DOMINION SUGAR SUPPLY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4655, 4 September 1917, Page 5

DOMINION SUGAR SUPPLY.

AFFECTED BY SHORTAGE OF COAL. 'For the past tweleve months it has been more or less a question as to whether the Colonial Sugar Company would be able to continue to supply the Dominion with sugar, on account of the continued shortage of coal (says Tuesday’s Auckland Star). The company uses a considerable quantity of Newcastle coal, because it is looked upon as a better steam coal. Labor troubles there, and the shortage of shipping space made the queston still more difficult. Then labor troubles occurred in the mines here, and the position became still more acute. The shutting down of tho mines here meant that local companies, -such as gas companies and the railways, had to go abroad for their supplies. This, of course, made the problem of shipping still more difficult. Greater quantities of coal were required from abroad, but the increased shipping space necessary to carry it could not be found. Since the trouble has been settled! in New Zealand the position lias improved considerably, though the question is not wholly solved yet. The difficulty appears to be that the output from tlie mines m the Dominion is not yet up to what it was in normal times, not because tne men are not working full time or up to their full capacity, but because the labor is not available on account of the number of men who have gone to the front. It is necessary at present to produce far more coal in New Zealand than formerly, but. tlie necessary labor is not available. Ilr Colonial Sugar Company m the past has considered it necessary to hold as a safe margin some 3000 tons of coal in stock. During the past twelve months it has not been possible to maintain this margin, and the company has been reduced to the necessity of working on bare stocks, considering itself lucky if it could in two weeks’ supply at the most. Dio position, however, is more hopeful than it was, as the company lias now made favorable arrangements with the West Coast and local companies to supply the coal necessary to carry on the works, and as long as that can be kept up, the company will be abip to continue to supply the Dominion with sugar.