THE MINING INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 250, 16 July 1920, Page 3

THE MINING INDUSTRY

PLEA FOR CO-OPERATIVE V PARTIES

(Speoially • Written for 'Tnx Dominion by T. D. Burnett, M.]?.) • Undoubtedly the matter that cieated tte most interest in the minds of the members of the Parliamentary, party that lately yisited the West Coast of tho South Island was their visit of inspection to tho new mines put ml by co-operative parties of working minew v at Seddonville. In the midst of all tho warring elements _of tho.' never-ending strife between mine owner and mine worker, the principle of working ownership has tho brightest, clearest shining light in tho industrial darkness. If there is any one more than another will solve nun industrial problems it is working ownership. Solf-interest, some sort of ambition, the desiro to get out of the rnt, the sub-oonscious feeling of acquiring —what poor rags of humanity aro those of us who have not got these in 'soma degree?

Tho history of these working parties of miners dates .from tho closing down . bj; tho Stat© of tho Seddonville coal mine in 1913. <A- number of married miners'who-owned their homes and sn were anchored to them, acquired small coal mining areas in tho neighbourhood and worked together to develop the ocal seams.' While some wore on development -work, i.e., constructing tram lines, driving the new drives, th'e others -went hewing coal in the regular mines to provide the sinews of war for carrying on the co-operative venture. Old material in the shape of tram rails and coal "tu'bs" was leased from tho Mines Department at 10 per cent, per annum on valuation. The rails were nothing lln.'h, and the old coal "tubs" had practically

to* be reconstructed by the men at .their own expense. But they kept on, they showed true grit, and above all true comradeship, a trait that has been common, to all gold and coal miners since the first pick. was driven in New Zealand. Excellent seams of household coal have been struck, and the parties are r.ow getting their, reward by seeing their truck loads of coal leaving daily for Westport. • ■ There are now' : some forty men in four parties working in- the neighbourhood of Seddonville, and it only requires- reasonable opportunities in the shape of plant and gear for. the number to bd increased indefinitely. If we are all agreed that the settlement of the land has been the greatest factor of late years in increasing the agricultural production of the Dominion, if the most of us are convinced that the.greatest drawback io our - industrial t'development at the present is the acute shortage of coal then it requires no great reasoning powers and only a fair measure of fair-mind-edness for all shades of political opinion to be agreed on this one point: that if we' have spent many millions on settling people on the land, then it is but fair aim reasonable, : and in our c.wn interests'too, to sjiend a million opening up ■ 'the magnificent coal hreas of the West Coast-60 as to make them read-

ily available for working miners of small 1 means or whose-only means is represent- ■ ed in two arms and bull strength. How many thousands of workers throughout ■ the 'Dominion started on their blocks of land with only'their half year's rent paid and an advance for stock made by a mercantile house, who made that advanpn merely because a lucky, marble rolled the way of the successful applicant? .Do we want industrial expansion in' this, country, do we want to overtake 'the acute shortage of houses, do we want to' lessen the cost of wheat production, aro we earnest in your desire to supply the people' with] fuel at a; reasonable price? -Then-come, let ns dig cnal. • And to jus-' tify 1 the digging of that coal you must havo ample means for getting ti.at coal away quickly to those centres and to those' people jvlio are gaspingly desperate for it. ' • \

To be absolutely fair we must extend to every miner who is anxious to-better himself '{he same' opnortunitics that' we have, extended all" these years v to" the worker anxious td better himself- on the land. Thekeynote of working ownership is. self-interest. • Self-interest means increased production—increased production fcom our owner-worked land,'from our , owner-worked mines,- from_ our eo-opern-and run factories, means full stomachs, and full cuatesfor our people. > At bottom man is but a natural animal First feed- him well, clothe lum- rell, house him well; then, : and. not' till then, will he listen to your mouthings about the. needs of Mather education, end how necessary it-is for one everv day to see

a'fine picture, read a good poem, erfd listen to a fine picce of music. 1 Tho "miner's '19 our problem. If'we are so desuerntely in nood of his coal, then ttwe is absolutely no wov of getting it but bv heroic means. ; The' quintessence of heroism is self-sacrifice, 'and vet at the, "present timo throughout the length and breadth of the Dominion 'goes up the universal cry! for public expenditure on matters that -are . pvrely i eelffish. There is no use blinking at facte, and we must decide quickly, we' must agroe among that the pusMng on.of our public sell emeu which have for their .aim. first ard foremost, . the development of natural resources, ' must take precedence over !>U other Government activities. When ire have decided on these then, for Heaven's sake and for the sake of tl'o well-being and tranquillity of this country, let us all Ret to work on thee? public development schemes, and let take a'back .place. '' Travelling on tlie West Coast menns disillusionment and the clearing away of ■wrong ideas." We of' Canterbury think of ft county chairman as a man of, broad acres and the mvner of a motor-car, yet - the chairman Sf the Duller Couiity Council is a working coal miner, who lc-ses n day's wages every day he attends to hfs chairman's duties, or a week's v-ages whenever he attends a conference in 'Wellington. -He holds the e'teem end confidence of both pnrtirs, employer? and employed; also another record, * of!. the oiltnut of coal unman .per day. Th<-' eWiirmnn of the Tnangahua County Council, also, is a working quartz min«r. and the Mayor M Westport is a -working carrier.' One finds, moreover, the very best personal

feelings prevailing between representative employers and miners. Whatever ' disputes they may -have in industrial matters, apparently those feelings are submerged when once out on the street: and the'y also follow the goody Canadian «frTe of addressing one another by their Christian names. • Ko. too, is another erroneous opinion held of tho West Coast, t.liat all mining »illages are collections of 1 tumble-down hovels. Grojiity, a township of work' jpg mineis 6ituatcd on- the littoral some twenty miles north of Westport, is fit surely to take,, ill place- among the model townships of New Zealand. The cottages will Average four or five rooms each, are well painted and beautifully kept, and the great 1 majority, have •model gardens. Tht town runs nn ex< cellent flower show, and is an object lesson of the''.truth that, given a favour- . able site and Recent climatic conditions, probably 80 cent, of the men will 'ftSEood by taking an • interest in their , homes. In strong contrast is, town-o uliip of Denniston, perched on-a moim.tain tableland ,'1P0()| feet above fea. level. Here at this altitude tho tableland ifl practically bare rock, and the township N is shelterless from any storm that blows. Under such conditions it is small wonder that Denniston docs not slimy up to such advantage as Granity. If it were practicable it would be better ■ to have the township at tho foot of the mounMin and find some means for conveying, tho men up and down the mountain face tfl their work. The only means. of accoss at present is ri long .winding road, some eight miles in length, finely engineered up the constat /ace of tho mountain side. Just a nfile or so oyer from Denniston is '.another outlying township, the notorious Burnett's ■ Face. V fl doubt tho evolution of any co.il mine in its early stages presents many precariously -unstable phases for a number of years, until the seams nro fully opened up and proved. No ,nine manngemjyt is warranted in ir'iinir 'in for any heavy outlay connected with permanent housing accommodation; neither nro the men. Nor will any housing scheme be a succfss. no matter how lavi«li the expenditure, until the great majority of its women have benn trained in the art of honie-making under adverse oircumstjjnr.rs. Granting all Ibis, it would be better for

the reputation, of all concerned, especially for the big powerful company which contributes '■ four-sevenths of., the totnl rates'collected in'the Bailer■ county, if 6omo one wcro to take a match and burn off the faco of the earth nil the collection of so-called habitations known as Burnett's- Face. It wild certainly mako for self-respcet alt round. And now it is boiled down in this, that if. tho Dominion is agreed that it is starving for steam coal, if it will.' bo honest with itself and .admit that owing to vrorld-wido-shortage of all materials and also hide-bound labour •' conditions there c<in be no general application of hydro-electric power for another ten years, theq if wo want that coal we shall havo to make the West Coast our cause. We shall havo to _ remove tho railway isolation of the Westport ( district by completing the Duller Ctorge line, and in so doing make available to working parties of miners a coal' area estimated by the Government geologists to contain seventy million tons of coal. We shall have to see that the Westport Harbour Board has at least a decent chance to exist and an opportunity to carry out its improvement scheme. But above all and before nil, we phall havo to feature a scheme that' lias for ltfi objective the working of onsily-devirlflireu coal areas by working parties of minfri For all time, at least so long as coal is hewn, many of our richest coal seams will require very hefivy capital to work them. But -we must reserve the easilyworked areas for the inen of .small means pr no' means at all. Self-interest and under the present organisation of society, is the fuel that feeds the fires of progress. Spread out the minors in small bodies working_ co-operatively, each man ia that body picked for his merits,, and you go : a long way towards reaching that industrial peace and progress for which the country is craving. We all know that wherever large bodies of men a.ro gathered in camps the chances of disease and sickness are immeasurably greater than in like .conditions iii tho open country side. . Why, then._ don't we admit that wherever big_ bodies of men arc : gathered together industrially the microbe of unrest has a far more favourable atmosphere than where .conditions .are 'saturated with self-interest?