OUR COAL SUPPLY.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7380, 5 August 1889, Page 5

OUR COAL SUPPLY.

[By Telegraph. 1 [from our special correspondent.] WELLINGTON, August 3. It is currently reported that some startling facts will come to light when the report of the Committee on the West Coast coal fields is laid on, the table. It is said that all these mines are practically in the hands of a leading shipping company, which is able to control the market and output. It is also stated that all tne properties have been let by Government on iong leases of from sixty-six to ninetynine years, consequently, it is said, the only chance of checking the power of the monopoly by obtaining independent supply is the discovery of fresh coalfields. It has been known for a long time past that coalbeds exist on the banks of the Upper Wanganui Kiver, but the difficulty is getting to them until tho snagging operations, which were commenced some years ago, are completed, and that, as this is about the only known locality where a coalfield not already being worked exists, it will be necessary that the colony should keep a sharp eye on the locality in order to prevent lands there passing into the hands of the monopolists who now control the mines of the West Coast of the Middle Island. One result of the present inquiries of the Coalfields Committee will probably be the resumption of snagging operations on the Wanganui Biver, with a view of opening up these coalfields and developing the fields.