Little Coal—Much Praise
There is surely something excessive, something not unconnected with the coming General Election, in the praise which has been lavished upon the miners for their success in 1949. First of all, what is this success ? Two objectives were set for the year 1949, a lower one of 215,000,000 tons and a higher of 220,000,000 tons. It was generally agreed that these figures were miserably low. But no sooner is it known that the mines have just managed to top the lower of these two figures than the public relations machine (paid for by the taxpayers) goes into action and there is an outburst of self-congratulation almost beyond belief. The miners, who are in a position to know the facts, having produced 6,000,000 tons more than in 1948 with a labour force that fell by 16,000 during the year, can hardly have been impressed by this ballyhoo. The plain, fact is that the policy of mechanisation is beginning to pay dividends, despite widespread resistance from the men— a resistance which nationalisation enabled to be more rather than less effective. Yet output is still due for a fall if the present decline in the labour force goes on. /If the Coal Board is to plan effectively, it had best forget the congratulations recently showered upon it and concentrate on getting its labour figures right. For the past two years its estimates have been wildly wrong, and in 1949 the total employed went down when it was supposed to go up. Whatever enabled the miners to reach their- modest objective, it was not national planning.
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