| Short Title: | Coal Mines Act 1930 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An Act to provide for regulating and facilitating the production, supply and sale of coal by owners of coal mines; for the temporary amendment of section three of the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1908; for the constitution and functions of a Coal Mines National Industrial Board; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid. |
| Year: | 1930 |
| Citation: | 20 & 21 Geo. 5. c. 34 |
| Royal Assent: | 1 August 1930 |
| Repealing Legislation: | Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946 |
| Status: | repealed |
The Coal Mines Act 1930 (20 & 21 Geo. 5. c. 34) 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 hour day. Mine owners were allowed to fix quotas and minimum prices. Theoretically, the new commission was to plan 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]