COAL FOR RAILWAYS

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 20, 18 October 1944, Page 8

COAL FOR RAILWAYS

Position Better But Still Serious REVIEW BY MINISTER “The coal situation for the railways is better than it was, but it is still serious, said the Minister of Railways, Mr. Semple, during discussion of the various estimates for the Railways Department in the House yesterday. At the present moment, he added, reserve stocks of coal amounted to 14,635 tons, whereas in normal times the railways always maintained 80,000-tons in reserve. Up till about a fortnight ago the stocks reached 18,060 tons, but since then had fallen because of the difficulty of getting coal from the West Coast ports, the bars of which were still in a bad condition. “Unless something is done to improve the ports of Westport and Greymouth, I do not know what is going to happen, said Mr. Semple. “The state of the ports because of bar trouble is becoming progressively worse year by year. I cio not know what the solution is. Engineers are now working on the problem of improving the ports. ’ The Minister said that discussions were proceeding with the object of railing the coal from the West Coast to Lyttelton fori shipment from .that port. But the cost would be an additional 27/6 a ton. The railways and gasworks had to get the coal and whatever it might cost the position would have to be faced P The Minister of-Mines, Mr. Webb, said that had it not been for the foresight of the Railways Department in pushing the Westport-Inanjjahua line to completion the country by now would been even more embarrassed for coal. Thousands of tons had been railed over that section. .. L . „ Mr. Webb said that his predictions ol a greatly improved supply through the development of the open-east system had been more than fulfilled, but he had qualified his statement about the relief this would give by saynig all along that it was contingent on transport being available to handle the coal. The coal problem was now one of transport, involving the bouts being able to use the West Coast ports and the railways to supply rolling stock. The completion of the railway between Nelson and the West Coast with the object of easing the transportation of coal was advocated by Mr. Morton (Opposition, Waitemata). There was a gap "of only 42 miles, he said, and the completion of it would be of greatest importance to the North Island and relieve it from relying on the vagaries of the West Coast harbour bars for supplies of coal. Nelson harbour would be able to handle all the shipping of coal. The Minister of Railways said that only part of the gap had been surveyed and that job would take some considerable time.