The Press THURSDAY, JULY 5, 1951. Coal

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26465, 5 July 1951, Page 6

The Press THURSDAY, JULY 5, 1951. Coal

The decision cf the West Coast and Waikato miners to go back to work is heartening news. It is to be hoped that the strike has been ended amicably, and that bitterness on either side will not interfere with efficient production. It will benefit no one if users of coal or the miners, who have suffered more heavily than anyone else through their unnecessary strike, harbour grievances. The main thing is to get on with the job again, because coal is badly needed. In Canterbury gas production has been curtailed, industrial processes have been halted, schools have had to shorten their hours, railways stocks are very low, and many householders have not seen coal of any sort, let alone fast coal, for weeks and months, including the coldest June on record. It should not be long before the output from the West Coast mines is reaching normal; and this should give welcome relief to industry, and to the factories and households that depend on gas. Those people who need coal to heat their houses will nave to wait longer—how much longer depends on whether the Government takes action to give Canterbury a fairer share of available coal than it has been getting. This province has the right to expect that it will be the first to benefit from the end of the West Coast strike, just as it has been the worst sufferer. The Minister of Mines (Mr Sullivan) asserted this week that Canterbury had received its fair share of coal, quoting gasworks figures as typical of the distribution. Quite , apart from any considerations of climate, his gasworks figures were valueless, because they covered a period of three months (which three he did not specify), and the strike has lasted more than four months. Nor did Mr Sullivan answer the specific statement of the secretary of the Canterbury Coal Merchants’ Association (Mr A. O. Hahn) that in the last three weeks only one week’s allocation of West Coast coal had been received; which has caused serious trouble in some factories. Mr Sullivan said nothing to remove the suspicion that, while the Midland railway line was blocked, large quantities of coal that should have been in Canterbury’s share were shipped to the North Island, and that Canterbury allocations were npt increased in compensation when the line was reopened. Limited stocks were used up in that period, and supplies have lagged behind needs ever since. Mr Hahn’s belief that distribution has been “regula- “ ted by the availability of colliers ”, which take West Coast coal to the North Island, seems well-founded. This province has been left behind in the scramble for coal, largely, perhaps, because it produces so little for itself, and because supplies from its nearest fields on the West Coast were wanted for special purposes. West Coast coal has been used for railways and gasworks all over New Zealand, and for industry and householders in Wellington. The North Island has had the benefit of open cast production in the Waikato, and the Otago-Southland mines, in which there has been full production, must have almost met the requirements of those provinces. Canterbury has had to manage on its own small production, plus small quantities of good coal from the West Coast and probably smaller quantities of lignite from the south. This has caused real hardship to many Canterbury people; but it is not too late for the Government to give some redress.