Natural Gas Miners’ Opposition Seen As Illogical

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31208, 4 November 1966, Page 1

Natural Gas Miners’ Opposition Seen As Illogical

(From Our Own Rtporttr) WELLINGTON, November 3. West Coast coalminers were not logical in opposing the use of natural gas by gas companies, the chairman of the Gas Association (Mr A. Wilson) said at the annual conference of the association today.

It had been established that the high capital cost of erecting coal-carbonising plants, combined with other factors, could make it unlikely that any gas undertaking would ever again erect the orthodox type of plant, he said.

The modern variant was the oil gasification plant. One of these, delivering gas of phenominal purity, was being fitted at Auckland. Others were either under construction or already in use in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

“All of us can appreciate the concern expressed by the West Coast miners about the possibility of a decrease in the gas industry’s cdal requirements,” said Mr Wilson. “This is understandable. But it is just not logical for the Minister to oppose the piping of Kapuni natural gas on this basis alone. “As I have already ex-

plained, the gas industry today is being forced to face the cold, hard economic facts of life regarding the operation of coal-carbonising plants and our demand for coal will inevitably decrease whether Kapuni natural gas is piped or not.

“It should also be remembered that the coal industry survived the very great loss in demand when the Railways Department switched from coal-fired steam locomotives to diesels. In comparison to this, the immediate drop in coal requirements which will

result from only nine out of the 27 undertakings switching to natural gas, is small. “In any case, the Government’s announced intention to establish a coal-fired thermal electricity generating station will most certainly take up some of this slackened demand. “There is one further aspect of the over-all problem which seems to have been completely forgotten—namely that the gas industry's consumption of coal last year, amounting to only 253,000 tons, was less than 10 per cent of the country’s total production. “Surely, In the light of these facts, it is reasonable to deduct that the importance of the coal used by the gas industry is being very considerably over-emphasised.”