HELD TO RANSOM

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 200, 24 August 1945, Page 5

HELD TO RANSOM

AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY

Coal Shortage May Cause

Severe Rationing

Rec. 11.30 a.m. SYDNEY, this day,

Severe is threatened to all essential industries because of the stoppages on the coalfields, said the Minister of Supply, Senator Ashley. He added that, although he had met every "reasonable request" of the industrj', the stoppages on the coalfields continued to increase and "a state of anarchy" existed, resulting in Australia being held to ransom.

Senator Ashley said that the reduction of the services by the railways was only the first evidence of similar action which would probably have to be taken by many other services throughout Australia.

The position in other States, dependent on New South Wales supplies was perhaps a little worse than of that State. Senator Ashley announced that he had asked the Coal Commissioner, Mr. Mighell, to take whatever action he thought fit to deal with trivial stoppages. "The time has now arrived tq decide whether Australia's whole rehabilitation programme is to be whittled down because of unreasonable and unjustifiable coalmine stoppages. I know there are two sides to the disputes on the coalfields but I want to emphasise that many of the most recent stoppages appear to have been completely unjustified," said Senator Ashley. Prosecutions have been launched against 25 miners, who staged the stay-in strike at the Rhondda colliery. Eight mines are idle to-day over a bathroom. Three hundred miners at two more northern pits went on strike in sympathy with the stay-in strikers at Rhondda colliery. All told 16 pits were not working to-day, resulting in a total loss of 17,000 tons and this a day after the announcement of the rail service cuts and the warning by the Coal Commissioner, Mr. Mighell, that industries would have to be curtailed, owing to the coal shortage. The Rhondda men, who have been staging a stay-in strike since Monday morning, came out of the pit to-day, after having been down 75 hours, but, before they had come up, two other collieries had gone on strike in sympathy.