PURCHASE OF MINES

Grey River Argus, 11 August 1944, Page 7

PURCHASE OF MINES

Mr Bishop’s Protest

“A MISTAKEN POLICY.”

PA. PARLIAMENT BLDGS, Aug. 9. “The expenditure of £135,000 of public money cannot be justified on any ground whatsoever, and, in spite of the Minister’s disavowal of that intention, _ the nationalisation of coalmining is proceeding rapidly,” declared Hon. T, O. Bishop, during a second reading debate on the Finiance Bill, in the Legislative Council, to-day, referring to the purchase by the State, of four collieries on the West Coast, during recent months, at a cost, ne thought, approaching £350,000. Since then, another mine had been bougnt at a cost of £200,000. The Minister must be working to some plan, yet ne had disavowed nationalisation. The only alternative explanation was that the purchases had been undertaken m the belief that they would increase production. Instead of reconsidering the question of subsidies, which hau been at issue between mine owners and the Government, the latter had, in these four cases, taken over the mines to run them as State concerns. “This was a mistaken policy. The Government had to meet all costs, and the cost of coal to Government had been considerably higher,—in some cases a shilling per ton, —than the amount of subsidies which would have enabled the companies to carry on themselves. The Minister had constantly flattered miners with extravagant praise, and just as constantly thrown the blame on to mine owners and mine managers, who had not been upheld by the Minister, when they tried to enforce discipline.” UPPER HOUSE DEBATES PURCHASES. P.A. WELLINGTON. August 10. Members of the Legislative Council to-day replied in the Finance Bill debate to remarks yesterday by Hon. T. O. Bishop (Wellington) who criticised the Minister of Mines and the Government. Defence of the Government’s purchase of mines was taken up by several speakers. Hon. J. E. Duncan (Auckland), said that, in the case of two mines taken over in the King Country, both of them had been financially embarassea, and the owners had asked the Government to take them over. The Dobson mine had also been bought by tne owners’ request, and jn the purchase of the Wallsend mine, the Government took over a distinct liability. The Stockton colliery had always been unjustly embarassed, and the only criticism that could be made was that the Government paid too high a price for it. He had known the King Country mines in the past, and the improvements that had been made were a revelation. Hon. W. H. Mclntyre (Buller) said he thought Mr. Bishop’s remarks were unjustified. When Hon. FWebb became Minister of Mines, the coal industry was the most depressed one in the country, and the task ot restoring it had seemed impossible. But Mr. Webb had done it, long before the war started. The Leader of the Council,- Hon. D. Wilson, said Mr. Bishop’s criticism of a Minister was unwarranted. Hon. G. R. Davis (Auckland) said tobacco growing could be a valuable rehabilitation factor. New Zealanders consumed over seven million pounds of tobacco yearly. Only a little over two and a-quarter million pounds of this was grown in New Zealand. An additional five thousand acres would fill all requirements, and research was going on over that area, which would make room for live hundred men.