F7The Secretary of State shall be charged with the general duty of securing the effective and co-ordinated development of coal, petroleum and other minerals and sources of fuel and power in Great Britain, . . . F8, and of promoting economy and efficiency in the supply, distribution, use and consumption of fuel and power, whether produced in Great Britain or not.

The functions specified in the First Schedule to this Act (being functions transferred to the Minister of Fuel and Power by the Ministers of the Crown (Minister of Fuel and Power) Order 1942, made by His Majesty in Council under the Ministers of the M1Crown (Emergency Appointments) Act 1939), and all other functions conferred or imposed on that Minister by virtue of any enactment, regulation, order or other instrument passed or made before the commencement of this Act, shall be functions of the Minister appointed under this Act, and the said Order in Council (including the consequential provisions incorporated therewith) shall continue in force by virtue of this Act with respect to the functions thereby transferred notwithstanding the repeal of the Ministers of the M2Crown (Emergency Appointments) Act 1939, or the expiration of any Order in Council (whether made under that Act or under the Emergency Powers (Defence) Acts 1939 and 1940) by which those functions were previously transferred.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F9

For the purposes of subsection (1) of section one of this Act, the expressions “coal” and “petroleum” respectively include products of coal and products of petroleum.

For the removal of doubt it is hereby declared that the functions transferred to the Minister of Fuel and Power by virtue of the Ministers of the Crown (Minister of Fuel and Power) Order 1942, do not include functions under section thirteen of the M3Public Health Acts Amendment Act 1890, or under the M4Railways (Electrical Power) Act 1903, (which respectively enable the Minister of War Transport to exercise powers relating to the making of byelaws for the prevention of danger from telegraph wires and other apparatus in and over streets and to the electrification of railways) or functions of the Board of Trade under section twenty of the M5Petroleum (Consolidation) Act 1928 (which relates to apparatus for the testing of petroleum).

It is hereby declared that the reference in section one of this Act to any regulation, order or other instrument made before the commencement of this Act includes a reference to any such instrument in its application to Northern Ireland, and to any such instrument which relates to Northern Ireland only.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F4

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F5

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F6