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of the responsibilities to be assigned to it and would come naturally within the ambita of the PPoged comprehensive sur
resources. A great proportion of the information obtained as a result of the present arrange- ments of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning can only come direct from the industry, whereas the Commission will have more specific and positive duties and powers in respect of exploration, testing and research, to supplement existing knowledge because of production needs. This is in itself an indication that our recommendations are likely to lead to more useful and fundamental results from the long-term point of view. There can be no question that a mineral survey will be of little lasting value to the country unless it is comprehensive in the sense described in Chapter X, and clearly this must be the responsibility of a technical body properly con- stituted for the purpose. Close liaison between the Commission and the Ministry of Town and Country Planning will be essential, but, so far as possible, the work to be undertaken by the Commission should replace any independent departmental arrangements now in existence, and Departments should rely upon the Commission for all technical advice and information.
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439. The Commission should also work in collaboration with the Central Land Board on any question where the use of land for mineral working make it desirable that agreement should be reached between these two bodies.
Government administrative arrangements
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440. The proposed responsibilities of the Minister of Fuel and Power, exercisable through the Commission, and those of Departments with functions in regard to mineral production are not easy to reconcile. For one thing, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to draw a satisfactory line between one set of responsibilities and the other, Furthermore, the division of responsibility as at present is bound to impede the work of the Com- mission. Production responsibility arose out of wartime needs when it was essential to relate home production closely to "end-use" requirements and to strike a practicable balance with imports. The wartime arrangements are continuing, in principle unchanged, due to the necessities of a con- trolled economy, but they may perhaps be expected gradually to diminish in degree of application, especially in the case of, say, the non-ferrous metal ores (Ministry of Supply) where home production is small.
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441. We understand that at the moment the duties of production authori- ties, while necessarily variable in detail according to the particular circum- stances of each industry, are in general concerned with the allocation of raw materials, for instance, steel and building materials, and the preparation of investment programmes. In the case of the Board of Trade, export considerations are also included in respect of china clay, ball clays, salt, and fullers' earth.
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442. It will be obvious that responsibilities of this kind, which have justifiably to be related mainly to present-day or relatively short-term con- siderations, must inevitably conflict sooner or later with development questions of a long-term character. Equally obvious is the fact that it would be im- practicable for the Commission to perform the functions we have described without it becoming directly interested in production. The natural solution, bearing in mind that the direct and day-to-day responsibilities of pro- duction authorities in relation to individual mining firms may be expected in the normal course of events to decrease rather than increase, would be to transfer production responsibility wholly to the Minister of Fuel and Power, who is already responsible for coal, which amounts to 87 per cent. of the couffry's mineful industry. would
Thisbe clean cu?It would
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Ar svil have the great advantage of setting up one channel between the industry and the Government.
soferhment One Department only, would be concerned, fistead of several at the moment. In practice, moreover, it is comparatively easy thus to draw the limit of production responsibility, at the point at which the mineral product is ready for sale at the mine. An oby
he mine. An obvious analogy at the present time seems to us to be the relationship between the Ministries of Food, and Agriculture and Fisheries.
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443. Such an arrangement need not in our view prejudice the special responsibilities of Departments for procuring adequate supplies of mineral raw materials to meet end uses, which would continue, unchanged. Having regard to the relatively small size of the MDC mineral industries concerned, the amount of duplication of effort, if any, between the user ministry on the one hand, and the Ministry of Fuel and Power on the other, par- ticularly when the latter is already responsible for similar production questions in respects of coal, would be amply compensated for by the centralisation of all mineral questions, with their natural technical background, under one authority. We have not attempted to examine the details of this proposed transfer of responsibilities but the arrangements might include the followinggo zu barlose to engmalipo taloage sibi 192 sbum vớ
95 (i) Production and development policy to be agreed between the Ministers concerned, for a long period ahead, preferably at least smot at five years. If possible it should include maximum and minimum -notevol
production targets. dao, asdise (glasiorą insingolavob, brennirit (ii) In settling policy, the Ministers should take account of the need for agreement regarding strategic development questions, and of any necessity temporarily to assist financially
assist financially uneconomic, pro- duction, the maintenance of which was necessary to safeguard or assist future production and development, or to insure against sodo sterilisation of resources? ni nobeiramo od) lc esitub sIT 02 (*)(iii) Within the agreed policy the Commission should be given the
additional additional" responsibility of acting as the "production authority" and dealing with such day-to-day matters as this involves.
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(iv) For applications for steel, building materials and licences, the Commission should act as sponsor and should transmit applications, with the necessary, technical advice, to the Minister of Fuel and note Power, or through him to the Department concerned,
nabikawo 2 ativ olew? La brekend i en undiail solo maniem nela bin de
Organisation of the Commission England and Wales
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444. For the purposes of its own work and to assist in liaison with Local Planning Authorities, the Central Land Board, and Officers of the Geological Survey and Museum, the Commission will have to set up regional offices at an early stage. This is particularly necessary in order that it can at once establish contact with offices of existing mineral owners so that records of mineral properties can be transferred and other arrangements completed. Even as things stand at present under the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, the removal of incentive from mineral owners, consequent upon the acquisition of development value in minerals, may result in the destruction of valuable records in certain cases unless immediate steps are taken to prevent it.
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445. The need for the establishment of regional offices does not necessarily imply that a large permanent organisation is needed. One difficulty, of course, ip the scattered mature of the industries concerned While we have
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not attempted detailed estimates, we believe that administratively the work would notgbellagofd2that three or four regional offices each with a staff of three or four, might meet the demands of England and Wales.
446. The size of the permanent technical staff is most difficult to estimate, and could only be determined after a full examination of policy by all concerned. It should not be large, although initially the work would be heavy.
447. One of the first tasks of the Commission should be to plan the exploration and approve reasonable proposals relating to the proper de- velopment of the new discovery of potash in Yorkshire (page 44). Another would be to arrange for the transfer of mining records from mineral owners.
Organisation of the Commission Scotland
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448. The Commission should have a separate organisation in Scotland, which, while it formed part of the Commission as a whole, should be directly responsible to the Secretary of State in his capacity as Minister for the economic development of Scotland. For instance, provision will have to be made for the special requirements of Scotland as regards the develop- ment of its scattered and generally small resources as part of a general rehabilitation policy. This applies particularly to the Highlands and Islands where it will undoubtedly be necessary to attempt to integrate some mineral development projects, perhaps only of small size, with other develop- ment schemes for specific areas, as a matter of general policy of the Secretary of State designed to arrest depopulation.
449. A precedent for an administrative arrangement of this kind is provided by the Forestry Commission.
450. The duties of the Commission in Scotland would be similar to those for England and Wales. Specially important, however, would be the duty to secure the provision of research facilities to investigate the possibility of processing, or raising the grade of certain minerals of which large ton- nages exist but which at present cannot be worked economically. We have in mind especially diatomite, felspar, talc and olivine. In this connection our attention has been drawn to existing facilities which might be more fully used at Scottish Universities and Technical Colleges who would be willing to consider giving active assistance in such matters. The Commission should also maintain close liaison, as in England and Wales, with the Geological Survey and Museum (Scottish Office), and with the Scottish Council (Development and Industry)..
Financial Arrangements
451. The functions which we have assigned to the Commission will neces- sitate the expenditure of considerable sums, particularly during the first few years of its existence, on exploratory work undertaken as part of the mineral survey. While the objective in view should always be to secure results in the form of specific information about the existence of mineral resources of economic importance which will ultimately prove to be a source of revenue, the Commission will obviously have to risk expenditure from time to time on many projects which will produce negative results. It is generally recognised that in mineral exploration successes, though often highly profitable when achieved, are far outnumbered by failures. The extent tagwhich the Commission should risk Pagtal 2expenditure of this
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kind is a matter which falls largely outside our terms of reference, although our technical enquiry prompts us to put forward the following general comments:age, 126 of 662:
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