SOUTH WALES COAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 January 1933, Page 8

SOUTH WALES COAL

LOSS ON QUARTER’S OUTPUT. LONDON, December* 2. The report of the joint accountants on the proceeds and costs of the South Wales coal industry shows that during the quarter, ended October 31 there was a debit balance of 3.76 d per ton on production, equal to £122,972 on the total output. This follows a loss of £76,482—0ver 2d a ton —on the previous quarter, and of £57,481 during the corresponding quarter of 1931. Issuing this report last night, Mr Finlay Gibson, secretary of the South Wales and Monmouth Coalowners’ Association, states that on the loss sustained the percentage payable to the miners above the 1915 standard would Minus 2.40. Under the agreement however, the owners must meet their guarantee of 20 per cent, above the standard.

Reduced output largely explains the trading loss. The total of 8,494,850 tons is nearly 7 per cent less than the previous quarter and 13 per cent, less than the same period of last year. The export trade demand alone has decreased by 1,899,408 tons in the year.

The one bright spot in the picture has been an increase of 125,405 tons supplied as bunkers to vessels engaged in the foreign trade, attributed in very large measure to the enterprise of South Wales colliery owners in the improvement of their coals for marine navigation.