§ 28. Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Fuel and Power the output per manshift, both at the face and overall in coalmines, averaged over three-year periods from 1913 to 1935; the proportion of the total coal output cut and conveyed by machinery and by pneumatic picks in the same three-year periods; and the technical and other reasons for any marked variations about or since 1937.
220W
§ Mr. ShinwellI am sending my hon. Friend a statistical statement in reply to the first part of the Question. As regards the last part of the Question, it is stated in the Reid Report that the decline in output per manshift after 1936 up to the beginning of the war cannot be fully accounted for, but since the deterioration was found in most of the coal producing countries of Europe, one cause may have been the employment of a larger proportion of men on development work at a time when the pressure of competition had been somewhat reduced.