Welsh Journals

THE COAL POSITION IN SOUTH WALES by David Davies, M.P. DURING the last few years there has been much discussion regarding the coal situa- tion generally and in South Wales in particular. In the Press, and even in more enlightened circles, random statements appear to be made regarding the future prospects of the Coal Trade, which must lead many people to suppose that its future is indeed "black" and that its recovery is well-nigh impossible. For instance, we are told that hundreds of thousands of miners can never hope to be re-employed again in the mining industry, that oil has completely superseded coal as a fuel, and that a large number of pits are so old that they will never produce coal again at a remunerative price. No doubt there is a certain amount of truth in all these statements. On the other hand, if they are to be regarded as prophecies for the future, is it not possible that they are highly exagger- ated ? Their exponents have not adduced facts upon which to base these conclusions; they are merely opinions representing the views of the pessimists, which may or may not prove to be true. No doubt similar prophecies were rife during those terrible years of depression in the South Wales Coal Trade following the Franco- German War of 1870. In the final result, how- ever, those gloomy forebodings were happily not fulfilled. It is obvious that every industry passes through its periods of "ups and downs," of depression and prosperity, at long or short intervals. The Coal Trade is unfortunately by no means the only victim of the economic conditions which have supervened since the war. The plight of agriculture, the parlous condition of our heavy industries, the violent fluctuations in the rubber trade, are a few of the forcible illustrations of this economic phenomenon. The Coal Trade, on the whole, has probably been subject to fewer vicissitudes in the past than almost any other industry. On the whole it has been prosperous. Consequently, a pro- longed period of depression immediately gives rise to acute feelings of apprehension which are loudly proclaimed by the prophets of woe and disaster. Now what are the facts? Before the war the production of coal in South Wales increased in the forty years between 1874 and 1914 from 14,392,918 tons to approximately 56,830,072 tons, representing the output in 1913, which was the peak year of production. The quin- quennial results show a steady advance in out- put. The figures for the eight quinquennial periods are as follows:- 1874/78 71,964,591 tons 1879/83 109,011,610 1884/88 127,501,016 1889/93 148,834,169 1894/98 162,856,387 1899/03 201,867,139 1904/08 234,194,764 1909/13 256,220,982 It is also to be noted that the expansion of the Coal Industry, resulting from the sinking of new pits, the adoption of modern plant and machinery, its better organisation and its general progress, coincides with the gradual growth of great centres of population-Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Barry, and the mining villages in the Rhondda and elsewhere-the construction of many miles of railway and the building and ex- tension of great docks in the Bristol Channel. Moreover, the population of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire increased by leaps and bounds during the half-century from 1864 to 1914. It is therefore apparent that during these pre- war years South Wales as a coal-exporting centre held its own against all the other coal- fields of the world. It may also be claimed that its miners were more highly paid and worked shorter hours than those employed in foreign coalfields. This fact may be regarded as an advantage in the competition with foreign coal in the future, because since the war the working conditions of the miners abroad have undoubtedly improved. To what extent, it is perhaps difficult to say. Before the war we were probably handi- capped to a certain extent as compared with our competitors. To-day this disparity is not so pronounced. It is certain, however, that the superiority of the working conditions in South Wales would not have been possible had it not been for the natural advantages which our coal- field possesses in the production and distribution of its staple product. It is to be hoped that when our markets abroad have been recaptured, our miners will be enabled to resume this superiority which they may temporarily have lost. But South Wales only produced during this period approximately five per cent. of the total output of the world. To-day this proportion has shrunk to a figure below three per cent. Why, it will be asked, has the South Wales ratio fallen to this extent? Apart from minor considerations, four main causes may be cited