Written Answers
Trade Facilities Act (Beet Sugar Companies)
asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what was the amount of the advances made under the Trade Facilities Act to the two beet-sugar companies which are in default in their repayments; how much has been repaid; how much is now in arrear; and what was the amount of subsidy paid to those companies in each of the last three years?
It has been the invariable practice of successive Governments to treat as confidential details concerning particular guarantees under the Trade Facilities Act where these details are outside the scope of the information which the Acts themselves require to be published and where they relate to a company engaged in active business. I do not feel that the public interest warrants a departure from that rule on this occasion.
Aberlour Orphanage
Aberlour Orphanage
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how matters stand in regard to the proposal to alter the conditions under which the orphanage at Aberlour has hitherto been administered; and whether he is aware that the changes recently proposed are viewed with disapproval in many quarters?
The Educational Endowments Commissioners, after negotiation with the executive committee of the Representative Church Council of the Episcopal Church in Scotland and with the Committee of Management of Aberlour Orphanage, have proposed that the scheme be remitted to them by the Department in order that effect may be given to certain agreed amendments which, I am informed, will render the scheme acceptable to the afore-mentioned bodies. I am not aware of any disapproval of the action now proposed by the commissioners.
Coal Industry
Output
asked the Secretary for Mines the output per man per shift in 1921 in the mining industry of Great Britain and for the last 12 months for which figures are available, giving separate figures for Lancashire and Cheshire?
The information, so far as particulars are available, is as follows:
| Period. | Output per manshift worked by all workers employed above and below ground at Coal Mines in | |
| Great Britain. | Lancashire and Cheshire. | |
| 1921:— | Cwts. | Cwts. |
| Jan.—March | 14·46 | 12·31 |
| April—Sept. | Not available. | |
| Oct.—Dec. | 17·73 | 14·42 |
| 1933 | 22·47 | 18·08 |
Wages
asked the Secretary for Mines the average weekly wage in the coal-mining industry of Great Britain in 1921, excluding from calculation the period of the national stoppage of that year, and the average weekly wage of the last twelve months for which figures are available, giving separate figures for Lancashire and Cheshire?
In 1921 (excluding the three months ended June) the average weekly cash earnings of all workers employed in the coal mines in Great Britain were £3 14s. 11d. and in 1933, £2 2s. 5d. The corresponding figures for Lancashire and Cheshire were £3 9s. 6d. and £2 1s. 2d., respectively.
Wage-Earners
asked the Secretary for Mines, the total number of persons employed in the coal-mining industry in Great Britain in December, 1921, and the total number employed on the last date for which figures are available,
| — | Great Britain. | Lancashire and Cheshire. | ||
| 1921. | 1933. | 1921. | 1933. | |
| Coal cut by machinery: | ||||
| (i) Quantity (thousand tons) | 23,040 | 87,826 | 1,806 | 5,225 |
| (ii) Percentage proportion of total output. | 14 | 42 | 14 | 40 |
| Coal conveyed by machinery: | ||||
| (i) Quantity (thousand tons) | Not available. | 62,156 | Not available. | 4,458 |
| (ii) Percentage proportion of total output. | 30 | 34 | ||
giving separate figures for Lancashire and Cheshire?
At 31st December, 1921, the total number of wage-earners on colliery books in Great Britain was 1,061,200, and at 14th April, 1934, 786,100. The corresponding figures for Lancashire and Cheshire were 103,300 and 62,700, respectively.
Machining,Cutting And Conveying
asked the Secretary for Mines the quantity of coal cut and conveyed by machinery in the coalmining industry of Great Britain, and state it also as a percentage of the total quantity of coal produced in 1921 and for the last 12 months for which figures are available, giving separate figures for Lancashire and Cheshire?
The information, so far as it is available, is as follows: