PRODUCTION

The production of coal in Belgium since 1909-1913 has been as follows:

The comparative progress of European production is set out in Table B (see page 43), attached to this statement, from which it will be seen that in 1928 Belgium had exceeded her pre-war production, whilst the United Kingdom's output was only 82.5 per cent of the pre-war amount.

PRICES

The weighted average value of coal sold from the mines (including the estimated value of the coal used on the mines and supplied to householder employees), is shown hereunder:

A comparison with other countries is shown in Table A, attached hereto.

MECHANIZATION

Of the total output in 1927, of 27,574,000 tons 1,350,000 tons were won by coal cutters alone; 20,205,000 tons by hammer picks exclusively, and 742,840 by the combined use of coal cutters and hammer picks.

The output of coal obtained by machinery represented 81 per cent of the total Belgian output in 1927.

INDIVIDUAL OUTPUT

Notwithstanding the diminution in the numbers employed (23,000 mine workers less in October, 1929, than in 1927), the production per shift for each hewer increased from 4,201 kilograms (4.13 tons) in 1928 to 4,380 kilograms (4.30 tons) in the first half of 1929.

IMPORT LICENSES

In October, 1924, complications arising from the price of reparations coal made it necessary for Belgium to establish a system of import licenses on coal coming from Germany and the Netherlands, but the decree was temporarily rescinded owing to the cessation of British imports in 1926.

No duty is imposed on the importation of coal into Belgium.

ORGANIZATION

(a) Producers.-Belgian collieries are not affiliated to any organizations influencing the activity of their members to an important extent; but they are grouped in associations by their directors. These

associations are united in a federation. Article 2 of the statutes of the federation reads as follows:

The object of the association is to deal with all questions of general interest affecting the Belgian mining industry. Its decisions shall only bind the associations composing it to the extent to which they have signified their assent thereto.

Certain collieries, under common financial control, receive general instructions, the effect of which it is not possible to estimate. At least two important groups of collieries, representing 40 per cent of the total output, are in this position.

(b) Sales. According to evidence supplied to the League of Nations at a meeting of the mixed committee of experts on coal on September 30, 1929, a system of sales organization has been created recently in Belgium. There are five coal fields in Belgium, of which three in Hainault and the new Campine coal field have joined together to form the Belgian Coal Association. The association acts as a sales syndicate and is responsible for 75 per cent of the total Belgian production. This system is similar to that of the Rhenish-Westphalian Syndicate, in that the four coal fields comprising the association intrust it with the sale of all industrial coal, but coal intended for domestic consumption is left to the free organization of producers.

The remaining 25 per cent is produced in the Liege coal field, where the producers are grouped in an organization acting as a supervisory body which merely fixes prices and superintends the carrying out of decisions.

REGULATION OF WAGES

For over 10 years general fluctuations in wages in the Belgian coalmining industry have been governed by the provisions of an agreement adopted by the joint national mines committee, which at present consists of 11 members representing the heads of undertakings and 12 members representing the workers. The president is a State official, the director general of the mines department in the Ministry of Industry, Labor, and Social Welfare.

The aim of the joint national committee, according to the Royal Order of January 24, 1920, that set it up, is "to find by collaboration with representatives of the associations, both of employers and of workers, a peaceful settlement of all questions connected with employment in mines."

In 1925, owing to the depression in the coal industry, the joint national mines committee undertook an inquiry with a view to modifying the formula governing wage fluctuations by the introduction of an economic factor, namely, the price of coal, which, since October, 1926, has thus influenced the rise and fall in miners' wages.

SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES

Section 3 of the agreement referred to above, and the rules to which it refers, prescribe the procedure to be followed in cases of difficulty arising out of the application of the agreement. The dispute must be submitted to local joint bodies, regional joint bodies, or the joint national committee, according as it affects a colliery, a coal field, or all the coal fields. If a dispute can not be settled by the local body to which it is submitted, it is referred to the regional

body; similarly, if it can not be settled by the regional body it is referred to the joint national committee.

RESULTS SHOWN BY CONCENTRATION IN THE BELGIAN COAL INDUSTRY

Concentration proceeded from the two largest Belgian banks, whose object was

(a) To establish a close cooperation between the collieries and the chemical and electrical industries.

(b) To bring about, by means of specialized organization, cheaper selling methods, at normal prices.

On January 5, 1929, there were constituted the "Syndicat des Cokes, which includes all Belgian producers of coke and coking coals, comprising 27 companies; and the "Comptoir de Veste des Charbons Industrials," which includes all the collieries in Mons, Centre, Charleroi, Namur, and Campine fields, comprising 48 companies, but excludes the Liege collieries.

Two central works also for the recovery of by-products were created, first, the "Societe de Carbonisation Central" for the treatment of coal and all other substances with a view to their decomposition or transformation into solid, liquid, or gaseous products. The other, the "Societe Carbo-Chemique," produces and sells all products related to the chemical industry, such as hydrocarbons and fertilizers.

RESULTS OF CENTRALIZATION AND NATIONALIZATION

Production. The average monthly coal output slightly decreased from 2,259,000 tons in the second half of 1928 to 2,245,000 tons in the first half of 1929.

Prices.-Prices have risen considerably since the beginning of 1929, as shown in the following table:

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

PRODUCTION

The production in Czechoslovakia (postwar territory) since 1909-1913 has been as under:

The following figures show the quantity of coal and lignite extracted by machinery as a percentage of the total production:

The output (expressed in hundredweights) per shift has increased as under:

In Czechoslovakia special railway rates are granted for export coal.

IMPORT RESTRICTIONS

Imports into Czechoslovakia are confined to quotas, but there is no import duty.

FRANCE

PRODUCTION

The production of coal in France since 1909-1913 was as under:

During the pre-war period, consumption showed a regular increase, but national production increased much more slowly. Since the war consumption has steadily risen, except in 1921, a year of general crisis. Moreover, French production had fallen to such a low level that the question of markets did not arise. There has thus been a ready outlet for a rapidly increasing production and from Table B (page 43) attached to this statement, showing the comparative progress of European production, it will be seen that by 1924 France had reached her pre-war output.

The output of France is not sufficient to supply the country's requirements, and in 1928 the shortage amounted to well over 20,000,000 tons. The devastation caused by the war in the Herd and Pasde-Calais coal fields accounted for a loss on annual output from the devastated mines exceeding 20,000,000 tons. Since 1925, however, as a result of reorganization, the output has exceeded the 1913 volume; in 1928 this excess amounted to 17 per cent, on the basis of postwar frontiers.

PRICES

The weighted-average value of coal sold from the mines (including the estimated value of the coal used on the mines and that supplied to householder employees) is shown hereunder:

A comparison with other countries is shown in Table A attached.

ORGANIZATION

(a) Producers.-Coal owners are grouped into organizations for the various coal fields, the representatives of which meet at regular intervals. The collieries as a whole form a central organization, The Central Coal Mines Committee, founded in 1892.

Neither the coal-field association nor the central committee has power to regulate the output of the members. Frequent contact makes it possible to follow a common policy in respect of the main problems affecting the industry.

(b) Sales.-France is not a coal exporter from any field except Lorraine; consequently the need for the creation of sales syndicates has not been felt so markedly in France as in other continental countries. Except in Lorraine, there are no selling syndicates. Each mining company arranges its own sales, finds its own markets, and is left entirely free to fix prices which are arrived at between producers and consumers, merchants, or public services. Sales to important or organized consumers are generally arranged on fairly long-term contracts.

SELLING PRICES

For a long time past it has been the policy of the French coal industry to maintain the greatest possible stability in selling prices. As the industry produces almost exclusively for the home market, this is not a matter of extreme difficulty. To achieve this stability,