SOLVING BRITAIN'S COAL SHORTAGE

Chronicle (Levin), 8 April 1947, Page 2

SOLVING BRITAIN'S COAL SHORTAGE

Reeeived Monday, 7 p.m. LUNUON, April 6. It cannot be said that the debate on the eoai situation with which a jaded Commons virtually wound up its business before the Easter xecess, provided any great encouragement either for the iudustry or for the country generally. It was noticeiqde that Mr. Shinwell had gone from one ■ extremo to the other. Oriticised because of over optimism before the February fuel crisi's, he said on this occasion that hc was determined to be eonservative. He succeeded so well that the impression he left was depressing. It was - left to Sir Stafford Cripps vvliose name has become practically synonymous with austerity, to alleviate soiiie of Mr. Shinwell 's gloom, at a press conference held by the President of the Board of Trade, on the same day as the Commons debate. Indeed the majority of the facts which indicate any positive api>roach to tlie coal sliortage and there by a solution of some of Britain's mounting industrial problems, have emerged outside the Commons rather than m it. First of these was a, virtual agreement reached by the Trades Union Congress and Federation of Britisli Industries, in proposals they made to suppleuient and amend the White Paper. As a result their representatives are to be iucluded with Government nominees on a genoral planning board which, under the chairmansliip of Slr Eilvvin Plow-. deu, will guide the campaign for in--creased fuel production. The second was the announcement that the miners this week produced 4,031,000 tous, the best ligure reached for four years, but still 7000 tons below the 4,038,000 tons ' weehly average necessary to reach 200,000,000 tons, the yearly target set by the White Paper. The tliird was the action of the Mine Workers' Union in making specilic proposals to the Govermiient for the improvement and standardisation of Britisli coalmining equipmeut. in pkeparing tliese proposals the miners had the beneiit of the expert advice of the engineering uiiions. This was accompanied, hovvever, by further miners' ' ' demanda 1 ' — this time for a superannuation scheme. The fourtli -was the news that the labour force in the iniiies had now reached, 703,000, the highest since July, 1945, and that. the increase was continuing at the rate of 2300 weeklv. | Of tliese, aboiit 1000 weekly are experi-j enced miners who will need no traiu- ! ing. The fifth was a Government an- i nouncenient that fares, lodging allow-j ances and settling in granls will be' paid to all ex-niiuers living in noa-} minin'g areas, who voluuteer to roturn; to the- pits. •' The expense entailed in moving back to the mining. arehs has hitherto discouraged many expericnced ' workers from volunteering and this announcenient is expected further to . stiruulate recruiting. Sir Stafford Cripps said, at the press conference, that if tlie present' rate of recruiting could be maintaiued, J Britain would have 750,000 miners by the cnd of the year or 20,000 more than) the White Paper target. l The sixth was tlic announcement first ' released by several of the large com- ' panies engaged in opencast mining, j chat "substantial" orders for new mining plant had been placed in Uuited' States and that a e'onsiderable proportion of these machines would be in- 1 stalled in time to assist this year 's pro- 1 duction drive. When all the macliines1 are installed they will raise Britain's: opencast coal output by 4,000,000 tons: annually.

Against these developments, hovvever, Mr. Shinwell set a number of soberiug statements. Firstly," he admitted that the live-day v/eek promised to the miners and due to operate next nionth, may diminish production by as much as 9,000,000 tons-in si'x months, and that the hope that the added incentive might lead to -an increase in output, was "speculation, " Secondly, lxe said lie expected to encounter great difficuJty. in reaching the required minimum of 15,000,000 tons by the begiuning of next winter and that the coal year commencing this mon th would' begin with total reserves down to 5,000,000 lons — the lowest in Britisli 'history. . Thirdly, he said tluit althougK * the compulsory domestic fue] ratipning sclieme would "almost -certainly" bc ivoided, domestic consumers would be asked, in addition to their other austerities, to. save 2,500,000 tons of coal during the year. Housewives' organisations are al ready reminding the Minister that on6e again they are being asked to pay for ithor people 's sliortngos.