ABSTRACT
The Reid Report made it clear that a general failure to plan adequately and far enough ahead had been one of the most obvious handicaps of the British coal industry. ‘A vast programme of reconstruction of existing mines and the sinking of a number of new ones is now required, and the importance of avoiding the mistakes of the past, and of providing for the efficient lay-out of the underground workings and the orderly disposition of surface buildings should need no emphasis.’ The Report recognized that this conception of long-term planning was directly opposed to a policy which required the earliest possible return on the capital expenditure incurred in reaching the seam, and emphasized that in planning more immediate objectives short-term expedients would have to be abandoned in favour of adhering to a set plan.
