WHERE IS THE COAL?

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 235, 1 October 1920, Page 5

WHERE IS THE COAL?

AND OTHER FIRING. MARCHING MULTITUDES. TRAM SUSPENSION STILL INDEFINITE. Supplies from the Waikato are gradually, very gradually, easing Auckland's coal famine, but nothing is coming from anywhere else. Newcastle might as well be a Mcndip mine for all the use it is to Auckland at the present time, and Westport might just as well be in the valley ; of the moon for this week. Pukemiro is likely to be declared. "black"' „3 T the miners, but the other Waikato mines are producing a fair daily tonnage, though the net result of the work is nothing startling. It is to be understood that the Auckland tramways arc building up their stocks, but it is also to be remembered that this is being done with no great speed, for the limited deliveries from the Waikato have to be used for many purposes, and it is likely to be quite another week before the walking multitudes will have the pleasure of hearing that nerve-racking rumble of the cars on tbe polished ribbons of metal again. And the supplies of firewood are nothing to write home about. The scarcity in this direction is great, and fuel for the happy hearth at eventide is practically impossible to purchase. Wood has- to lie gathered painfully by hard labour wherever it can be found, and great is the joy of the beach-comber along the sands of a marine suburb when he spies a sizeable baulk of water-logged driftwood stranded on the beach. Trees, chips, rubbish, hedges, even-thing burnable is being gathered to feed the back-yard fires, where so many people have to cook their food, and the community kitchen, where a fortunate household equipped with a range offers a neighbourly service, is the height of fashion in the suburbs to-day. A lamp and a bottle of kerosene, or a' case if one is lucky, is as much a joy to the chilled workman as is the sight of a buzziug primus. The bus service still remains inadequate, but there are now fewer complaints about overcharging in fares. Mr. G. R. Hogan, the city's chief traffic officer, and his staff are closely controlling all motor vehicles and fares, keeping everything down to the bedrock of the city by-laws. A close supervision of this emergency traffic is being maintained, but the by-laws are hanging in tatters from the suburban trains, where one carriage is filled to suffocation, while another, a few doors farther down, is quite comfortable. However, the railways are catering for a phenomenal bulk of traffic, and under the circumstance- everything possible is being done to accommodate the clamorous crowds of suburbites who cluster on the stations and make a wild dash for a hand-hold when the train draws up at the platform. ...