Reception Cautious

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30803, 15 July 1965, Page 1

Reception Cautious

(From Our Own Reporter? WELLINGTON,

July 14.

Government officials are regarding with caution the latest Japanese proposals for buying West Coast coal.

The Under-Secretary for Mines (Mr P. M. Outhwaite) said tonight that the Japanese companies wanted coal with a sulphur content of less than one per cent for coking Because the coal likely to be available had a considerably varying sulphur content, of up to seven per cent, supply of sufficient quantities with the stipulated sulphur content might be difficult. Other official reaction indicates that there is still some suggestion that the present negotiations might be used by the Japanese as a lever with which to secure better terms from their traditional overseas coal suppliers.

The Government is understood to have engaged the British engineering consultants, Preece, Cardew and Ryder, to make preliminary assessments of the cost of a deep-sea port at Westport These consultants helped advise on the Cook Strait cable scheme in its preliminary stages. They are expected to report that their checks suggest the necessary port facilities would cost much more than £1 million, the figure so far mentioned by some authorities as the estimate placed on the Japanese proposal. Preece, Cardew and Ryder are studying the possibility of using coal from the Buller region for a major thermal power station. The station would not necessarily be on the local coal-fields, as voltage losses in transmission through a Cook Strait cable link are a prime consideration. COAL FOR POWER

The power planning committee last year estimated that generation of power from Buller coal would cost not less than £900,000 a year and possibly more than £1.25 million a year more than will an equivalent energy output from the Tongariro hydro-electric scheme. These costs are based on a coal station on the coalfields. The committee estimated that costs would rise by £330,000 a year at existing freight rates if the station were built in the North Island with coal shipped there. The Japanese firms are reported to have suggested the mining of vast quantities of coal, with New Zealand using all which does not meet their requirements. Officials are generally sceptical of such a selective procedure because of the great variation evident in available deposits.