London, June 2.
The British Engineers' Associa~ tion—an organization of British manufacturing engineers and shipbuilders—has issued a pamphlet on the economic causes of the coal crisis, which gives some interesting figures collected from official and other authoritative sources. These show that the tonnage of coal raised per person employed in the March quarter of 1921 was only 68 per cent. of the corresponding figure for 1913, and that 99,700 more persons were employed in the mines. Meanwhile the average yearly earnings per person increased from £82 to £232, being an increase of 183 per cent., whereas the cost of living increased 132 per cent. The average wages cost per ton rose from 6s. 4d. to 26s., and the average selling price from 10s. to 33s., while coal exports fell from 97,000,000 tons in 1913 to 38,000,000 tons in 1920.
£85,000,000 Annual Loss.
The direct loss, inclusive of depreciation, debenture interest, and owners' standard profits, for March, 1921, was at the rate of £85,000,000 annually. As a result of the stoppage, only 13 out of 308 blast furnaces were operating in April, and the production of pig-f}iron was 60,000 tons, as compared with the monthly output of 855,000 tons in 1913. The pamphlet quotes the opinions of industrial authorities to the effect that any settlement would be worthless which failed to reduce prices to a figure that would enable industries to afford to consume coal.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.