THE STRIKERS' COLLIERY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 121, 18 November 1909, Page 7

THE STRIKERS' COLLIERY.

MR. BOWLING'S SCHEME. Mr. Bowling's scheme for raising money to support the strikers does not (according to the specia 1 correspondent of the Age) appear to be taken seriously. Proposals of the kind have been made at different times during the last few years, but have not come to anything. Some of the union officers think that thfe idea is both unwise and impracticable. Up to the present the ooalowners have no idea of introducing free labour, but if the unionists were to try and produce coal it is fairly certain that they jvould d 0d 0 so, and enter into competition. In that event the present dreary dullness of Newcastle and its suburbs might be relieved. The present aim of the unions is to prevent tho production of any coal whatsoever. In the hills around the coalfields there are numbers of little surface seams, generally of poor coal, that ifc would not pay companies to work. These poor little seams are worked by old coalminers, who appear to resemble the fossickers on the Victorian goldfields. They make little tunnels and excavations, and having got a car-load hawk the coal round Newcastle suburbs to sell it for household fuel. These old men have nothing to do with strike troubles, and they are individualists to a man, but it is reported that the unionists have induced most of them to suspend operations while the strike continues. STOREKEEPERS CLOSING THEIR SHOPS. In a struggle such as the miners have now entered into the position of the storekeepers is by no means an enviable one in the small mining towns, says a Newcastle telegram, dated 10th inst. Their business is done entirely with the colliery employees, and now at one fell swoop the financial resources ol their customers have been cut off. Wholesale firms are keeping a close check on credit, and already a number of small storekeepers on. the coal fields are closing their doors. They wei'e not in a position to give credit for a long period, and rather than refuse to supply their old customers they put up their shutters. Should the strike he prolonged it is certain that many more shopkeepers will take the same course. NEWCASTLE'S OUTPUT. The total coal output from the Newcastle district in 1898 was 3,555,600 tons, valued at £957,506. -fn 1908, 6,511,002 tons, of a selling value of £2,625,446 were produced. As the New South Wales Government collects a royalty of 6d per ton on the best coal from ihe mines operating on Crown lands the States revenue is suffering largely. The loss in wages to the men is set' down at from £20,000 to £25,000 a week. COMPANIES' PROFITS. Throughout the various colliery troubles interested queries have been made regarding the profit made by the companies (says a message to the Melbourne Age). The private concerns keep their business to themselves, but in the case of the public companies it is possible to give a lew interesting figures based on current quotations. I'hey are as follow : — Abermain colliery, 18s 6d per share paid up, last dividend at the rate of 15 per cent, per annum, last sale 32s 3d, yield to investor B|d per cent. ; Bellambi, £1 paid up. last dividend 17£ per cent., last sale 48s 6d, yield to investors 1\ per cent. •, Caledonian, £10 paid up, last 1 dividend 10 per cent., last sale £12 10s, yield to investors 8 per cent. ; East Greta, £1 paid up, last dividend 10 per cent., last sale 27s 6d, yield to investor 7£ per cent. ; Hoddon Greta, £1 paid up, last sale ss ; Newcastle, £10 paid up, last dividend 5 per cent., last sale £6 9s 6d, yield to investor 7| per cent. ; Seaham, £1 paid up, last dividend 6 per cent. ; South Greta, 10s paid up, last sale 12s 9d ; Hetton, £5 paid up, last dividend 6 per cent., last sale 70s, yield to investor 8£ per cent. ; Mount Cosla, £10 paid up, last dividend 18, per cent., last sale £25 10s, yield to' investor 7 per cent. ; Wallsend, £10 paid up, last dividend 20 per cent., last sale £27 10s, yield to investor 7i per cent. Taking a list of twenty companies, fourteen are paying dividends. The Wallsend company, in addition to the mine, possesses a considerable amount of landed and other property. The privately owned mines are said to pay generally higher percentages than those held by companies, but no information is available. Some of the collieries also own the railways to the pits. There are about eighty collieries, large and small, throughout the northern coalfields, in area measuring roughly from 12 to' 14 miles square.