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APPENDIX A.--REPORTS.
It must not be forgotten that deterioration in the quality of supplies has unquestion- ably increased consumption. The problem engaged our attention for more than two years, but it passed, naturally, to the Coal Mines Department, and is, I am aware, now receiving the Controller's consideration. If only five per cent. is involved (and I think it is considerably more), it means that London has annually to pay for, carry, unload, put into and out of its furnaces, and eventually dispose of, some 850,000 tons of incombustible material, causing an utter waste of labour, transport, and money from start to finish. These figures are entirely war extras, and are additional to
ashes" and such-like normal residuums.
The Board of Trade, with effect from the first week of the current official year, introduced certain regulations with the object of restricting the consumption of fuel in gas and electricity undertakings, but the results secured will, it is believed, prove disappointing and inadequate.
15.
In the earlier days, before the Coal Controller's Department came into being, the assistance of the officers of the Railway Executive Committee, to which I have alluded in appreciative terms in previous reports, proved invaluable in getting rail-borne supplies forward to meet urgent cases. These caused consider- able anxiety and trouble on occasion, but, with the co-operation of all parties-not forgetting the part played by the Coal Factors, who have always helped me ungrudg- ingly, and have tided us round many an awkward corner-everything was kept going, and I have no recollection of any actual breakdown.
16. The organization of the Coal Controller's Department has, of course, changed the procedure, and all matters of supply, distribution, etc., are now referred to his staff and dealt with by them.
17. The sea-borne position has been constantly kept in view, and it has frequently been referred to in reports and memoranda we have issued. Gas coal bulks largest in the descriptions brought by sea, followed by bunkers and mechanical stoker, with some steam; but household is almost negligible, nearly all of it being rail-borne. It was in March that the London sea-borne trade received its greatest blow, when, after many reductions by requisitions, and by enemy activities, some fifty per cent. of the remaining tonnage was commandeered to meet an emergency demand already referred to in paragraph 1. The transfer was effected gradually, but eventually all the vessels requisitioned were, I believe, taken. While the transfer was in progress the Coal Controller promptly arranged to divert certain rail-borne coal to the gas companies and for bunkering purposes, and negotiations were undertaken, which resulted in the scheduling of sixty special trains per week (approximately 24,000 tons) to supply these requirements, several trains being run to the tips, whence their contents were delivered by barges. The organization of this service naturally took some little time, and, before it got into full bearing, the tonnage position suddenly became distinctly easier, whilst the coal shortage reached an acute stage--so acute, in fact, that supplies were insufficient to meet all demands. Whether easier tonnage conditions will prove permanent or merely transitory cannot be judged on any information in my possession, but, person- ally, I should not look for any material increase in the volume of London sea-borne receipts in the near future. If there is plenty of coal, we shan't hear of tonnage going a-begging; if there is not, free tonnage won't help anybody. But in all these estimates and calculations we are dependent on the output from the coal mines, and what the miner is, or is not, going to produce is the dominant factor in every equation.
18. Whilst steamer freight has gone up until it is now controlled at rates approximately three hundred per cent. higher than pre-War rates (Tyne-London, 1913-14, 38. to 4s.; 1917-18, 178. 6d.), railway rates have remained the same. Rail- borne is therefore a cheaper way of transport than is sea-borne. It followed that the allocation of rail-borne coal substituted for sea-borne demanded some regula- tion, and a committee was formed, under the name of the London Riverside Coal' Distribution Committee, to deal with the matter, as also with the allocation of tonnage of the Admiralty Coasting Trade Office fleet, and of vessels offered by the Ministry of Shipping. The Controller invited me to become the Chairman of it, and I am continuing to act for the present.
19. As regards the London coal stocks of the near future, I fear that what is left of the summer will not see the building up of reserves to a figure which we should have considered provided an adequate margin of safety a few months ago. But this is one of the matters the Coal Controller will deal with, and I only wish that there was an easier situation to face.
APPENDIX A.-REPORTS.
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20. Staff.-Throughout the forty months of its existence the Admiralty Coasting Trade Office has had the great advantage of the services of the same clerical staff, that is Mrs. Metten and Miss Westrop, who have helped me most thoroughly, intelligently, and conscientiously. It would have been impossible to get through the volume of work we have tackled with so small a staff unless they had loyally backed me up.
It would be a pleasure to me, should the Committee think fit to record their appreciation of the services they have rendered. joining the Coal Controller's Department, and will carry on the work they have so long been doing.
Records-I enclose copies of receipts for the records taken over by the Ministry of Shipping (Nos. 00001 to 00326 inclusive) and by the Controller of Coal Mines (Nos. 80001 to 80384 inclusive).
21.
Both ladies
are
22. In conclusion, I must record the cause of the closing of the Admiralty Coasting Trade Office, in the course of the most difficult season the London Coal Trade has ever experienced. After correspondence between the Controller of Shipping and Admiral Slade, which commenced on the 30th April, Sir Joseph Maclay, under date the 23rd May, decided that, "as it would be an advantage to be able to effect exchanges at times between the Admiralty Coasting Trade Office vessels and the rest of the ships in the coasting, or even other, trades," thereby securing "unity of control and interchangeability," the Admiralty Coasting Trade Office fleet should be transferred to the Ministry of Shipping as from the 1st June. The transfer was made accordingly.
It had been suggested that, before action, the Coal Controller should be consulted, and a conference, attended by representatives of all interests, convened; but Sir
importance Joseph Maclay, whilst admitting the of the London coal supply, negatived the suggestion, adding that the C.T ships "had only formed part of the tonnage hitherto supplying London with coal, and, from an administrative point of view, it must be better that the whole of the shipping in the trade should be under one control.”
I doubt if this larger scheme will materialize, for, unless the London Coal Trade
is left with a permanent nucleus of vessels exclusively engaged in it, it could not be effectively or economically conducted, and disastrous results would inevitably follow.
If the Committee do not follow the logic employed in the correspondence above quoted, in view of what took place two months earlier, as stated in paragraph 4, perhaps others reasons connected with paragraph 8 were not overlooked.
2992
I have, &c..
A. LESLIE
Lieutenant-Colonel (retired),
Assistant Director.
APPENDIX B.-AGREEMENTS AND CHARTER PARTIES.
(1)
AN AGREEMENT made the second day of February, 1917, between THE BOARD OF TRADE (hereinafter called "the Board"), of the one part, and the firm of GRAHAMS AND COMPANY, of 5, Bishopsgate, London, EC., as well on its own behalf as on behalf of the owners of the cargo now laden on board the steamships "Pangim" and "Damao" (hereinafter called "the Representatives "), of the other part.
WHEREAS:-
(a) The steamship "Pangim," being then known as the "Numantia," owned by the Hamburg-Amerika Packet Actien Gesellschaft, of Hamburg, in Germany, and being then on a voyage from the Persian Gulf to ports in Germany with a general cargo, sought refuge in the port of Mormagao in August, 1914;
(b) The steamship Damao," being then known as the "Brisbane," owned by the Deutsche Australische Dampfschiff Gesellschaft, of Hamburg, in Germany, and being then on a voyage from Australia to ports in Germany with a general cargo, also sought refuge in the said port of Mormagao in August, 1914;