Sir Auckland Geddes announced on Monday in the House or
Commons that the price of coal to domestic consumers would be reduced next Monday by ten shillings a ton. We ought not, after the past two years' experience, to be surprised at anything that the Government may do in connexion with the coal industrY,
but we must confess that their new move is bewildering, On November 13th Sir Auckland Geddes told the House that, if he could feel sure :that the miners would not strike, he would "take risks" and reduce the price, "not by six shillings—that is impossible with the present output—but by some smaller amount." On November 24th, however, he said that he could reduce the price—to householders—not by six shillings, but tho much larger amount of ten shillings. This boon is very welcome to the domestic consumer. But is it not a half- concealed subsidy in aid of the cost of living, like the subsidy on bread and the subsidy to the railways, which the Government profess a desire to abolish ? Can it be justified for economic as well as electoral reasons ?
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