COAL SHORTAGE CAUSES CEMENT OUTPUT TO DROP

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 April 1949, Page 3

COAL SHORTAGE CAUSES CEMENT OUTPUT TO DROP

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, April 26. Laclc of coal has resulted in. a 50 per cent, cut in the output of the Portland cement works. Persistent coal shortages have interrupted full manufacture since January and for the last six weeks only two of the company’s four kilns have been operating. Since the works at Portland reopened at the beginning of January coal deliveries had been continually short of requirements, said'a representative of Wilson’s (N.Z.) Portland Cement Company, Ltd., today. Many thousands of tons of manufacture had been lost. The company was powerless to get an improvement and the return to full production depended upon the restoration of a normal supply of fuel. The fall in production has meant a substantial drop in the cement available for the manufacturers of concrete products. One Auckland firm has suffered a 20 per cent, reduction in cement deliveries and it is estimated that companies in other parts of the North Island are short of up to half their total needs. One Wellington factory is reported to have been working only two and a half days a week since January because of a shortage of materials.