COAL SUPPLIES

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23203, 14 December 1940, Page 10

COAL SUPPLIES

BIG INCREASE IN PRODUCTION

RECORD YEAR LIKELY (MESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.). • WELLINGTON, December 13. Returns from the principal collieries for November showed an increase of 22,000 tons in the production of coal compared with the same month last year, said the Postmaster-General (the Hon. P. C. Webb) in an interview tonight. For the first 11 months of the calendar year, production was 182,000

tons ahead of the same period iri 1939. “It is evident now,” said Mr Webb, “that the output of coal for 1940 will exceed 2,500,000 tons,'and given normal conditions between now and Christmas there is every lik:lihood that the total production for this year will set a new record in the history of coal mining

in this country. ’’This is a very fine achievement, especially in view of the bad start during the first three months of the year, but it would be a grave mistake for consumers, both industrial and

domestic, to be lulled into a sense of false security in respect of coal supplies because of the increased production. There has been a rapid increase in coal consumption during the last few years, and it is quite clear that next year even greater quantities of coal will be needed from our mines. “My advice to the public, therefore, is to take coal into stock whenever opportunity offers, because even now we are faced with problems of distribution which are not likely to be solved for some time. There is no need whatever for panic buying but to lay in stocks for winter would be a wise precaution.

“My earnest appeal to all associated with the coal mining industry is not to underestimate the importance and value of their work to the country. More coal is required and more can be produced. Let us resolve to

get on with the job as a patriotic duty and foster a better spirit of mutual respect and goodwill, without which there can be no success in any form of human endeavour.”