The following compilation of facts about the coal industry made last August, is of special interest the present eri The estimated present output per annum of the coal mines of the kingdom is 240,000,000 tons, of which 18,000,000 are consumed by the collieries themselves.
The exports are 23,000,000 tons of cargo and 15,000,000" tons of bunker coal, thus leaving 184,000,000 tons available for home consumption.
This gives us an average weekly quantity of coal retained for the service of all inland requirements of about 3,544,000 tons.
If it 2 assumed that a national strike of two weeks' duration took place it would involve a loss to' the nation of about 7,080,000 tons, The districts whose trade would be disorganized and injured most by the lazs of this output would be the coal-exporting districts. These are the districts that are now bearing the brunt of the existing short-ago in production.
I¢ is the policy of the Government that the British householder and British industries must have the first Gaim on the available supply of coal, and it is for this reason that the South Wales cargo exports have been cut down to 13,500,000 tons per annum, or at the rate of about 260,000 tons per week, those of Northumberland to 125,000 tons per week, and the cargo exports of Scotland to about 10,000 tons per week,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.