MORE FACTS CALLED FOR

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 149, 26 June 1944, Page 4

MORE FACTS CALLED FOR

The need for taking immediate steps to increase coal production in New Zealand is clear. In the national interest neither the present restrictions on transport nor the hand-to-mouth supply of the requirements of gas companies and other industrial undertakings can be allowed to continue indefinitely. On Saturday the Minister of Mines (Mr. Webb) announced that the State had acquired the coalmining properties of a private company near Westport, and he expressed confidence that as a result output from this area would increase substantially within about one month, making available more coal suitable for railways and steaming purposes and releasing other coals for gasworks. Claims of. substantial public benefits have been made by the Minister in the past when privately-owned mines have been taken over by the State. The public should be given how the facts upon which the claims are based. This is all the more necessary because of the conflicting statements current regarding coal supply generally. On the one hand there are statements that the miners have achieved new records in coal production, and yet the public have practical experience of restrictions and shortages. The takings over by the State of private properties may, as the Minister has always claimed, be justified in the national interest, but the point can only be satisfactorily settled by more evidence than the public have so far received. The public (who foot the bill) are also entitled to know the : terms on which these properties are I acquired.