BRITAIN’S COAL

Evening Star, Issue 26001, 16 January 1947, Page 6

BRITAIN’S COAL

AN OPTIMISTIC SURVEY -SLIGHT INCREASE IN PRODUCTION (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent J (Rec. 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 15. Tfie brighter note in the production* of Britain’s coal has been widely welcomed. The latest figures show that., despite many: gloomy comments production increased last year by 31 per cent, compared with 1945, . and . with 3,400 fewer men. But- it is observed by * The Times ?, that these latest figures do nothing to mitigate the grave implications of the announcement by Sir Stafford Oripps of reduced allocations to 1 industry. It remarks that supplies'are slightly better than expected, mainly, because the .fall; in the labour, force has, for, the time being, been arrested. There has also been a small increase of about 4 per cent, in the output per. man shift, which was • expected) when the miners returned from the forces and unwilling, workers and shirkers were allowed to leave. Recruitment has been maintained in-a higher degree than seemed likely by the return of. examiners from, other industrial employment.. But it is quite unpredictable how long this will continue. A comparison of the wastage rate of about 80,000 workers yearly, with an inflow of 12,000 juveniles annually, shows how perilous the situation is. It is pointed out that Britain’s increased consumption comes not from' the higher level- of employment but from a" greater concentration ’on metal and chemical industries. At the same time there are higher demands from electricity : and gasworks, the former using' 33 per 'cent: ■ more in’ Christmas week of 1946 than in the previous'year., ' . Despite these various qualifications, the fatt remains that there: , is, as the. Ministry of Fuel , and Power states, a continued satis- ’ factory trend, in coal -production, and the general hope is that Britain has stopped the rot in the coal mines, ■