SAVED RAILWAYS

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 74, 25 September 1945, Page 8

SAVED RAILWAYS

OPEN-CAST MINING

REPLY TO CRITICISM

Had open-cast mining not been developed in New Zealand on the initiative of the Mines Department, the railway services would have collapsed long ago, said the Acting Minister of Mines (Mr. O'Brien) last evening in the course of a reply to the comments of the peneral Manager of Railways (Mr. J. Sawers), whose statement to the R. 0.1., Mr. O'Brien said, was not only far from helpful in a problem of considerable difficulty, but also inaccurate and misleading, especially in regard to open-cast coal.

"Mr. Sawers specifically mentions three open-cast mines in his published statement, namely, Waitewhena, Otorohanga, and Ohai, and by implication places the label of bad quality on all open-cast coals," said the Minister. "According to the Dominion Laboratory, Waitewhena coal by analysis contains 17.6 per cent, of moisture and 4.0 per cent, of ash and has a calorific value of 9580 B.Th.U.'s per lb. Compare this with Waikato coal, which contains 16.1 per cent, moisture and 3.4 per cent, ash with a calorific value of 10,650."

The coal from Waitewhena, said Mr. O'Brien, was lumpy and should be suitable for certain types of usage in locomotives, but production was carried out in a district with a heavy rainfall. Much difficulty was experienced in keeping the coal free from fireclay, which was constantly slipping from the hillsides over the working faces. He recognised the problems which faced locomotive crews in dealing with that coal, especially if it was used almost immediately after it was mined, but short of an expensive washing plant it was not an easy matter to remedy. The problem had been examined by a number of engineers and the practicability of keeping the coal cleaner by a process of fluming it from the working faces was being investigated. Nevertheless, it was a gross mis-state-ment to assert that the average run of this coal consisted of 41 per cent, moisture and ash.

Otorohanga coal on analysis contained 21 per cent, moisture and 6 per cent, ash, with a calorific value of 9720. When that mine was first opened up by the private owners, a quantity of splint was filled with the coal, due to ignorance, but since then no complaints have been lodged with the Mines Department. Ohai open-cast coal, which Mr. Sawers condemned by a reference to three trucks out of the many thousands of trucks delivered to the rail-, ways, was similar in quality to other Ohai coals mined in the same locality. Up till a month ago no -complaints were received concerning that coal, but in August a soft coal and stone intrusion was encountered in the seam and some trucks of that coal were filled out in error. When the local officers of the Mines Department had their attention called to it, steps were taken immediately to remedy matters, and since then no complaints had been received. COAL AND MILEAGE. The Minister said that there was no mystery about the fact that more coal was used in 1945 for less railway miles than in 1939, nor had the fact anything to do with the quality of native • coal, which could not be altered by a simple process of wishing. In 1939 and until early in 1943 Newcastle coal was available for both locomotive and gas manufacture, and the Railways Department used a high proportion ol j bituminous or hard coal, which gave better results. When supplies of Newcastle coal ceased in 1943 the Railways Department lost not only . that source of hard coal but also lost up to 100,000 tons annually of bituminous coal produced in the Dominion, which had to be diverted from the railways to maintain the gas services of New Zealand. In these circumstances, the railway services had had to be maintained by the use of lower grades of fuel which .were available in the Dominion, and in many districts householders had been obliged to accept lower grades jof coal for domestic purposes. "I can assure the railwaymen and the public that it will be a blessed day for the Minister of Mines and for his Department when we can get back to the pre-war standard of coal supply.'.' said Mr. O'Brien. The Minister added that he fully recognised that the use of increased quantities of soft coal had made the railwaymen's job harder, but as there was no other way in which services could be maintained in the meantime he could only ask for their understanding and tolerance to the extent shown by the public in the last few years of the war. 1 Coal stocks in the railway depots" were extremely low, but now that the domestic trade was abating there should be a progressive increase in the stock position.

"It is very easy to criticise," said Mr. O'Brien, "bat it is not so easy to devise a practical solution of the problems, and on impartial analysis I consider that if any hat-lifting is to be done in connection with the coal industry it should be to the development of open-cast mining, which has saved our transport and industrial system from collapse."