ABSTRACT
Governmental control of prices and resources was by no means so effective in the First World War as it was in the Second. Throughout the war the coal industry was seriously disturbed by rising costs and a shortage of manpower, equipment and supplies. The outbreak of hostilities in 1914 found the industry entering one of its periodic depressions. The immediate effect of the war was to reduce still further the demand for coal. The loss of overseas markets was felt most acutely in the exporting areas but even in Derbyshire some of the steam-coal pits which had developed a substantial overseas trade had to introduce short-time working. When labour disputes were added to the war-time difficulties of the coal industry the Government was obliged to take complete control. Meanwhile the Government had been considering the desirability of taking control of the whole of the coal industry.
