Britain Must Reduce Price Of Coal

Chronicle (Levin), 8 October 1949, Page 5

Britain Must Reduce Price Of Coal

LONDON, Oct. 7. It is urgently neeessary for Britain to reduee the price of coa] by at least liis to £1 a ton, said Sir Hubert Houldswortli, K.O., chairman of the East Alidlaml Division of the National Coal Board, speaking at a coal industry luneheon in London. Sir Hubert Houldsworth said the price of coal and of fuel products made from coal was too high today to support a healthv industrial life. It was adding materiallv to the costs of production of such important industries as iron and steel, cement, bricks, pottery and glass. "In the light of events I think it is clear that unless the price of coal can be reduced by a very much greater amount than 5s a ton, and in a very much shorter time than 15 years, there is little chance of our survival as a first-elass industrial power, he said. "We must ino ve quickly. We must encourage thought and adaptation. All the ideas and suggestions coming from the pits, whether they come from technicians or workmen, must be pursued vigorously. We must experiment quickly and fearlesslv, and if neeessary set aside oue or two pits to trv out ideas which appear to have merit. Ideas should be encouraged not only from those engaged in the indusrtv, but also f1 om able engineers or men of science, even though they have not hitherto direeted their minds to the probiem of winning coal. Our real hope must be in a revolution of technique applicable at a relativelv small capital cost. "