THE COAL BILL.

Northern Advocate, 21 July 1915, Page 3

THE COAL BILL.

BEFORE PARLIAMENT. (Press Assn. —Reed. 8.20 p.m.) LONDON, July 20. In the House of Commons the Coal Bill passed its second reading. Mr Runciman state' l , that owing to the enlistment of one out of five miners the output from January to June, 1914, was 1.42,000,000 tons and in the same period of 1915 it was 127,000,000 tons. The Bill is a rough and ready method of preventing abnormal pAcjs. The average extra cost in consequence of war bonuses was buuveon ninepence and one shilling per ton. He had not discovered any coal ring. London retailers had permitted him to examine their books and they had agreed to a maximum price for die summer. They were also prepared to make a similar arrangement for the winter. Therefore it was unfair to fix arbitrarily a standard price. He hoped that in South Wales there would be a settlement stable and peaceful. Every other coal field had agred to the arrangement made for the war. Sir A. B. Markham said it was an urgent matter that the Government should fix a maximum retail price. Otherwise the middlemen would fleece the poor,