COAL PROBLEMS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 152, 29 June 1945, Page 7

COAL PROBLEMS

DEFECTS IN SYSTEM

EXCESSIVE STATE CONTROL

Failure in the coal supply on a national scale this year had been due to a variety of causes, including defects in the system of controls enforced by the Government, said Mr. Frank M. Winstone, chairman of directors of Taupiri Coal Mines, Ltd., at the annual meeting of the company to-day. Government control, so far as the Waikato mines were concerned, was vested in "a hierarchy topped by the Minister of. Mines," beneath whom were the Coal Mines Council, the Mining Controller, and the Waikato Mines Control Board, while the Minister of Manpower determined the supply of additional labour. In the face of the difficulties, the company was doing its utmost to maintain efficient working and maximum production, he said. Whether additional manpower, the working of longer time, the introduction of an orderly rationing system at an early date, and other measures would have avoided the crisis altogether it was now too late to speculate, but undoubtedly they would have alleviated the position.

High Labour Costs There had been a decrease of 6590 tons of coal in the company's mines during the year, stated Mr. Winstone. Individual absenteeism without reported cause continued to be an unfortunate aspect. Increases in wages costs had added a further 1/6 a ton to the cost of coal, and to-day's labour costs of 17/2 a ton were just over double the figure in 1936. This week the Coal Mines Council had advised the company that an application of the United Mine Workers for an increase in wage and tonnage rates would be heard in Wellington on July 11. It would not'be considered by the Arbitration Court, which dealt with all similar requests from other bodies of workers, but by the council, on which the owners were not represented, but which comprised three members appointed by the Minister. Recent wage increases had been imposed by the Government and were paid for by the public through the War Expenses Account, said Mr. Winstone. The majority of the miners appeared to be already regretting having sold out their hardearned right to collective bargaining for a "bureaucratic mess of pottage." Coal Carbonisation Plant It was with great concern that the company learned only yesterday that the Government was considering a proposal to close down the Waikato coal carbonisation plant, near Huntly, for emergency reasons, said Mr. Winstone. The plant was established 16 years ago by the united efforts of four Waikato mining companies and, although handicapped during the current year by the shortage of coal, had been again operated most satisfactorily. Mr Winstone welcomed an announcement that the Government was investigating the processing and briquetting of coal from State-owned mines. He claimed that the value and usefulness of the carbonisation plant had long been apparent to the public, and said that, although the closing of the plant might help by making more slack coal available for some industrial purposes, the present consumers of carbonettes, cnar and creosote and industrial users who had installed special furnaces for the burning of carbonettes would have their difficulties increased. It was hoped that all these aspects would be" thoroughly examined before such a drastic proposal was put into force.