March 3, 1916.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

415

a demand already greatly in excess of the supply.
The Cardiff coal market was again disturbed by
shipping difficulties, prices being more or less
nominal. The Scottish coal trade was exceptionally
brisk.

A meeting of the Coke Oven Managers’ Associa-
tion was held at Sheffield on Saturday, when Mr.
G. S. Cooper read a paper dealing with the effect of
the war on coke oven practice and possibilities of
future development.

The resumed inquest was held on Tuesday on
three men killed by an explosion in the powder
store at the Middleton Colliery.

Successful prosecution was brought by the Home
Office on Wednesday against the owners and officials
of the Central Silkstone Colliery, for contravention of
the Coal Mines Act.

Lord Muir Mackenzie, independent chairman of
the South Wales Coal Trade Conciliation Board, has
decided against any alteration in the wage rate.
Both owners and men had applied for changes.

A special meeting of the South Wales miners’
executive will be held on Tuesday to consider the
Sunday night shift, craftsmen, and bonus to ostlers
questions.

To-day (Friday) Judge O’Connor will open the
enquiry as to the alleged “lost 5 per cent.” in the
South Wales anthracite wage rate.

The Scottish Coal Trade Conciliation Board will
consider, on Tuesday next, the miners’ claim for an
advance of 18J per cent, in the wage rate.

In this and previous issues we have
The Coal dealt at some length with the radical
Problem in steps that have just been taken in
France. France to adjust the very serious
problems that have arisen in con-
nection with the national coal supply. The French
scheme has such an intimate bearing upon the
British coal trade, and raises questions of general
interest so wide and novel, that we may be pardoned
for utilising these columns once more for a considera-
tion of the subject in its main bearings, without
reference to the details that surround it.

It is important to remember that in France the
crisis has not, as in Italy, for example, been one of
quantity, but one of price ; nor one of price alone in
its simplest form, for, eliminating certain artificial
influences, a question of price is nearly always a
question of quantity. The crisis in France has been
due to what has been aptly described as a “ dualism”
of prices, the conjunction on the market at
the same time of coals of approximately similar
quality selling at widely different prices. This is a
situation which probably has never had to be
faced before, and the practical consequences
have been very serious. In the first place, with the
existing temptation on the part of consumers in the
north and west to purchase the cheaper French coal
from the Loire and Gard, rather than satisfy their
needs by the use of British coal landed in the vicinity
of their establishments, rolling stock has been utilised
with a disregard for the pressing requirements of the
nation; secondly, there has been an equal temptation
on the part of mine owners and merchants to send
their supplies far afield, where it might more easily
lose the character of its source and become identified
with the dearer British coal; thirdly, owing to the
system whereby the military commission has been
empowered to requisition supplies not only for the
Army, but for public services and large consumers—
preferentially both as regards price and priority of
delivery—a disproportionate share of the burden has
fallen upon the householder and the small industrial
consumer. This last is so radically opposed to the
eg alite upon which French Republican ideas are firmly
based, that revolutionary measures were almost
inevitable, once the question assumed serious propor-
tions.

The New Law.

Briefly described, the new Law institutes a national
office, with 32 provincial bureaux—eight in the
provinces and 24 in the import districts—to whom is
entrusted the duty of adjudicating upon the require-
ments of various classes of consumers and of directing
the distribution of coal, in accordance with the para-

mount needs of the population and with the greatest
efficiency from the point of view of transport. The
difficulties consequent upon the “ dualism” of prices
are overcome by ascertaining the normal price for a
period of two weeks for corresponding grades of coal
at the port of delivery and the pithead respectively,
striking an average and giving to the importer with
one hand what is taken from the mine owner with
the other. There are certain exemptions in the case
of householders and small industrial consumers, who
are to receive their coal at the minimum price, the
balance being transferred in the form of a surtax to
the intermediate selling price. Thus the French
consumer who cannot claim exemption is made to
pay for this concession to the pauvre gens.

The Commission which drafted the Bill was at
great pains to remove the inevitable impression that
the principles of free commerce are attacked or that
a State monopoly is in contemplation. The State
does not concern itself with contracts or impose any
restriction upon the prices obtained in open competi-
tion ; further, there is no tax upon the French
mine owner nor a bounty given to the importer such
as might be granted for the express purpose of
encouraging importation. This is probably an
accurate judgment, although it is permissible to
doubt whether the new Law does not tend in opera-
tion to accelerate influences in these directions, and
certainly the concession to the Socialists is there, for
whereas previously the large consumer undoubtedly
benefited from the disparity in prices, the perequation
of prices not only, as a natural consequence, affects
him most materially, but the whole effect of the Law
is to relegate him to the position of being the “ least
favoured ” instead of the “ most favoured.” The
reason why the French Government have hesitated
to go the whole hog and undertake the entire duty
of distribution, is that they could exert no effective
influence over the market for British coal, the total
supply of which now slightly exceeds the output of
the French collieries actually in operation; on the
other hand, the old system, by which the Military
Commission dominated the operations of the native
collieries and left untouched the supplies obtained
from without, with the exception of about 3f million
tons imported by the State Railways, has proved
admittedly prejudicial to the public interest.

Recognising the difficulties which our Allies have
had to meet, it would be ungenerous to magnify the
inherent defects that reside in artificial measures of
this character. They never have many friends, but
then war has many consequences that require
invidious remedies. The Minister of Public Works,
in the course of the debate in December, quoted the
epigram of a distinguished fellow-countryman: “on
nous aime centre quelqu'un.” The scheme of the
Commission has been adopted largely because of the
dislike for alternatives. The main impediments
would seem to be the elaborate nature of the duties
thrown upon the new office and its bureaux, and the
waste of time and money that inevitably follows the
establishment of new Government enterprises; the
financial risk; and the possibility that the perequation
may, notwithstanding all these good intentions,
benefit the few at the expense of the many.

Cost of Administration.

In the first place, the estimate of 500,000 fr.,
which it is thought will cover the cost of adminis-
tration, seems to us to be absurdly low; secondly,
the absence of any working capital, for the French
Government has declined to concede financial
autonomy to the new Office, may leave the Office and
its bureaux, at any time, temporarily insolvent, and
so impede their work; it should be observed,
however, that there is always the backing of the
national Treasury and that a source of revenue is
anticipated in the sale of metallurgical coke, the
whole of which is taken over by the Office, this being
the one real case in which the objectionable principle
of etatisme is embraced. Taking the third point, it
is just conceivable that, recognising that the Law to a
large extent abolishes free competition in France
itself, the exporter of British coals may endeavour to
raise his prices so as to make the allocation to the
importer an actual bounty; and again, has the
French public any security that the manufacturer

now using British coals will give the consumer the
benefit of the concession by lowering the price of his
finished articles ?

The Transport Factor.

It is impossible in the confines of this article to
consider all the ramifications of this legislation. But
one fact that does emerge conspicuously is the
importance of the transport factor in modern civilisa-
tion. The world as we knew it yesterday largely
existed upon cheap transport. This has enabled
nations to ignore the absence of national resources
and to engage in enterprises in all sorts of places
that before the days of steam were closed to the
pioneer of industry. The war, which has thrown so
inordinate a strain upon the means of transport,
whether on sea or on land, has created difficulties
that were never contemplated in company prospec-
tuses or national budgets. The present crisis in
France is almost entirely one of transport. The
disparity between the prices of North French and
British imported coals, which always has existed, has
been enlarged by the unfavourable rate of exchange
and by the increased cost of coal at the pithead in
this country, due to increased wages, which the
French miner, with admirable patriotism, has denied
himself; but by far the greater portion of the
increase has sprung from the abnormal rise in
freights. There has been a tendency in France to
regard British mine owners as being unduly
rapacious; it is even stated that France is paying
tribute to this country for coal alone at the rate of
2,000,000,000 fr. per annum, taking the average
price of coal c.i.f. on the French seaboard at 80 fr.
per ton. This is assuredly a wrong view to take of
.the situation, for at least half of this sum is going to
shipowners and a very large proportion of it to
Norwegian and other neutral owners, who have not
been slow to benefit from the difficulties of other
nations.

Influence on Price.

As we have pointed out, the scheme of the Com-
mission cannot secure any amelioration in price,
except by increased economy of rolling stock; and it
is recognised that, in addition, there should be no
abatement of the efforts to bring about an actual
reduction in the cost of fuel by “ direct and natural”
means. It is a good feature of the new Law that
it is not affected in its operation by simultaneous
efforts in these directions. Taking the elements in
their logical sequence, there has been some talk of
extending the Price of Coal (Limitation) Act to
supplies of coal destined for our Allies, but it is
questionable whether this would ever redound to
the benefit of the latter, whilst it would create many
difficulties on this side of the Channel. Next there
is the possibility of reducing freights; the French
Government has been strongly urged to combat the
rise in freights by extensive purchases of tonnage.
Much the same question arose twelve months ago in
this country when the Government were invited
unsuccessfully to put in the whole of the interned
tonnage on the east coast at low rates of freight,
with the object of forcing down the market rates.
The defect of this expedient is that these efforts
artificially to control an open market, must inevitably
drive away vessels, especially those belonging to
neutral owners, to other routes which are now
competing for them, and what is now a crisis of price
would become a crisis of quantity also. The question
of demurrage is a matter which, with the steady
efforts now being made to improve facilities at the
French ports, is one that is bound to be reduced to
less significant proportions in the future.

Future Possibilities.

Then we have the possibility of increasing the
output from the French mines. Much ,was said, in
the course of the debate on the Bill, as to large tracts
of mineral property and partially exhausted takings
which remain dormant at the present time, but it is
hopeless to expect during the war any great expendi-
ture on dead work such as would be involved,
especially at a time when mine owners have been
constrained to concentrate their labour upon the
most easily gotten coals. But the Commission
consider that, even in existing circumstances, the
national output can be increased by at least 5 million