STATE COAL DEPOTS.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 37, 12 August 1905, Page 2

STATE COAL DEPOTS.

SUGGESTIONS FOR PERMANENT SCHEME.* THE ONLY WAY TO REACH THE WORKERS. In a recent issue of the Evening Post it was shown that the State's omission to provide distribution facilities in Wellington, and the reluctance of carters to take small loads at the cost oi much delay at the ship's side and trouble in delivery, have^combined to put cheap State coal almost beyond the reach of the small consumer, for whom it was primarily intended. Here we have State coal claimed to be equal for household purpose to anything in New Zealand, and it is now being screened too, and yet two-thirda of the shipments have gone to bhe dealers. It was shown also in the- Post that the only remedy is the establishment of coal depots, and as an adjunct either a contract with some carting firm at a fixed scale of maximum cartage rates, or Stateowned carts and horses. The defect is the main, essential requirement. Since our firsb article the Premier has abated that he will establish depots, but has not specified their nature. EXPEDIENT. Three kinds of depots are suggested, but two of them a-re admittedly only of a temporary nature. Firstly, it is proposed that the screened nousehold coal should be stored and bagjed on hulks. The Government has already two hulks in the harbour, a smaller and a larger. They are used for storing the bunker coal which the State's . collieries produce plentifully along with household coal. This bunker coal is sold to the Union S.S. Company and to smaller coastal steamship fleets about Wellington, and it is delivered from thehulks to the steamers as required. But to utilise the hulks for storing and bagging the household coal for consumption or shore is another matter. It ir probably truG that even this would be better than the present almost useless system of delivery from the ship's side to purchasers who must make their own semi-impossible arrangements' with carters. On the principle of the lesser evil, one is .tempted to womter why the Government has not utilised its hulks sooner than perpetuate the larce that is going on. But 'the opinions of people competent to judge tend to show that there is a better temporaiy expedient available. BAGGING ON HULKS NOT SATISFACTORY, Utilisation of the hulks would groatly load up the cost of the coal. For towage, it costs £1 to bring in the larger hulk to the wharf, and £1 to bring her ont again ; the smaller hulk costs 10s each way $ and there is a charge of 5s for moving from place to place on the wharf: Then there would still be the cost of discharge and delivery from the hulk to the consumer. One person interviewed defended the hulk idea by referring to a hulk Deed at Lyttelton by tho Union Company for the storage and screening of coal. The hulk, be explained, is alongside the wharf, and the steamer carrying the coal moors outside her. The coal is discharged on to screens on the hulk, and the screened coal thence passes direct into railway trucks. The small coal falls through the screens to the bottom, is picked up "by some* system of elevating buckets, and is deposited in railway trucks. Bub further enquiries concerning this Lyttelton hulk go to show that ib is kept' always ab the wharf; certainly it receives and screens the coal at the wharf. Bub would the Wellington Harbour Board, in«bhe present state of berthag© in Wellington, allow a State hulk to permanently occupy a berth ? There has been evidence that the relations between the State Coalmines Department and tho Board aro not the most cordial ; the Board receives no wharfage from the State, and is nob 'likely to allow the Bbote hulk to remain at the wharf longer than the time actually occupied in supplying some steamer. So tho analogy with Lyttelton appears to be destroyed. USE A VACANT SECTION. . The expedient wßich, ib is contended, is better than the hulk idea is a to utilise one of tho Government's own allotments in the neighbourhood of the reclamation. .The State coal could be carted there, bagged, and delivered as required. The 'small consumer could get it when he wanted ib; he would not have to run about to secure a cart in the rush of the moment when the steamer is at tho wharf. It is probable that ib would be a. mistake to dump the coal on the section and leave it uncovered, because it is affected by the weather. But a sholl of a. building to cover the coal and the bagging operations would nob cost much. In this way, something might still be done to meet the requirements of the winter ; and all opinions aro agreed that tho cost of disbribution by thus utilising a Government section as a. temporary, depot would be less than by utilising the hulks. Why not at once pub this in hand, now thab bhe screened household coal is arriving in increasing quantities? THE PERMANENT DEPOT. By the 'beginning of next winteT, the Derunan-cnt depot or depots should be completed; without suoh, theTe ""can never be satisfaction. The idea outlined to a Post reporter ia as follows: vSelect some given berthage along the water-front, sucn as at Jervois-quay. Ereot Above .the quay, so os to bo clear of traffic, an overhead trolly system. On tha reclaimed land abutting on tho quay erect, the depot. x A steamer lying at the berth could discharge quickly on to tho trolley system, the coal could be run across above 'th© quay and tipped on to screens, -whence it would pass, screened and. classified, into bins. Cart access to the bins could be made from tho streets, and a railway siding laid into the bins, from -which railway truck, cart, or \vh©elbarrow could be supplied With .bagged ooal. Tho steamer would not be delayed, inor the consumer bustled out of hia wits to bo there in time. This, it -is submitted, 5s the only way to distribute coal. 1 start should be mado at Wellington, as being the largest oonsuming poH near to bhe mines. Success hero would mean an extension of tho system — given the required output — • to other centres. (Since the above was written, the Premier has confirmed it in the House.} What is wanted is ths Conl and tho Man. Of the former there ib fair promise. Will the latter be forthcoming ? DEPOTS^AT TE ARO AND THORNDON. There would certainly have to bo such a depot at To Aro, and probably one at Thorndon. When tlia Taranaki-aftreet wharf is completed and Jervois-quay is extended along to it, -a section of the quay on th« north side of the wharf should be a suitable site ; reclaimed land •is available, for the depot, and tho matter would be one of arrangement batween the Government and tho HarbonT Boirrd. Similarly, a place might be set aside north of the Gkagow Wharf, where reclamation is in progress, for a Thorndon depot. The berthage apparently would not bo any more monopolised than any other berth. Any depot erected muisfc have a weighbridge." At present, the coal discharged from <tho steamer at Glasgow Wharf h«s to be carted to the Harbour Board's weighbridge at Queen's Wharf before the weight can bo ascertained. Then the Harbour Board could not- find -room in ite jveigfobridge

office for the State's cnecking clerk, and he is now accommodated in a poky little ticket box temporarily placed on the street. The e-fcnding of the State coal to the- Glasgow Wharf instead of to * berth more convenient ro 'the weighbridge, the niatteT of the hulks at the wharf, and the ticket-box, incident, axe regarded in wharf circles as little etTawa that indicate come friction between the Department and the Board; but they really do not seem .■'uffioient to 6tand in tho way of a good understanding as to the erection of permanent coal depots as outlined. The hulks would continue" to do their present duty with respect to bunker coal. The Union Company is a large consumer as well as carrier of the State coal, a fact which should enable satis-fa-ctoTy freight arrangements .to be made between the Government and the company! ftn?l ths same remark' Applies to the other steamship companies thai, carry ajid consume Sta-te coal. Bnt *he matter of freights, and the cost of mining and winning the coal, are beyond the scope of this article. ,-,''• . The point raised in the fToufie by the Minister for Mines-- that • '^c State, if it sells to householders, will not be able to supply its own ne-dis for railways, etc. — is "beside the m.irk, because the State is already selling two-thirds «f 'the household coal, not to itself, not to householders, but to dealers.