MCDONALD MINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 201, 26 August 1931, Page 11

MCDONALD MINE.

COST OF DEVELOPMENT WORK COAL PRICE CUTTING WAR, (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) HAMILTON, Tuesday. Dealing with the position at the Glenafton Collieries, at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company to-day, Mr. W. Goodfellow, managing director, said the cost of developing the McDonald mine was £46,022, which was a little more than anticipated. Of this cost £35,000 was found out of colliery funds and the balance was obtained from the Dairy Company by way of a short-dated loan. The output of the collieries showed an increase of 35 per cent, which was due to the opening up of the new mine.

The total coal produced was 229,000 tons, as compared with 161,000 tons last year. The Dairy Company's factories took 38,000 tons, compared with 31,000 tons, and suppliers took 11,000 tons, compared with 13,000 tons. The Mount Eden depot disposed of 7500 tons, compared with 500 tons in the previous year. There would be a rebate to suppliers of £3432, compared with' £3127. The balance of the profit (£5933) had been transferred to the Dairy Company. This was not regarded as a normal profit, as provision had not been made for debenture redemption.

Speaking of the coal position generally, Mr. Goodfellow said that from the selling point of view the position was not satisfactory owing to the fact that a pricecutting war was in progress amongst producing companies. The fact was that the output of the various mines exceeded the demand for coal,-and none of the mines were at present working at satisfactory profit.