The Coal Deadlock It is now clear that the Goveriunent
is looking well before it leaps into the coal arena. The Coal Bill may be intioduced before Christmas, but it is certain that it will not be passed until after the recess. Probably,too, the Hours measure must be postponed, for it was clearly understood that there must be at least three months' trial of the new marketing -schemes before hours could be reduced. Other legislation dealing with the acquisition of royalties will certainly have to wait. We welcome this delay, for, as Mr. E. D. Simon has shown in a letter to the Manchestir Guardian, the proposal to put the authority of the State behind a national subSidy to export coal is suicidal. At Present, admittedly, the Government's proposal does no more than empower the owners to impose such a levy, but the effect must be the same—namely, to tax a necessary of life. Moreover, such a project simply flies in the face of the recommendations of the Economic Committee of the League of Nations. Once more we, must repeat that an international remedy is needed for this international problem, and anything in the nature of a' subsidy must be fatal to the health of the coal trade. If this part of the Government's proposals goes through, it would indeed be, as Mr. Simon says, a waste of time for Great Ifritain to be represented at Geneva in January.
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