§ Mr. SHIELDasked the Secretary for Mines if he can give figures of the coal production from the Northumberland coal 1965W mines for the first month's working under the quota system as compared with the production of the previous month; and whether there has been any, and how much, increase in the cost of production under the Coal Mines Act?
§ Mr. SHINWELLThe estimated quantity of saleable coal raised in Northumberland during January, 1931, was 1,100,000, as compared with 1,188,000 tons in the previous month. As the quantity produced in January is less than one-third of the quarterly allocation, the fall in production is presumably due to reduced demand and has not been affected by the quota. I regret that the information asked for in the second part of the question is not yet available.