 tons per annum, he will direct that duff be kept out of consideration in estimating the amount shipped in respect that it does not affect the home supply;
(2) why the shipment of the waste material from coal mines in Scotland, known to the trade as duff, has been temporarily forbidden; whether he is aware that the bings of this material disfigure many rural districts where disused coal pits are located and belong to the landowners and not to any colliery company; what authority has he to prevent them selling and shipping such bings; whether the Belgians and our other Allies who have great supplies of tar are eager purchasers of duff for briquette-making; and will he refrain from interfering with the disposal of a material which, in respect that it is not coal, is not subject to his control?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANIt is not desired to cut off the export of duff from bing, nor has any Order been issued to stop such export. It is a fact, however, that all coal exported (including duff) is counted against the export allocation, and this operates, to some extent, against its shipment. The question whether duff from bing should be allowed to be shipped outside the allocations is at present being considered in consultation with the District Coal and Coke Supplies Committees concerned. I have no information which enables me to state what has taken place in the particular case of the ss. "Trostan," but I shall make inquiries at the Scottish Committee which is charged with the duty of dealing with these matters.