COAL-MINE LABOUR

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22245, 9 November 1937, Page 16

COAL-MINE LABOUR

OWNER AND MEN CONFER SUCCESSFULLY

STATEMENT BY MINISTER

An agreement satisfactory to all parties has been reached on certain matters in dispute between the Coal-Mine Owners’ Federation and the Mine Workers’ Federation. The parties met m conference at Christchurch on Saturday, the principal question discussed being the putting-off of men at the Linton collieries, Southland, during the sasswa fthp Hon. P. C. Webb). > In announcing the settlement yesterday Mr Webb said he had appealed to the ’companies to meet the winter domestic demand by the empioyment o more men on the understanding that the last to be taken on should be the first to be put off if the circumstances warranted that,step being taken. The Minister said that the whole question of coal production had to be viewed from a new angle. Because of the rapid spread of hydro-electricity into the domestic and economic life of the country, coal was now being replaced by electricity to a large extent for cooking and heating. Coal, however, still reigned supreme when it came to winter fuel for general heating. and if New Zealand was to become self-supporting, the industry must so adapt itself as to be able to produce the coal requirements throughout the y6 With brown coal there was a difficulty about storage during the summer because of the spontaneous combustion element it contained. The bituminous mines were more fortunate in that respect, and he had appealed to all users of coal to stock up as much as they could with safety in the summer months in order to help carry on the industry in the winter. This had been done to a very large extent by the Railway Department, which was using 100. per cent. New Zealand coals and was co-operating with the mining industry admirably, and also by the gas companies, which were now using a larger percentage of New. Zealand coals. "It will be obvious,” said Mr Webb, “that the industry must be so organised that it can produce the whole of our local requirements, otherwise coal must be imported from other countries. That must be avoided in the interests of the Dominion as a whole.”