Coal Shortage
There is no short cut to the solution of the urgent problem of the coal-mines except one, and that one—the release of large numbers of skilled miners from skilled trades—is ruled out as im- possible at the present juncture of the war. But Ministers have been and are approaching the problem from several other angles. The selection by bfllot of young men who would otherwise be going into the Seryices will ultimately produce some valuable recruits for the mines, but they will not be available in time to affect the output of 'the present winter. Major Lloyd George has recently been . giving attention to another aspect of the matter, considering what may be done by more efficient organisation of the industry for immediate production. He is not in a position to accept the Miners' demand for the assumption of full operational and financial control by the Government, but he has made a proposal, acceptable to them, that he should appoint mining engineers of acknowledged ability to control output, and that groups of mines should be put under the supervision of group pro- duction directors who would be servants of the State. It is well known that in many mines better results could be got by a higher degree of technical .efficiancy. Here again many of the possible improvements demand the introduction of new machinery, and results could not be obtained in the course of the next few months. But it is believed that some immediate improvements could be effected under the best technical direction. Another cause of hold-up of work has been shortage of railway wagons, a matter to which Mr. Noel Baker referred in the debate last week. Major Lloyd George and other Ministers are certainly not being inactive, yet there is still nothing which gives the assurance of an ascending curve of output during the period when coal will be most needed.
