THE COAL INDUSTRY.

Evening Star, Issue 25225, 12 July 1944, Page 4

THE COAL INDUSTRY.

There were no half-hearted statement*? and no ambiguity in the address -which Mr Stronach Patersori, president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce, gave in New Plymouth last night, displaying what he belioves to be the real issues behind developments and troubles in the coal mining industry. The Prime Minister gave his assurance in September. 1942, that nationalisation of the coal mines would not be effected by the Government without its first being put forward as a matter of Government policy and a mandate obtained. That has not been done, but Mr Paterson

accuses the present Minister of Mines (Hon. P. C. Webb) of pursuing a deliberate programme for their nationalisation by making the financial position of tho mining companies untenable and thus forcing them to sell their mines to tho Government. Whether the process has been deliberate or not that ie how it has worked out; when the war began there were three State mines, and now there are seven. As the sequel to a strike, Government control operates as well over all the mines in the Waikato.

The normal chain of happenings is described by Mr Paterson. War conditions having increased the requirements of coal, demands are advanced by the men which the Government grants, on the understanding that extra costs to the companies, who cannot in- ! crease their prices, will be met by suh- [ sidy. In practice tho /subsidies are either insufficient or they are not paid promptly; many thousands of pounds of such compensation, it is stated, are at present'owing. Production is below the maximum oecause, through lack of finance, tho companies have > difficulties .in development and maintenance. Again, the miners can earn its much as they need without troubling about a maximum output, so that the output per man shift has tended to fall, though, as the result of various expedients, total iproduction has increased. The miners prefer State control, presumably because they can get their way with it more easily than with private employers. Between their unions and the Government close collaboration would appear to exist. Concessions made to State workers make more difficulties for the companies. The latost purchase made by the fio< vernment has been that of the West-port-StOckton Company's mining properties, bought for £200,000, without any prior negotiation with the company. Tho price would appear to be distinctly generous, and it is yet to be seen whether the Minister's glowing anticipation of a substantial increase in the output " within about a month" will be realised. Most of the mines that have been purchased were in Jess than a flourishing condition apart from war-time difficulties that have been explained, but the steady process of State acquisition makes a matter for concern to the public. Industrial troubles have never been less in State mines than in others, and the charge made by the Associated Chambers' president should be answered by the Government for the satisfaction of the public mind.