THE CARTAGE OF COAL

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22136, 5 July 1937, Page 8

THE CARTAGE OF COAL

Difficulties on West Coast

ADVERSE EFFECTS Off BAD WEATHER I

| [TIIE TRESS Special Smiee.l I I GREYMOCTH, July f. j The storms in the northern part (J New Zealand durt;:? the last foctnjgj; have rebbed hundreds of men cq flg West Coast of ."--evcral working and a big sum m wages. Althocg West Coast weather has been perfebad weather elsewhere has delate the passage cf a number of ships "e-1 gaged in taking cr.cl from the Wtr Coast, and some cf the biggest oaa have lost several working days. Tfc failure of a ship to arrive on means often that mines have no op. tion but to cease work. Bins a which coal is stored at the mine moms' beccme filled, and laden trucks mi;. 1 ing at the wharf cannot carry ogj ccal, so that in spite of the huge demand existing for certain ctesses cf ! coal, much valuable time has beet] lost latterly through factors over *&&! neither the mine-owners nor thensj.] ers have any control.

Mine-owners expect that the paction will shortly be relieved by to provision of two new ships pitamsg for the West Coast coal ports nt During the depression, it is sfcs«4 many ships were withdrawn tarn. the run, some of them sold to Eastea countries, and the result of this is tto ships are now working to more that their normal capacity. Delays sac as have been caused by weather oenot really be made up. and sanitfr represent further addition to the lis of idle days at collieries at times wbta there is every reason for them to be working.

Even with two nev.- ships expected j there will not bo on the West Goes anything like the volume of shipping which existed in the days of the more favourable coal trade, because of t!* general decline in the industry. TSk Denniston and Millorton mines, norft of Westport. have several times a their history produced between tint 600,000 tons, and this year, whkh b slightly better than last, the total i expected to be about 180.000 tons. The use of oil in place of bunker coal for many of the biggest ships is one reason given for the decline a the industry, and another advanced has been the increasing use of hydroelectric power for industry in place of steam power. For these reasOß the use of small coal has dwindled to an amazing extent, and this is a tutor in the present shortage of coal fcr the railways. The railways vast screened large coal, which has beea. screened at the mine, and it can has-t pen that while all screened coal fine] a ready demand, the other half of tte ! mine's production is unwanted. Ihh sometimes places mines in the*Tlils- - position of having bins full of small ccal and orders piling up tor screened coal. In an endeavour to meet the position it is understood that an attempt is being made to induce the Raihwys Department to take slightly smaller coal.

The transport difficulty again ctcps up in the problem of screened ami small coal. Trucks full of small «£ waiting shipment obviously caQDK also be used for the carriage tf screened coal, and this difficulty ct transport from mine to wharf is sal to be a big factor in .the present difficulty of filling railway orders.