PARLIAMENT NEW INDUSTRIES ON COAST

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29892, 4 August 1962, Page 12

PARLIAMENT NEW INDUSTRIES ON COAST

Opposition Presses Govt. For Information (from our parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, August 3. Requests by Opposition members for information on when new industries would be started on the West Coast received very little satisfaction from the Minister of Mmes (Mr Shand) in Parliament today. Mr Shand said the only likelihood was that less and less coal would be sold. He could not see how Blackball could avoid having more empty houses and fewer people. There was no help in sight. Mr M. Moohan (Opposition, Petone), during discussion on the Mines Department estimates, said he wanted to hear no evasion or equivocation from the Minister of Mines. “When he was on this side of the House, there was no problem he could not solve, ’ he said.

Since Mr Shand had been in control, the mines had deteriorated and there were tow 268.000 tons of coal stacked on the coalfields, said Mr Moohan. There was no market for it and its value had been written off. People in the Hutt Valley •were paying Ils a bag for coal he said. “Has the Minister any idea ■what he is going to do with this coal? Has he any clue?” Mr Moohan asked Mr Moohan said the coal might have no value at the dumps, but it could be shipped to Wellington and sold at half the present price. People were not inclined to pay Ils a bag when there was £3 million worth of coal lying in dumps. When the Cook Strait power cable was completed, and natural gas was being used, North Island coal consumption would drop by 65 per cent. That was in the Minister's report. The number of men employed in mines had dropped from 4300 to 4044 last year, said Mr Moohan. The report said this trend would continue.

“The Minister has already said sick industries must go. Does he intend to let the mining industry go out of business? The drift has been continuous in the last

18 months. The development of a new oil refinery at Whangarei ...” Mr W. J. Scott (Government.* Rodney': He is completely out of order, Mr Speaker. He hasn’t yet mentioned one item in the estimates now under discussion. Mr Moohan: I’m addressing my remarks to the Minister in charge. Mr S. A. Whitehead (Opposition, Nelson*: The Mines report specifically mentions the matters he was speaking about Surely it’s proper to refer to them? The chairman (Mr Jack): Discussion must be on an item and relevant to it, otherwise it is out of order. Mr Moohan: I was dealing specifically with coal mines and coal. Government chorus: What item? Mr Moohan: Well deal with the Under-Secretary’s salary. Plight Serious Mr Moohan said 11 fewer mines were worked in 1961 and coal dumped increased by 56.000 tons. The coal industry was in a very serious position. Mr H. Johnstone (Government, Waipa) said coal had been dumped to keep men employed. Coal consumption had dropped because the industry was pricing itself out of the market in competition

with other methods of heating. It had been suggested railway engines should be converted back to steam, but drivers said they would refuse to drive them. Mineworkers worked a 35hour week and there was a suggested reduction to 30 hours. That would increase the cost of coal. "I am alarmed at what may happen in the coal industry,” he said. “With gas being available in a few years there might be a pipeline from Taranaki to Auckland which would serve, en route, companies, freezing works, hospitals and other coal consumers.” Mr M. A. Connelly (Opposition, Riccarton) said there should be research into cleaner and more efficient methods of'burning coal. The Minister of Transport (Mr McAlpine) said Mr Moohan’s suggestion that dumped coal should be transported to Wellington and the Hutt Valley showed his lack of knowledge. The coal was no good. It was slack and people would not use it. “For .the people concerned in the mining districts, the position is far too serious for them to do other than resent sharply any attempt to make this a political argument,” Mr Shand said. “I have, unlike some other members, read the Mines Department report year after year, and I know how serious the position is.” Briquette Plant Mr Shand said the dumped coal was slack screened out of household coal. Some could be made into briquettes and a plant was preparing to move into Buller. He would be calling tenders for building the plant very soon. Westport had been built up on the bunker trade, but ships no longer burned coal, he said. In the North Island coal was no longer used by the railways and South Island railways “could not be relied on for ever.” The swing away from coal was going on all over the world, he said. The facts were even against the building up of a petro-chemical industry based on coal. One of the world’s biggest companies in the field, I.CJ., was changing to oil. The chairman of 1.C.1. had said they would not be competitive even if they got the coal for nothing. “The facts of the situation are that the demand for coal is falling and there are not in sight any alternative uses for coal,” he said.

In the Waikato the advent of natural gas would be more severe than in other districts. However, the possible development of an iron and steel industry would provide an extra demand and also offer alternative employment. The Buller district had so far taken the worst blow. The number of men employed in mines was less than half the number 10 years ago. The one bright prospect was the possibility of a calcium carbide industry. The Government had offered substantial assistance if the industry was prepared to go there. “If there is no industry the Buller district and Westport will lose their reason for existence. It’s as serious as that,” said Mr Shand. Mr Moohan: How long would it be, given the very best of circumstances, before that industry starts? Mr Shand: I can’t do more than guess. The Government is doing all it can and has offered substantial assistance Blaekball’s Future Mr Shand said that there were empty houses in Blackball and there would be more. Nothing was id sight, and people would just have to move out. Mr Whitehead asked what progress had been made in finding other minerals. If it was admitted that coal was a dying industry, what would take its place? What had been done about finding other occupations for areas like Blackball? Mr W. E. Rowling (Opposition. Bulleri, asked what progress had been made with the briquetting plant. He expressed the hope that the briquettes would be well advertised before they came on the market. Replying to Mr Whitehead, Mr Shand said that there was the Mineral Resources Committee. which bad been asked to direct its work to areas affected by the coal problem The areas in New Zealand likely to produce worth-while minerals were all difficult to work in. Mr Shand said the West Coast would make its own future, but Westport could do with a new industry.