Captain RAMSAYasked the Secretary for Mines whether, seeing that there are wide variations in different districts in the methods employed to dispose of excess quota, he will state what these various methods are in the several districts of Great Britain?
§ Mr. E. BROWNUnder Section 3 (2) (e) every district scheme must provide for arrangements whereby coal-owners having quota tonnage in excess of their requirements may transfer it as they think fit to other coalowners in the district.
I understand that in the districts of Northumberland, Durham, Warwickshire, Cannock Chase, Bristol, South Wales 205W and Scotland, transfers of quota are effected directly by arrangement between individual coalowners, subject to the Executive Board being notified of the actual tonnages so transferred. The secretaries of the Executive Boards are usually willing to place those owners in need of quota in touch with others who have tonnage to spare.
In Lancashire and Cheshire, an arrangement, of which practically all the coalowners in the district take advantage, is in operation, whereby those owners with surplus quota tonnage notify the Executive Board. The Board then arranges for its distribution at a price of 6d. per ton to other owners in the district requiring additional tonnage. If there is less tonnage in the pool than is sufficient to meet demands upon it a pro rata distribution is made. The Board discourage any direct transactions among individual owners in regard to the transfer of quota.
In the districts of Shropshire, Somerset, North Staffordshire and Kent, somewhat similar arrangements are in force, whereby the Executive Boards act as clEarlng houses for surplus quota tonnage.
In South Staffordshire coalowners representing 80 per cent. of the output of the district have subscribed to a formal agreement under which a pool of quota tonnage in excess of requirements is created. These owners have agreed not to purchase excess tonnage from anyone not a party to the agreement, provided tonnage from the pool is available. The maximum charge for transfers is 9d. per ton.
In North Wales, owners with surplus quota tonnage are deemed to have registered at specified intervals during the quota period 50 per cent. of the excess with the Executive Board, which distributes the quantity so registered to other coalowners in the district who may be in need of additional tonnage.
In Cumberland, it is the practice of the Executive Board to distribute all quota tonnage which is surplus to the requirements of individual coalowners among those owners in the district who may be in need of additional tonnage.
Although in the Midland (Amalgamated) District, transfers of quota tonnage during a quota period are 206W effected directly between the coalowners concerned, subject to notification to the Executive Board of the tonnages involved, the district scheme provides that if an owner fails to produce the whole of his permitted output during a quota period, one-half of the deficiency is carried, at the end of the period, to a tonnage pool managed by the Executive Board. The tonnage in that pool is available for purchase at a rate fixed by the board by any owner requiring additional quota. As monthly quotas are declared in this district, it follows that a tonnage pool operates for the second and third months of the quarterly allocation period.
In a number of districts, transfers of quota tonnage through the agency of the Executive Board are effected without charge.