STATE MISMANAGEMENT.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 35, 10 August 1905, Page 5

STATE MISMANAGEMENT.

THE SEDDONVILLE COAL-MINE TKOUBLE. v PLAIN TALK BY EMPLOYEES. A MINISTERIAL EXPLANATION. A DEPOT TO BE ESTABLISHED. A petition from miners and others employed at the Seddonville State Coalmine was presented to Parliament yesterday. The petitioners say that, owing to the incompetent management of the mine and .the carelessness of the management in putting the coal from the mine on the market, they and their families had suffered veTy great hardship, some of them being Tendered in want of the necessaries of life. They have, the petition continues, no confidence in the Government manager or agent for the sale of coal from the State coal-mmes, and they consider the position of consulting engineer an unnecessary and expensive sinecure, detrimental to the development of the mine. It ia urged that the mine 'has been sufficiently opened out during the last few months . to supply from 150 to 350 tons of excellent coal daily, but that no reasonable effort, has been made to put this coal on the marKet, the consequence being that petitioners are kept idle half their time, being almost entirely unemployed during the latter part of (May, fhe whole of Juns, and the beginning of July. Accordingly, the petitioners want the House to enquire why the mine has been kept practically idle, why it is alleged to .he worked at a loss, why the screens <vere removed from Seddonville to Point Elizabeth, why the miners are compelled to separate the coal underground instead of its being screened, and whether the mine ia overburdened with officials whose salaries have to be earned by the limited number of men partially employed. The petitioners add that they were asked by the Minister for Mines to recommend a representative for appointment on a BoaTd to enquire into some of the ' grievances, and that they did recommend one, who attended the initial meeting of the Board, but that the enquiry being a departmental .private enquiry they have no confidence in its impartiality or its methods. They ask the House to order an impartial investigation of their complaints. During an "all-round" debate in the House in the evening, several members, particularly Messrs. Barber and Hogg, found grave fault with the Government for its remis6ness in establishing depots for the sale of State coal, so as to bring to the public generally the advantages which were expected to ensue from the acquisition, of the State mines. The Minister for Mines 'had a good dc-al- to say dn reply. It was, he said, a popular cry for members .to urge the establishment of such depots, but in spite of the delay in carrying out that desire he declares that coal is cheaper in Wellington now than before the establishment of the State coal-mines. The question of depots was one of considerable importance, and he -thought that those members who talked co much about it had not considered the position. •If they opened up a depot in Wellington, jr instance, ,every other town in the colony would have a right to demand a similar concession. There could be no question about that. But "tha State mine 6 would not be equal to the demand. They had been supplying the various Departments of the State with coal at a cheaper rate than they could sell coal at the depots, because every movement of coal added to its cost. At the present time they bad saved the colony a great deal of money by supplying coal to the various Departments. If they opened these depots they would, on the one hand, be iselling coal from the depots to the public at a higher price than they could supply it to the Departments, and on the other hand ■they would have to enter into contracts with private mine-owners for the supply of coal to the Departments. Mr. Barber he>« interjected that the men in the S°ddonville mine were only working two days a week. The Minister explained that the coal* in .that mino was crushed and contained a great deal of slack, and at .the wages payable under the aAvard the men-were, owing to the ease with which at was worked, making more than ordinary wages, while the coal sold for less than ordinary coal. That, of couree, meant working the mm« at a loss, arid he was not prepared to run a State Department at a loss if w it could be avoided. He expected that that mine would yet yield good hard coal, and he asked members who were talking m much about this question to examine the balance-shaet of *he Slate coal-mines when it came from the Audit Department. If they did that they would not be so ready to condemn the working of the mines. The time would come, he continued, when the State would be able .to 6upply both the Departments and the public, but the ultimate success of the venture would not be hastened by the carping of members at the management. Before the debate concluded, the Premier announced that the Government was negotiating for a coal depot in Wellington, and intended to have coal depots in the centres of ithe colony, and to cmrry out the original intention of the Act.