LOSSES BY COAL BOARD

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25389, 12 January 1948, Page 7

LOSSES BY COAL BOARD

FIVE-DAY WORKING WEEK BLAMED LONDON, January 9. The main reason for the loss which the National Coal Board incurred in the second quarter of 1947 after making a profit on the first quarter the introduction of the five-day working week, said Mr J. Latham, the board’s director of finance. He added that the board had not passed the loss on to the consumers until September Tlie cost of lifting coal in the first quarter of 1947 in the newly-nation-alised mines showed an increase of about 18d a ton compared with the last quarter of 1946 under private ownership, and the cost had increased in the second quarter of 1947, with the five-day week, by about another 30d a ton. The figures to which Mr Latham referred were: first quarter of 1947, profit before charging interest. £1,974.809; second quarter, loss before charging interest, £3.270,676. The board’s interest costs in one year on advances from the Treasury for developments and on income pay- > ments for former mineowners are expected to total about £13,000,000. KASHMIR FIGHTING : INDIAN SUCCESS AGAINST ! REBELS > (Rec. 9.30 p.m.) NEW DELHI, Jan. 10, An Indian Defence Ministry com- , munique reports that Indian troops I have captured a hill dominating Naoi shera, in Kashmir. The raiding tribesmen are fleeing, leaving large quantities of aims and ammunition.