§ 70 and 71. Mr. Parkerasked the Paymaster-General (1) if he will state the loss in coal production from the beginning of 1948 to the end of 1953, when fire-resistant belting was introduced generally into the pits, arising from fires in conveyor systems, as compared with the position from the beginning of 1954 until the end of 1956, on the basis of figures supplied to him for the purpose of compiling Table 15 in the Ministry of Power Statistical Digest;
(2) he will state the number of fires in British mines which were reported for the five years prior to 1953 when non-inflammable conveyor belting was introduced, and the number of fires arising from the same source in the subsequent period to date.
10Wconsidered by the Domestic Coal Consumers' Council in the years 1950 and 1956; and how many of these were referred for consideration by the National Coal Board.
§ Sir I. HorobinIn giving the required information, I should make it clear that consideration of individual complaints and suggestions is only one aspect of the Councils' duties. The figures asked for are:—
§ Sir I. HorobinSeventy-three fires in conveyor systems were reported in the five years 1948 to 1952 inclusive, compared with 58 in the five years 1953 to 1957. I regret that separate figures of losses in coal production from such fires are not available. These losses are included in column 3 of Table 15 in the Ministry's Digest.