INCREASED COAL PRODUCTION

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23717, 15 August 1942, Page 4

INCREASED COAL PRODUCTION

PROSPECTS ON WEST COAST MR WEBB IMPRESSED BY TOUR “The miners are now all convinced that with better co-operation and the assistance of pit committees, plus the employment of further miners a definite increase in coal production can be anticipated at a very early date,” reported the Minister of Mines (the Hon. P. C. Webb) on his return to Christchurch yesterday from a tour of the mining districts of the West Coast. The mines, said the Minister, were being rapidly filled with men released from the Army. The seriousness of the coal situation was realised by the miners. They were working splendidly. They had established records for coal production and were puffing their weight 100 per cent. Expressing himself as greatly impressed with the determination of the miners on the West Coast to increase production, Mr Webb said that the mine managers were giving their fullest co-operation in an endeavour to find places and accommodation for the men. In the Grey district, 60 houses were' being built by the State Coal Mines Department—3o each at Brunner and Runanga. The construction work was now goipg on. Meetings at Runanga, Blackball, and Wallsend, in the Grey district, were addressed by the Minister. In the Buffer district he also met a conference of 40, consisting of mine managers, deputies, mine owners, and representatives of the miners’ unions. A decision .was made to establish a coal production council, with four representatives of each of the owners and miners. It was also agreed to set up a works committee consisting of managers and two miners to make investigations as to the best methods of improving working conditions and increasing production.