STATE COAL-MINES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 400, 8 January 1909, Page 4

STATE COAL-MINES.

A statement has. been published on behalf of the Government by way of reply to our recent observations upon the financial working. of'the State coal-mines. We showod from the last annual'report upon the mines that of : the 237,309-tons' of coal disposed of, 166,014 tons were sold to the' railways and to' other State Departments for £160,527, and 71,292 tons to "private consumers; and shipping 'companies.'*' for £38,732. These are the only figures in tlio report .which tell -us anything of the price which :is paid by the; State's customers; and if. is obvious on the,-face of it that while the State Coal Mines Department charged nearly il a ton to other State Departments, : ,it -ia'pontent to, receive not much more than: half, that amount from private buyers.!':Th6. obvious conclusion must be, either that the Railways and other . Departments are overcharged in order that. the'" Government may a.Nfalse'jyeptttaMpn philanthropy as a supplier of cheap fuel to tho public, of else that the Government is' undercharging private • consumers in' ' a . most imprbper'.manner, and thus not,only misusing .the taxpayers' money but'misusing. it to tho injury of legitimate traders. Tho management >of' the State 'coal-mines may . take its choice' as to which charge it prefers to, admit against itself. It must admit one of them, unless, of course; the State;.,coal-mines ; 'accounts are entirely misleading and dishonest. The replr published, is a complete evasion of the position. No explanation is given of the clear disparity between the prices charged to private consumers and the. price paid by State" Departments: no reference whatever is made to the figures we have quoted. All that wo are. told is i that the Railways Department pays' eighteenpcnca Bi ton less than is paid by. outside customers.: We are; told this' in defiance.of the official accounts, which show .that .the! State Coal Mines- Department' receives i something like £l a ton' for tho coal supplied to the railways, and 10s. 9d. a' ton for the coal supplied to private consumers and shipping'companies.' Weare assured further, that the balance-sheet is a most "illuminating" statement. .■ But the : ■public, 'with the best will in the world to Delieve that a thing can be, in Milton's phrase,-"dark with excessivo bright," will find it difficult to admit into this category of paradoxes a balance-sheet which means "plus eighteenpence" when ■it says "mintls nine shillings and threepence." Whether the dum of £l per ton' charged to.the Railways Department is exorbitant or not wo do not know; we havo never suggested that it is exorbitant. It seems to be a reasonable figure. In that, case the charge of 10s. 9d. per ton to "private consumers and shipping companies" requires some We pointod out on December 31 last that if the return from the sale o£ toal to Government Departments were at the same rate, as the return from the sale of . coal to private consumers, the yearly loss on" the mines would bo ovar' £60,000. Thoro is not one official 'figure to impugn this calculation; It can only be impugned by a confession that the accounts of the 'State coal-mines are outrageously improper. When it is stated that the private customers of the Department pay 21s. 6d. per ton for State coal, and. the Department's balance-sheet shows that the ,Department only received ;10s. 9d., there is room; for close, investigation. 1