COAL INDUSTRY

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 October 1928, Page 6

COAL INDUSTRY

CAUSES OF DEPRESSION.

(Special to “Star.”)

CHRISTCHURCH, October 1

The coal trade in New Zealand at the present time is passing through a very difficult phase, the end of which it is impossible to determine. While the miners on the West Coast are clamouring for work, stocks held by coal merchants are more than adequate to meet the demand. The average Christchurch citizen has almost forgotten that, not so very long ago, it was impossible to have more than a restricted order for coal delivered during the winter months. This winter, he has been able to get as much coal as he wanted, yet at the same time the coal miners have been working short time. There are really two factors which have contributed to the present position, a reporter was told this morning. New Zealand still imports a failquantity of Newcastle coal though this quantity has decreased very much since the railways started using a larger proportion of New Zealand coal. Then again, a lot. of small co-operative parties have started coal hewing, and have thus materially increased the output of coal. Great difficulty has been experienced in late years in getting rid of steam coal and all types of small coal. n. .

“The use of electricity and oil in steamers has reduced the bunkering business by half,” the reporter -was informed.” Most of the New Zealand coal is very friable. You get a tremendous proportion of small coal, with -an ever-decreasing demand. It is not possible to work any mine to produce large coal only. The increasing number of mines and the decreasing demand means that the supply has overtaken the demand. Tn addition, the past, winter, in the South Island especially, has been the finest known for a long time. Take a city like Christchurch, the difference in the coal demand in a wet week and a fine week in the depth of winter is simply tremendous. You have really no conception of the difference between wet weather and fine weather in the demand on coal. In previous winters there has usually been a shortage of best West Coast coals, but during this last winter there has been coal to spare, and stocks have never been down’. The change -in conditions in the past few years has been very material. A factor that has made the competition of small co-operative parties a serious matter for the larger concerns is that their overhead expenses are practically nil. This puts the parties in a very good position to compete against the larger companies, ■who have heavy overhead expenses, and whose operations are on an extensive scale. These companies are in many cases mining deep down.” Instances were cited where the time occupied in going from the tunnel mouth to the ■working face and back again to the mouth was over an hour and a half. All this time had to be paid for, and economicallj r it was a dead loss. With the big concerns, for every man actually hewing coal, there were two on othei 1 incidental work. The costs thus mounted to a very high figure. In the case of small co-operative parties, practically every man was a coal winner and the overhead costs were practically nil.

The use of oil engines and motor engines on ships was cutting seriously into the coal' business, while the extending use of gas and electric cookers was all the time cutting down the domestic demand. Very little hope is entertained that things will be better for some years to come. Experiments that are being made in England, America and Germany in the treatment of small coal to make it commercially successful, are being followed with interest by the coal trade in New Zealand. “In a very short time,’’.the reporter was assured, “coal will not be burned in its raw state. All the small coal will be treated. Until such time as a successful commercial method is found of using small coal, the trade will have its present troubles. The present phase of the trade is very hard. Costs in the proprietary concerns are very difficult to reduce. If the mines were workingfull time, you could keep the costs down. Even though the men may not be paid when not working, the capital charges are going on all the time.”