COST OF COAL.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IX, Issue 173, 8 July 1919, Page 5

COST OF COAL.

'.TO THE EDITOR.] Sir, —Is it true that the miner is the principal cause of the scarcity and high price of coal? I was under the impression that the miners had been found not guilty on the charge of “go . slow,” by some Commission or other, j and that they get a very small return for the coal they produce. Perhaps you can give me some information that wiU correct, if wrong, my impressions, Mr. ! Editor. For instance: Is it true that the miner receives, as wages, 2/- for each ton he produces? Is it true that coal, from the mine to the railway truck, costs under £1 a ton to produce.' At the present time coal costa £3 13/6 per ton in Hastings. Who draws the difference between the coat of production and the price the consumer pays If these figures are correct 1 think that the consumer will be well advised to turn his attention from the miner who receives 2/- per ton t» the people who are drawing £213/6 per ton, don't you Mr. Editor." —I am, etc., “COISSEMEB.”.

Hastings, 4/7/19. [According to the Board of Trade’s report on the coal industry, puoiished a fortnight ago, tne average cost ef manual labour employed in and about the New Zealand mines in 1313 wm about 5/it per ton, and in 1918 it had I increased to 7/9 per ton. Tins includes hewing, trucking, and the payment of all labour exerted in production of coal. The average cost of mming coal, which includes rail freight in the case of certain mines selfing tueir coal i.o.b. at neighbouring ports, was 18 1913, 13/6, arid in 191 b. 18/7. An average railage freight of 3/- per ton, however, has to be added to tne cost ef West Coast coal, for its transport from the mine to Westport or Greymouth. It must be noted that the labour cost per ton of coal varies greatly in different mines. In one mine in 1918 it was as high as 15/- per ton, while in another it was as low as 5/6. The ordinary shipping freight per ton qf coal from Westport and Grey mouth tq Wellington in 1913 was 5/i, and in 1918 it had increased to 9/Z, making the landed cost at Wellington £1 11/2. The freight from Newcastle, N.S.W., to Wellington was 10/6 per ton in 1914, and 16/6, in 1918. To-day, owing to the shipping dislocation due allegedly to the epidemic and the seamen’s strike in Australia, and the shortage of shipping, the freight from Newcastle is £2 o/- per ton. The Newcastle mine price is 15/- per ton at shipside at Newcastle. The freight from Westport and Greymouth is not given in the report, nor is it available locally. A rough estimate would be about 11/- per ton. making the cost of West Coast coal Landed at Napier about 28/- per ton in 1918. The freight charges on coal, Newcastle to Auckland, in 1918 was 16/3 per ton. To Napier it should be about the same, bringing the landed cost of Newcastle coal at Napier in 1918 to about £ll 11/3. The difference between this price and the price at which coal is sold retail to the consumer, is made up in cost of handling, carting, incidental expenses and merchants’ profits. As regards ■ the allegations of the miners indulging in a "go-slow” movement, the figures given in the Commission’s report (page 34), show that the miners put out 8 J cwt. more coal per shift in 1918 than they did per shift in. 1913.— Ed. H.B.T.]