Coal Mines Act 1930

The Coal Mines Act 1930 was an Act of Parliament which introduced a system of quotas in the coal mining industry of Great Britain. It was a major achievement of the Labour Party, which revoked the eight hour day that had been enacted in 1926, replacing it with a 7 1⁄2 hour day. Mine owners were allowed to fix quotas and minimum prices. Theoretically, the new commission was to plan how to close less-efficient pits, but it was not effective. Historian A. J. P. Taylor says that:

on the contrary, the act protected the inefficient. It operated restriction and stable prices at the expense of the consumer. Here was the pattern for British capitalism in the thirties. ^[1]

References[]

Further reading[]

• Fine, Ben. "Economies of scale and a featherbedding cartel?: a reconsideration of the interwar British coal industry." Economic History Review 43.3 (1990): 438-449.
• Kirby, M. W. "The Genesis of the Coal Mines Act of 1930." in Kirby, The British Coalmining Industry, 1870–1946 (Macmillan Education UK, 1977) pp. 124-137.
• Lucas, Arthur F. "A British Experiment in the Control of Competition: The Coal Mines Act of 1930." Quarterly Journal of Economics (1934): 418-441. in JSTOR
• Prest, Wilfred. "The British Coal Mines Act of 1930, Another Interpretation." Quarterly Journal of Economics (1936): 313-332. in JSTOR
• Supple, Barry. The History of the British Coal Industry: Volume 4: 1913-1946: The Political Economy of Decline (1988) excerpt and text search