BRITISH COAL OUTPUT

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 February 1947, Page 5

BRITISH COAL OUTPUT

DROP IN PRODUCTION PER . WAGE-EARNER INTERESTINGCOMPARISON (Rec. 10.50 a.ffi.) LONDON, February 13. Although British coal production per man per shift is still the highest in Europe, figures recently published by the Bituminous Coal Institute in the United States disclose that with 250,000 fewer miners the United States bituminous pits last year produced 532,000,000 tons compared with 212,000,000 tons from the British pits; In 1945, the underground production of coal per man per day in the United States was just over five tons. ; In Britain it was 1.12 tons. Value of Mechanisation. Ninety per cent, of all the coal cut in American pits was mined by machines and 47 per cent, of it was power loaded. In the British, pits 81.5 per cent was cut by machines, but only 1 per cent, is power loaded. As against these figures, which are substantially in favour of American mechanisation, the average weekly wage of American miners in 1945 was £l3 and in Britain £5/17/6. As a result of the high level of mechanisation in American pits, however, labour costs per ton in American mines were only 8/4 compared with 22/9 in Britain. Writing to the Daily Telegraph, Mr. Herbert Wragg, chairman of the South Leicestershire Colliery Company, points out that since 1939 the output of coal per wage-earner has decreased in Britain from 301 tons to 246 tons annually. Although statistics show the output per man per shift in French mines has decreased by H tons compared with the output before the war, the total French coal production to-day is 8 per cent, higher than in 1939. This is due to the fact that, including prisoners of war and displaced persons, the French pits are now employing 44 per cent, more labour than before the war. The British labour force is approximately 10 per cent, less than in 1939. . „ ’ 1 “Government Ran the Risk If the Government had introduced a system'of coal rationing before the winter, it might have expected the same degree of opposition as appeared when bread rationing was proposed, said Lord Shepherd, defending the Government’s coal policy against critics in the House of Lords. Lord Cranbourne asked: “Are you saying the Government did not do what was right because it was afraid of opposition?” Lord Shepherd: “You must not read that into what I’m saying.” He added that the Government knew that it it rationed coal it would lead to extensive short-time in industry, which would reduce exports and widen the breach between Britain and solvency. The Government, therefore, had decided to run the risk in the hope that Britain might weather the storm. The Government, however, had run into a weather crisis, which had brought about the present situation.