Coal Mines Bill The Government's Coal Bill, issued last week,
is likely to meet with severe criticism before it becomes law. Part of the Bill, however, succeeds in establishing an equitable, if somewhat lengthy, procedure for transferring by 1942 the ownership of existing royalties to an independent Coal Commission, at a cost (already fixed by arbitration) of £66,500,000. This sum will be raised by loan ; as the interest will be less than the proceeds of the royalties, a considerable surplus will remain, whiCh can be applied to the abolition of wayleaves and the reduction of individual royalties. It is essential, if the scheme is to produce its maximum advantage, that the whole of this surplus should be devoted to the benefit of the industry. Part II of the Bill, which concerns the amalgamation of mines, is open to greater objections than Part I. Like the 193o Act, it provides that the detailed terms of compulsory amalgama- tions must be approved by the Railway and Canal Com- mission before they become law ; the broad question whether they are in the national interest must be decided first by Parliament,
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