BRITAIN’S COAL PROBLEM

Evening Star, Issue 26043, 6 March 1947, Page 7

BRITAIN’S COAL PROBLEM

ECONOMIES IN CONSUMPTION ESSENTIAL LITTLE hope of increased output (From E. G. Webber, N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent.) LONDON, March 5. It seems probable that Britain will b 8 compelled to depend more upon economies in coal consumption than upon extra production, if she is to obtain the extra 11,000,000 tons of coal required by the end of the year. The means of increasing British coal supplies are four—recruitment of extra labour, higher production by the men already in the pits, increased mechanisation, and fuel economy. It is pointed out that at the present rate of wastage in the pits it will be necessary for the Government to recruit 120,000 miners this year if it is to secure a permanent addition of 40,000 men to the labour force in the mines. These men can be obtained in two ways, either by recruiting from other industries or by the introduction of foreign labour. If the mining industry is to attract men. from other arduous and better-paid occupations, it is contended by the Miners’ Union that wages \vdl have to be raised, and a number of other incentives provided. The White Paper proposes as a beginning that the miners should receive more points goods to help them to stock their larders, .and that steps should be taken to improve their housing. , The miners’ housing conditions in many areas are already so 'bad that it is admitted that any substantial improvement will take a considerable time. Only two years ago it was estimated that 10,000 colliery workers in the South Wales fields were living in hired rooms, and the position is even worse to-day. FOREIGN LABOUR OPPOSED. The prospects of recruiting any substantial body of foreign labour in time to assist this years’' coal output are also problematical. The trades unions have not yet agreed to admit foreigners even if the Government imports them, while the intake of Poles to the pits has been so slow that unless the unions drastically alter their attitude no great relief can be anticipated from that quarter.' The prospects of obtaining higher production from the men already in the pits have been improved by the response made to the recent appeals. Even during the worst of the blizzards, the weekly average per man in those -f pits able to work, showed an encouraging improvement, and this is still being maintained. Nevertheless, the fact that nearly 45 per cent, of British miners are now over 40 years of age is likely to militate, against any further increases in output. The consensus of expert opinion appears to agree that increased mechanisation and production efficiency will provide the long-term solution, but this again obviously cannot be achieved this year.