§ Captain BOWYERasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware of the serious effect of the reduction of the export of coal and appropriation of colliery profits on the mining industries of the country; that colliery owners are discouraged from sinking new pits; that certain collieries now producing coal are nearly worked out and will not be replaced by the sinking of new shafts under existing conditions; and whether he will state what steps he intends to take to induce colliery owners to sink more pits and develop their present underground working?
§ Sir R. HORNEI would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the statement of the Government's policy that I made in the House on the 12th May. I hope that the action which the Government is taking will get rid of the impediments to enterprise which the hon. and gallant Member describes.