ABSTRACT
Between 1946 and 1956 inland coal consumption had increased by an average of 3.2 million tons a year. Apart from one short period during the industrial recession of 1951–2 there had, for the whole of the 1946 to 1956 period, been a shortage of coal. In 1957, however, the situation changed and there was a substantial fall in home consumption; at 212.9 million tons the 1957 figure was 4.7 million tons less than it had been in 1956.
