asked the Minister for Trade, Commerce and Tourism if, in view of the varying grades of coal offered for sale to the public and of the facts that these are all subject only to a maximum controlled price, he will introduce price controls related to quality.

Strict control is exercised over the wholesale and retail prices charged for coal by all individual importers and the retail price of pre-packaged coal is fixed by order.

The coal imported into this country comes from a variety of sources around the world, and price control has related substantially to prices paid by importers for supplies from different countries of origin. In the past the question of relating prices to some standard of quality has been examined and found to involve considerable administrative difficulties. However, I am now arranging to have this matter considered afresh.