STATE COAL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 537, 18 June 1909, Page 4

STATE COAL.

. SALES TO RAILWAY DEPARTMENT. . ■ In tho. House of-, Representatives' -on /Wednesday Mr. Massey read figures to Department .paid double-the price, to the'- State Coal -Department than was paid ; by private individuals and other Government /Departments. The ooal supplied to tho railways was, lie declared, just the , same as that supplied to pther consumers, , .. '

It was stated that a poorer quality was ;'sold ,; to shipping companies. ' - , ■ The Hon. :*B.' jM'Kenzie said he considered members of the Opposition were very pushed : when 1 , they., challenged every ■. administrative act of:'the'Government. - The supply-of State coal to the railways'ha'd not been inimical to their.'- interests.' As-a 'matter of fact, tho paid -loss for Stato coal than the .pilblic. I'hd ; whole matter hingod, on the. quality of tho coal, Asa rule tlio -railways took screened..coal.-v Since he., joined Uio Ministry ho had noticed echoes of misrepresontdtions in regard 'to-, the Stato coal-mines in the Australian:.pjrpss; ...Those misrepresentations could ;havo' emanated only from otio quarter—they muSt havo emanated from this .country. Opponents of the Government must be hard: up when they, tried to misrepreseiit tho position of New Zealand in that way. The: Government had succeeded in bringing about a reduction in tho price of coal in New Zealand, and intended to ■ bring it.down as far as possible;-- When "development works,' which were in progress, were completed; tho output from tho State mines would bo doubled. He was pleased to be ablo to inform the House that" the State coal-mines! paid handsomely last year! Of course, wealthy ptoplo ■who; l ha l d money investetl' ; n coal-mines-would'no.; doubt like to see the Stato coal-mines prove a failure. ' .Mr. Jas. Allon (Bruco) -asked why it' should bo thought: members of tho Opposition wished ,to injure tho State coal mines Members on his side objected. to their establishment—whioh: they were entitled-to do llut now that the-mi^esihad-'been established ithey wore just as iiflxious as Members on the vQWfnmciit side to. see. them made a success Jho Leader of the Opposition had not tried ■to decry the State coal-mines, but was desirous of protecting, tho-railways., It was a fact ,that; v tho cost qf .'running tho railways htid .increased greatly;during the past few years There had-been a large increase in the coal bill sinco the railways were compelled to use' State coal. Only four or five years ago, the Hon. 11. M'Kenzie, as a- member of tliO Mines Committee was against the proposal of the Ministry re State coal-mines. (Laughter.) Hoi.quoted evidence taken fore .the committee, as to tho use of Stato 'on railways..... In fact, ho was tho strongest inan y iri- to what - the Ministry was doing. -He oballonged the Minister to deny that coal cost tho railways £1 per ton, Hon. R. freight, i ' Mr. Allen: I,don|,t.Jbeliev6 the State gets i £1 per ton from the public. The Ron.,R.,MfKonzie;said that the. evidence takon four years ago had no bearing on the present position. Ho repeated that the railways were paying less for coal than the public. ,