The German Reich is divided into a certain number of coal mining districts. In each district all the mine owners associations must form a Colliers Association. If this cannot be accomplished voluntarily the Minister of Public Economy promulgates the organization by means of a decree. Each Colliers Association must have a Council of Administration, in which it is obligatory that the workers be allowed representation. In addition, in the Councils of Administration of the five biggest associations there must be admitted a representative of the salaried employés. The Council of Administration has the authority commonly accorded to the councils of administration of stock companies by the Commercial Code; it appoints its own president. In the same way all the owners of gasworks that produce coke are united for the whole territory of the Reich into an Association of Coal-gas Manufacturers, formed on the same model as the Colliers’ Associations.
The Colliers Associations, the association of Coal-gas Manufacturers and the German states that belong, by virtue of ownership of mines, in the Colliers Associations, are united into a _National Coal Association_. This has a Council of Administration in which must be included three wage-earners and salaried employés and one representative of the consumers.
_The National Coal Council_ is composed of sixty members--representatives of the states, of mine owners organizations, wage-earners, office workers, consumers, etc.[70] It is convened as often as conditions demand and at least once every six months. It must in addition be convened if at least ten of its members or the Minister of Public Economy of the Reich demand it. It decides by majority vote. It creates three technical committees, The Economic Committee on Mining Construction, The Economic Committee for the Utilization of Combustibles and The Social Committee of the Mines. Each member of the National Coal Council must belong to a committee. The cost of the administration of the National Coal Council and of its committees is borne by the National Colliers Associations.
Each of these organs has its own special powers.
The National Coal Council directs the economy of combustibles, in which is included importation and exportation, according to the principles of collective economy under the supervision of the Reich. It must approve the charters according to which the Colliers Associations and the National Coal Association are organized. The National Coal Council may decree general policies for the administration of combustibles, in particular for the abolition of unproductive enterprises and for the protection of consumers. It sees to it that the National Coal Association and the technical committees of the Coal Council work according to the same principles and in a coherent system. It may demand information from any of the organs that participate in the fuel industry; and the authorities and committees are obliged to give it any assistance it demands. The technical committee collect all important data based on practice and experience, study all matters that enter within their domain and prepare decisions for the National Coal Council.