COAL SUPPLIES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21980, 26 March 1946, Page 6

COAL SUPPLIES

WARTIME DIFFICULTIES INDUSTRIAL LIFEBLOOD (P.A.) AUCKLAND. March 25. “I do not wish to minimise- the difficulties which the Government has had to contend with during the war years in dealing with the coal supply,” said the chairman of the Auckland Gas Company, Mr. V. J. Larner, at the annual meeting of the company today. “The world generally depends on coal for its industrial lifeblood and never before have we been brought so sternly face to face with the fact that difficulties in regard to coal are being experienced in all countries and the solution is one of the world’s greatest problems. It is axiomatic that these problems have to be tackled and successfully overcome if civilisation is to survive.

"A recent utterance by the British Minister of Fuel, when he said that ‘the new Britain must be built on coal or can never be built at all,’ is extremely apt and applies to New Zealand, but to' a lesser degree. “There are well known and potent reasons why the intelligent utilisation of coal resources can be regarded as of paramount importance by those who control this country’s internal economy.

“Gas-making coal, which is the country’s most precious mineral asset, should be conserved solely by processing through undertakings such as gasworks, which procure _by far the best results, instead of being used for bunkering ships and other purposes in which the rich by-product qualities are entirely wasted.”