STATE COAL MINES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1221, 1 September 1911, Page 3

STATE COAL MINES.

ANNUAL EErOET. The operations of the State ecal-mine« during the year 1910 have realised-a net profit of oiiiy J21051, of which .£IOOO has fc-een allocated to the sinking fund. The volume of business which produced !)iis result is indicated by the fact that the sales realised «£2i)3,203. The balance .of profit oil ilarch 31 of last year was <£50,501. The gross output of the mines for the year was 281,525 tons, of which tho Point Elizabeth mino produced 209,253 tous, and the Seddonville mine 51,550 tons of marketable coal. The production was disposed of in tho following quantities:— Depots, 63,611 tons; New Zealand Tailways, C7,00S tons; other Government Departments, 6855 tons; briquette works, S3IG tous; private consumers and shipping companies, 109,421 tons; total, 258,211 tons. , There was ra failing off in tho bulk sales, due' to tho large quantity of steam coal'sold in the previous year during the Newcastle strike. The sales from the Point Elizabeth mine are within 161 ions'of those of tho previous year. The demand for. the coal has not diminished and far exceeds the output of screened and unscreened. The decreaso of 23,251 tons in the sales from Seddonville is accounted for by the paucity of hard ccal in the present workings. Development is proceeding, and it is expected that more hard coal will be reached shortly. Tho development, works at the Point Elizabeth No.'2 mine 1 are being puslud on, and it is hoped that coal will be available for market during this year. The general manager states that the cost of production is so high that it has been found necessary to raise the price of coal to consumers.

The net profit on the working of Point Elizabeth mine was .£6179 3s. Gd., but tho Seddonville Colliery was worked at a loss of .£3219 4s. sd. The briquette plant showed a loss of .£2G*3 13s. Gd. The net profit from the Wellington depot was ii-iSO from the Christchurch depot .l'4S3 6*. 10d., and oil the Wanganui depot .£ISI 10s. lid. The Dunedin depot showed a less of «C37G ss. lid.