The scarcity of coal, which has caused an outcry during
the past week, seems to be mainly due to an insufficiency of railway trucks. It Is uncertain whether the railways need more trucks or whether the existing trucks are not used to the best advantage. Probably the railway service has not yet adapted itself to the shorter working day. In any case, the blame does not lie with the coal industry. Under the Coal Ccntrol the coal-owner does not reap additional profit by selling his coal to a factory, nor does he lose by selling to a private consumer at ten shillings a ton less. The large profits on exported coal do not go to the coal-owner, but are used by the Controller to reduce the price of household coal. It is, however, most desirable that the output should be increased, for the stocks of coal are evidently very small, and any temporary breakdown on the railways or a short holiday season at the pits may leave the towns without fuel. In the fortnight ending January 3rd the output was less by three million tons than in the preceding fortnight. This would not have mattered in the days before the Government undertook to teach the coal-owners and merchants their business. The price of coal has now been raised, by two shillings a ton in London, in consequence of the increase in the railway rates.
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