COAL SUPPLIES SHORTAGE

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23002, 23 April 1940, Page 10

COAL SUPPLIES SHORTAGE

SERIOUS IN NORTH ISLAND POSSIBLE EFFECT ON RAIL SERVICES “If a shortage of coal comes about, a first repercussion will be a restricted railway service,” said the Minister for Mines (the Hon. P. C. Webb) yesterday. “That would be deplored, but it could not be avoided. • We have suf' ficient coal in the mines, but we must first get it to the surface, where it can be of use.” Mr Webb said that the Government would deplore the necessity to curtail the railway service, but if supplies were not available, it would h?ve no alternative. Investigations were being made to ascertain the speediest way in which extra coal could be produced to meet immediate requirements. When the report on these investigations had been received, the Government would not hesitate to take whatever action was deemed wise to put the recommendations into effect. On his return to Wellington, he said he intended' to confer with representatives of the mine owners and mine workers to review the general conditions prevailing in the industry. At the conclusion of this conference, recommendations would be submitted to the Government for the enforcement of better co-ordination in the industry. The situation in the North Island was more serious than in the South. Unless shipping conditions were favourable, there was a real possibility of an acute shortage of bituminous coal supplies there. This would be serious for the railways, which depended on this class of coal for heavy and long haulage, while the gas works consumed practically all bituminous coal. Since there was practically no Australian coal on the market, and not likely to be any, owing to industrial troubles now existing in that country, and also because of the Government’s determination to develop New Zealand’s own industry, the Dominion had reached the point where it must depend on its own mines for the whole of its supplies. Review of Policy The Government had refused to. grant fresh leases to companies that were anxious to develop, new prunes. An arrangement was made by his predecessor, the Hon. C. E. MacMillan, with the coal mine owners and the workers that no new Crown leases would be granted so long as the existing mines could maintain production. He had adhered to this policy, because it was much better to maintain the production from, mines that could show a reasonable return for the money invested in them and a reasonable continuity of employment than to embark on expenditure that might possibly become an economic waste. " “In the past, men worked two days a week and had to~depend on the State during depression periods for intermittent pay on which to live. With the extension of purchasing power, thousands of consumers were able to buy coal, and consumption became greater. The increased trade, as evidenced in the phenomenal rise in railway revenue, also reflects a great increase in the consumption of coal. In the light of these facts, our policy must be reviewed, and the Government is determined that sufficient mines will be opened to maintain supplies.”