§ Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Fuel and Power if he intends to issue instructions to the National Coal Board to make experiments with the gasification of underground coal in suitable industrial areas where there are abandaoned coal barriers where these experiments can be carried out; and whether his Department has first-hand information of gasification of coal carried out in other countries.
§ Mr. Shinwell:Investigation into the problems of underground gasification of coal is clearly a matter of importance. To 395W this end, a Working Group composed of representatives from the Ministry of Fuel and Power, the Fuel Research Organisation and the Geological Survey of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, was set up, at the end of 1944, to examine all aspects of this process, including the selection of suitable sites, the choice of the system of gasification to be employed, and the scale on which such experiments should be carried out. The Working Group is also examining all available information about operations carried out in other countries. I shall see, of course, that the National Coal Board is kept in touch with the results of the investigations.