COAL AND THE FUTURE
Sin,—The figures given in Mr. R. H. Wilby's letter can be used to make an interesting point.
I have expressed the t938 figures as an approximate percentage of those. of 1922. The drop in production of commercially disposable coal is 7.5 per cent. A significant decrease, but not really large ; this steady decline could be due to increased difficulties in winning the coal as the easy seams become exhausted. The proceeds per ton in 1938 were 92 per cent. of 1922, and wages would require in 1922 63 per cent. of these proceeds as against 6o per cent. in 1938. • By 1938 the man-power had decreased and the average wage increased. To do all this the industry must have become technically more efficient.
Yet in 1938 the domestic consumer complains about tit e increased price of coal he is called upon to pay. Lord McGowan has also recently associated the industrial consumer with this complaint.
It would be interesting to know who has had any benefit from the
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