§ 100. Mr. Prydeasked the Minister of Fuel and Power the market price of opencast coal at the rail head at Butlerfield, Newtongrange, Midlothian.
§ Mr. RobensThe market price of opencast coal at railhead at Butlerfield is 42s. 9d. per ton for large coal and 43s. 3d. per ton for kitchen nuts.
§ 103 and 104. Colonel Clarkeasked the Minister of Fuel and Power (1) what is the current average output in tons per manshift worked in opencast mines; and what is the average output per manshift for each month from January, 1947, to November, 1947;
(2) the average number of wage-earners employed in 1946 on opencast mining in Great Britain; how many were so employed each month from January, 1947, to November, 1947; and how many are currently employed.
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§ 2. Mr. RobensAs the information involves a number of figures, I propose to circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
Following is Me information:
There are no figures of output per manshift at opencast sites but estimates have been made of output per man-week at various periods. These figures are not calculated on the same basis as that used for calculating productivity in the mining industry and should therefore not be used for making such comparisons. It is estimated that in October, the most recent month for which figures are available, output per man-week amounted to 24 tons and the number of wage-earners was 10,223.
I. Output
The figures for the months January to October, 1947, are as given below:
Estimated output per man-week. 1947. (tons) January … … … 13.6 February … … … 15.1 March … … … 12.8 April … … … 19.3 May … … … 19.2 June … … … 21.9 July … … … 21.5 August … … … 19.2 September … … … 22.3 October … … … 24.0 Number of Wage Earners:
The figures for 1946 (average) and for the month of January to October, 1947, are as given below:
Number of Wage-Earners. 1946 (average) … … 9,898 1947 January … … 9,900 February … … 9,845 March … … 9,911 April … … 10,391 May … … 10,354 June … … 10,352 July … … 10,295 August … … 10,451 September … … 10,062 October … … 10,223