RAILWAYS COAL SITUATION

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 306, 25 September 1945, Page 6

RAILWAYS COAL SITUATION

Outspoken Manager LOW STOCKS, POOR QUALITY

Dominion Special Service.

AUCKLAND, September 24. "In the last financial year we used 93,000 tons more coal than we did in 1939 to run 900,000 fewer miles; you can think that over, and lift your hats to it if you want to,” said the general manager of the New Zealand Railways, Mr. J. Sawers, at the jubilee reunion of the Railway Officers Institute on Saturday night. The department at present had •only 7500 tons of coal in reserve for the whole of the Dominioh. That was less than four days’ supply and on one day a week ago the stock amounted to only 5600 tons.

Speaking of the quality of the presentday coal, Mr. Sawers said the consumption had increased from 641 b. to 801 b. an engine mile. In the last year the proportion of hard or West Coast coal used was only 35 per cent., compared with 60 per cent, before the war. None of it, even the hard coal, was screened. He had seen three trucks of coal at Dunedin from the open-cast mine at Ohai. It looked all right on top, but underneath was rock and muck.

"I am not talking polities; but the open-cast coal from Otorohanga and Waitawhena is 41 per cent, ash and water, and the railways service is paying for it,” added Mr. Sawers. He said he was speaking not only for the benefit of the railwaymen but for the public. “It is about time someone told the facts,” continued Mr. Sawers. "Our job is to provide the best possible service, particularly to give returning servicemen a good trip about the country, hut we cannot do it witlj this coal, and the regrettable feature is that I can see uo prospects for improvement, in the future. We want an additional 2590 tons of coal a week to go back to normal. Since March there have been only three weeks when we got our full supply of coal. The remainder were down 3000 tons. “In 1939 we had reserves of 93,000 tons, or 10 weeks’ supply, and our consumption was 484,000 tons. In the last financial year consumption rose to 577,000 tons to run 900,000 fewer steam miles. We want to give the public the service, but we cannot do it. I am not talking about bar harbour trouble either.” Soft coal perished after being kept for three weeks, said Mr. Sawers. Another trouble was that what coal the department did get had to be, shifted all round the country. A ship recently brought 840 tons to Wellington. That would normally go to the Wellington depot, but it had to be spread as far as Napier and Taumarunui to keep services going. Before the war, in addition to other stocks, 50,000 tons of Newcastle coal was kept in reserve throughout the Dominion, added Mr. Sawers That, with the 11,300 tons of Newcastle coal received in 1941, the 15,200 tons in 1942, and the 25,800 tons in 1943, was all gone. Since 1939 the department had had 200 more miles of railway pushed on to it.

MINISTER REPLIES Defence Of Open-Cast Coal “If Mr. Sawers has been correctly reported, I can only say that his statement is not only far from helpful in a problem of considerable difficulty, but also inaccurate aud misleading, especially in regard to open-cast coal,” said the Acting-Minister of Mines, Mr. O’Brien, last night. It could have been stated, said the Minister, that had open-cast mining not been developed in this country on- the initiative 01 the Mines Department, the railway services would have collapsed long ago. Mr. Sawers specifically mentioned three open-cast mines, namely, Waitewhena, Otorohanga and Ohai, ami by implication placed the label of bad quality on all open-cast coals. According to the Dominion Laboratory, Waitewhena coal contained 17.6 of moisture and 4 per cent, of ash, and had a calorific value of 9580 B.T.U.’s per lb. Waikato coal contained 16.1 per cent, moisture and 3.4 per cent, ash, with a calorific value of 10,650. The coal from Waitewhena was lumpy and should be suitable for certain types of usage in locomotives, but production was carried out in a district with a heavy rainfall. Much difficulty was experienced in keeping the coal free from fireclay, which was constantly slipping from the hillsides over the working faces. The problem had been examined. and the practicability of keeping the coal cleaner by a process of fluming it from the working faces was being looked into. Nevertheless, it was a gross mis-statement to assert that the average run of this coal consisted of 41 per cent, moisture and ash. Otorohanga coal on analysis contained 21 per cent, moisture and 6 per cent, ash, with a calorofic value of 9720 B.T.U.’s per lb. When this mine was first opened up by the private owners, a quantity of splint was tilled, with the coal, due to ignorance, but since then no complaints had been lodged with the Mines Department. “Ohai opencast coal, which the general manager condemns by a reference to three trucks out of the many thousands of trucks delivered to the railways, is similar in quality to other Ohai coals mined in the same locality,” said Mr. O’Brien. “Till a month ago no complaints were received concerning this coal,. but in August a soft coal aud stone intrusion was encountered in the seam and some trucks of this coal were tilled in error. Steps were taken immediately to remedy matters, and since then no complaints have been received.” The Minister said that there was no mystery about the fact that more coal was used in 1945 for fewer railway miles than in 1939, nor had the fact anything to do with th- quality of native coal, which could not be altered by a simple process of wishing. In 1939 and till early in 194-3 Newcastle coal was available' for both locomotives and gas manufacture, and the Railways Department used a high proportion of bituminous or hard coal, which gave better results. When supplies of Newcastle coal ceased in 1943 the Railways Department lost not only that source of hard coal but also lost, up to 100,000 tons annually of bituminous coal produced in this country which bad to be diverted from railways to maintain the gas services of the Dominion.

“1 fully recognize that the usage of increased quantities of soft coal has made the railwayman’s job harder, but as there is no other way in which services can be maintained meantime I can only ask for their understanding and tolerance, in the same way in which the publie has done in the last few years of the war period,” said the Minister. “Coal stocks in railway depots are extremely low but now that the domestic trade is abating there should be a progressive increase in the stuck position."