SIR,—You rightly describe as " an unpleasant surprise " for
coal royalty owners the award of the Tribunal appointed to rssess the capital value of the agreed annual income of k,4A3o,000 derived from royalties on coal. It is more than a surprise, and it is not confined to royalty owners.
Your further statement, that before the Tribunal's appoint- ment the Government offered £75,003,00o in compensation, was denied in a letter to The Times last week from Sir George Midd leton, the Chairman of the Negotiating Committee representing the Mineral Owners Joint Committee, who stated that at no time during the course of the negotiations had the Government made any offer.
Whilst the incomes derived by royalty owners may in many cases be uncertain both as regards amount and duration, the aggregate of such incomes is fairly stable and permanent. It is to this distinction that the Tribunal would appear to have attached insufficient weight.—I am, yours faithfully, Station Chambers, Bridgend. R. M. DU.LWYN.
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