TO AVOID WASTE

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 87, 9 October 1935, Page 6

TO AVOID WASTE

PURCHASE OF SLACK

STORAGE UNDER WATER

The purchase of slack b^ the Gov-I ernment and its safe storage under \ water are provided for in the Coal Mines Amendment Bill, which was introduced into the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon by Gover-nor-General's Message. In explaining the measure, the Minister of Mines (the Hon. C. E. Macmillan) said that in various parts of New Zealand, and particularly in the Waikato district, large quantities of slack coal had in the past been dumped because of the absence of a profit able market for such a product. The dumps, particularly in "the Waikato, quickly fired as a result of spontaneous combustion, and a national asset was thus destroyed. To avoid the waste that had occurred in the past, it was proposed that the Government should be empowered to purchase or otherwise acquire such slack coal as was not required immediately for the market and store it under water to prevent combustion.

The Bill empowers the Minister of Mines to purchase slack coal, to store it, to manufacture briquettes or other similar products out of the slack, and to sell the slack or manufactured products. The Minister is also empowered to erect or acquire buildings, plant, machinery, etc., to construct various systems of transport to enable the slack to be dealt with, and also to acquire land, if necessary, and enter into contracts.