ON FUEL ECONOMY. 245 
Average Cost of Producing Coal—continued. 
Tons. Tons. 
Total coal raised at mines . f F 4 . 287,412,000 229,295,000 
Total coal raised per person employed at mines . 259 190 
Amount of coal, shipped abroad :— 
As cargoes; + - 5 , : 2 s 73,400,118 24,931,853 
As bunkers ; . . . e . é 21,031,550 13,840,360 
Total. 94,431,668 38,772,213 
The position thus revealed may be summed up as follows: (a) The average 
cost of producing coal at the pithead had in seven years increased nearly 
fourfold, whilst (6) the amount raised per person employed had diminished by 
more than 25 per cent., and (c) our coal exports to foreign markets (excluding 
bunkers) had fallen to one-third the pre-war amount. 
The rapidly increasing costs of producing coal in Great Britain have already 
reacted most detrimentally upon its finances and trading position. For some 
time prior to the recent strike, the cost of producing coal at the pithead had 
exceeded its selling price by several shillings per ton; the difference had been 
made up by a subsidy from the public funds, at the expense of the taxpayer. 
The crisis was precipitated by the decision of the Government that, after 
March 31 last, this subsidy must cease, and that the coal industry must revert 
to its former position of being self-supporting.1. The strike came as a final 
blow to the country’s industries, already crippled by intolerably high coal 
prices. The coal-export trade, which for some time had been rapidly 
declining, was brought to a standstill, with disastrous effects upon the snus 
trade. it must also be remembered that coal is the principal mineral which 
this country has to export, and that in the past our coal exports have not only 
given British ships outward cargoes and freights, but have materially helped 
to pay for the large amounts of raw materials and foodstuffs which must be 
imported to maintain our factories and workers. The recent marked con- 
traction in British coal exports, which in pre-war days easily dominated the 
overseas markets to our great advantage as a maritime Power, has coincided 
with a great expansion in American coal exports, which now seriously threatens 
our once unrivalled position.? 
Whilst the Committee has steadily refrained from intervening in what 
may be regarded as the political aspects of the coal question, and therefore 
expresses no opinion as to the various ex parte proposals which have been put 
forward for the future organisation of the coal trade, it is nevertheless well 
within its province to urge the necessity, from the point of view of national 
economy and well-being, of a substantial reduction in the cost of producing 
coal in this country. 
In this connection the Committee would draw attention to the weighty 
declarations made in May last by Sir Hugh Bell (as President of the Cleveland 
Mineowners’ Association) and Mr. Alfred Hutchinson (one of the members of 
the Committee and President of the Cleveland Ironmasters’ Association) to 
the effect that, even were the differences in the coal trade to be settled imme- 
diately, there could be no resumption of work in the iron and steel industry 
on the old scale without a very drastic reduction in coal prices. Wages, they 
said, are governed by a sliding scale; but even when wages have been reduced 
to bed-rock, Cleveland pig iron cannot be manufactured, excluding all question 
of profit, at the price at which foreign pig iron is being delivered into this 
country, unless coke of good quality can be delivered to the furnaces at about 
27s. per ton. Mr. Maurice Deacon has recently pointed out that an even lower 
figure than this would be required if the iron trade of the Midlands is to 
continue in being. Without necessarily accepting any particular figure, the 
Committee would again emphasise the view, which it already expressed in its 
second Report—namely, the absolute dependence of the country’s industrial 
system upon its ability to produce relatively cheap coal, which is, indeed, the 
keystone of its whole economic structure. 
1 When, however, the strike was finally settled on June 28 last, the Govern- 
ment agreed (subject to the consent of Parliament, which was afterwards given) 
to grant a sum not exceeding 10,000,000/. in subvention of miners’ wages. 
2 Vide the Appendix to this Report. 
