COAL SITUATION AND RATIONING. Review by Mines Department. Note by Secretary circulating:

-2- based on a man-power of 720,000 and a halving of the loss from transport difficulties and want of trade experienced last winter. The latter expectation seems likely to be realised, but it was eventually decided last November that it would be unwise to take special steps to increase man-power much above the current level of 707,000 before the Spring. Since then this level has been well maintained, the direction of ex-miners into the industry broadly keeping pace with net less in other ways. Output per man was good up to Christmas, but official and unofficial holidays then caused an unexpectedly heavy loss of about 21/4 million tons and a number of factors (principally weather conditions) have since militated against its recovery to the November level.