of railway administration, and that the railway executive committee have already made arrangements to enable companies possessing surplus wagons to help those whose supply is inadequate. At the same time, and while we are aware of the great strain thrown upon the railways at present by the movements of troops and military stores, we feel bound to urge that the committee should adopt every practicable expedient which can be devised for insuring the rapid and regular transport of coal to London and the south.

38. We also recommend that the Government should at once. consider the question of inviting the London County Council to arrange that the council itself and any other public bodies which already possess or can secure the necessary facilities should during the coming summer acquire, and so far as possible store within easy reach of London, large stocks of household coal, to be sold during the winter at prices and under conditions to be fixed in consultation with the Government, to traders engaged in supplying small consumers. Such a step would, we believe, have a salutary effect in steadying prices.

39. There is one further suggestion which we have to make. A cheap supply of gas is of the greatest importance to the poorer classes of consumers. A rise of 1s. (24.3 cents) per ton in the price of gas coal or the cost of transport means an addition of 1d. (2 cents) per thousand feet to the price of gas. The Gas Light and Coke Co. alone supplies a population of perhaps 3,500,000. The consumers served by this company use 500,000 automatic meters, and the consumers obtaining gas by these meters use 400,000 gas stoves. The addition of 1d. (2 cents) per thousand feet to the price of gas involves an additional charge of £110,000 ($535,315) per annum to the consumer in North London alone, and of over £200,000 ($973,300) per annum through all London; the Gas Light and Coke Co. within the last few days have raised their price 4d. (8.1 cents) and the South Metropolitan Gas Co. 6d. (12.2 cents) per thousand feet in addition to a previous increase of 2d. (4.1 cents) in each case since the beginning of the war. The very high rates of freight for gas coal from the north compel the gas companies to charge more to the consumer, and may also lead contractors to bring gas coal south by railway, thereby reducing the usual facilities for the transport of household coal. We are informed that the interned ships now in the hands of the Government and occupied in transporting coal for public utility companies in London are employed, so far as practicable, at rates tending to reduce the high freights now charged, which during recent months have stood at 10s. ($2.43) a ton or more above the normal rates. We suggest that this policy should be extended in the direction of lowering the rates of freight on these steamers. The difficulty of deciding what purpose the ships are to serve, and to what ports they are to go (which has been already faced and overcome), would apparently not be enhanced by widening the difference between the rates of freight for those interned ships and current rates. It would, of course, be advisable to insure that the benefit of low freights on the coal brought by these steamers should go to the consumers, not to the shareholders in public companies or to private firms; and we understand that this object is already attained to a considerable degree in the case of coal required for making gas in London. suggest that the London coal advisory committee, which is already

We

advising the Government on the employment of these ships, should be asked to draw up, for the consideration of the Board of Trade, a detailed scheme for insuring that the benefit of the cheap carriage which we suggest should go to the public. It may be impossible to carry out this principle completely; but if so, we understand that any small gains which may accrue to private individuals will pass only to persons who have suffered by the previous action of the Government in taking over the ships which they have chartered.

40. We understand that certain enemy ships condemned by the prize court will shortly be or are already put up for sale. For the reasons indicated in the preceding paragraph, we suggest that the Government should consider the desirability of taking over such ships, when suitable, and devoting them to the conveyance to London of coal for public purposes.

41. We trust that the measures which we have recommended above will prove practicable and efficacious in reducing the price of coal; but in the event of prices not shortly returning to a reasonable level, we think that the national interests involved are such as to justify the Government in considering a scheme for assuming control of the output of the collieries of the United Kingdom, with a view to regulating prices and distribution in accordance with national requirements during the continuance of the war.

42. We may sum up our recommendations as follows:

(1) Exports to neutral countries should be restricted. (Paragraphs 33-36.)

(2) Steps should at once be taken to consider, in consultation with the public bodies concerned, the question of the accumulation by such bodies of reserves of coal in or near London, for the use of small consumers during next winter. (Paragraph 38.) (3) The rates of freight on the interned steamers should be further reduced. (Paragraph 39.)

(4) Suitable enemy ships condemned by the prize court should be taken over by the Government and used for coal transport. (Paragraph 40.)

(5) If prices do not shortly return to a reasonable level, the Government should consider a scheme for assuming control of the output of collieries during the continuance of the war. (Paragraph 41.)

We wish to call particular attention to our remarks in paragraph 11 of this report concerning the operation of the sliding scale in contracts for the supply of coal, and to the observations in paragraph 25 concerning the nonfulfillment by colliery owners of contracts made before last winter.

ORGANIZATION IN COAL MINES TO INCREASE OUTPUT IN GREAT BRITAIN.

A second departmental report in regard to the coal-mining industry and of some importance in relation to the questions involved in the report on the causes of rise in the retail prices of coal above referred to is that on organization in coal mines to increase output. The report was only recently issued and no copy is available for reference.

The official summary from the Board of Trade Labor Gazette for June, 1915, is therefore quoted.

On the 23d February, the home secretary appointed a departmental committee to inquire into the conditions prevailing in the coal-mining industry with a view to promoting such organization of work and such cooperation between employers and workmen as, having regard to the large numbers of miners who were enlisting for naval and military service, would secure the necessary production of coal during the war. This committee has now issued its report.?

The committee found that the number of persons from coal mines who had joined His Majesty's forces up to the end of February was 191,170, or at the rate of 27,310 persons a month. The rate of enlistment has since declined somewhat, and the estimated number at the end of May was about 220,000. The number in February (191,170) was 17.1 per cent of the total number of persons of all ages employed in coal mines at the beginning of the war (1,116,648); but the proportion of persons between the ages of 19 and 38, i. e., of those most physically fit to undertake arduous work, is estimated at approximately 40 per cent. Moreover, all the witnesses agreed that the recruits had, for the most part, been drawn from the underground labor, and very largely from those engaged in the actual work of getting and moving the coal. The withdrawal of labor has been especially heavy in Scotland (average of 21.3 per cent, rising to 25 or 30 per cent, in some counties), in South Wales and Monmouthshire (18.9 per cent), in Northumberland and Durham (24.3 and 19.9 per cent, respectively), and in Lancashire (21.3 per cent).

There has been a certain amount of replenishment of labor in coal mines from outside sources; but the net reduction of labor at the end of February in mines representing 89 per cent of the total labor employed was 134,186 persons, or 13 per cent of the number employed in July, 1914. The average fall in output during the seven months, August-February, inclusive, as compared with the corresponding months of 1913-14, was also 13 per cent. On this basis the total reduction in output for the year commencing from the outbreak of war would probably amount to 36,000,000 tons, against which can be put a probable reduction in the quantity exported of 24,000,000 tons, leaving a net shortage of 12,000,000 tons. In these circumstances the committee's conclusion is that if labor is further withdrawn from the collieries the output will be so reduced, notwithstanding all ameliorative measures, as seriously to affect the industrial position of the country.

One measure for increasing production recommended by the committee was the reduction of voluntary absenteeism. Since the outbreak of war, the average percentage of mine workers absent on the days when the mines were open for work was 9.8, as compared with 10.7 per cent in the seven months immediately preceding the war; and the committee consider that fully 4.8 per cent of this is avoidable absence. Were there no avoidable absenteeism the output would be increased to the extent of between 13,000,000 and 14,000,000 tons. The committee consider that the case has only to be put before the

1 This committee is distinct from that appointed by the president of the Board of Trade to inquire into the causes of the rise in retail coal prices.

Report of committee to inquire into the conditions prevailing in the coal-mining industry. London, 1915. (Cd. 7939.)

miners in order to secure a great response, and they recommend that this should be done by the executive of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, as the body best fitted for the purpose. They also suggest that the same body might give attention to the question of the curtailment of holidays and "stop days" during the war.

As regards the eight-hour act, the committee suggest that the owners and workmen should confer together and determine to what extent, if at all, the act should be suspended in individual districts for certain classes of labor and for what period of time such suspension should last. Any extension of hours should meet with special consideration in respect of remuneration. Some advantage has already been taken of the provision in section 3 (1) of the eighthour act enabling owners to extend the hours of work by 1 hour a day for 60 days in the calendar year; but the committee consider that, generally speaking, there remains little advantage obtainable from this source.

The committee suggest that additional men might be drawn into the coal-mining industry from trades that are working slack time, but not from agriculture, or from munition, or engineering works, all of which are already extremely short of labor. Belgian refugees might also be employed to a larger extent under the conditions and safeguards arranged by the home office. The committee do not recommend the more general employment of women, or the reduction of the age limit for boys.

The committee found that much had already been done in the way of internal reorganization, with a view to economizing labor and concentrating on the work of coal getting; but they draw the attention of coal owners and managers to various suggestions which have been put before them with this end in view, in case any further improvements may be possible.

In conclusion, the committee recommend that the importance of economy in the use of coal should be brought before the public as a patriotic duty. As regards the suggestions made for the curtailment of holidays and stop days, the extension of hours, etc., the committee remark:

The basis of all the proposals and suggestions made by the committee is harmonious cooperation between employers and employed through the medium of the organizations on both sides thoroughly representative of the parties. Unless the organizations possess this power and are able to act with authority for both owners and workmen, friction may arise and stoppages of work take place which ought to be avoided at the present time to the utmost extent possible.

INCREASES IN WAGES IN GREAT BRITAIN DURING 1915.

The increases in cost of living in Great Britain have been accompanied by many changes in the rates of wages, although it is not possible to place the figures in direct comparison.

The Board of Trade Labor Gazette shows that during the five months ending with May 31, 1914, 1,987,444 working people were reported to have had their wages increased by £343,374 ($1,671,029.57) per week, or an average of nearly 3s. 6d. (85 cents) per capita. These amounts are stated to be exclusive of increased

earnings due to overtime and exclusive of wages of agricultural laborers, seamen, railway employees, police, and Government employees. It is known, however, that considerable numbers of working people in each of these occupations did receive bonuses.

The coal-mine industry accounted for about half of the total increase, and the engineering and shipbuilding trades for a little less than half the remainder. Next in importance as regards both the number of working people affected and the amount of increase per week are the transportation and textile groups.

The increases in the coal-mining industry are of special interest in view of the discussion of increase in prices and the organization of the industry for purposes of production. Thus, the Labor Gazette shows war bonuses allowed during May of 183 per cent for 93,000 miners in Scotland, of 17 per cent for 180,000 in South Wales and Monmouthshire, of 15 per cent for 120,000 in the Durham district, and of 15 per cent for approximately 190,000 in other districts.