STATE COAL MINES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 81244, 13 March 1901, Page 4

STATE COAL MINES.

Considering all the circumstances, we are not surprised to find the Sydney Press commenting adversely ~ on Mr Seddon s proposal to open a State coal mine. The “Morning Herald,” of course, supports the sacred right of the individual to accumulate wealth at will and to grind the faces ■of the poor in the. process; but in this country at least private enterprise is a shibboleth possessing no virtue. It is only a step from State railways to State coal mines, and the country is ready, even anxious' to take it. We have heard so often that private enterprise is to be ruined by the doings of the Government that the cry has ceased to have any meaning.- The truth is that legitimate private enterprise will always find plenty of scope for its operations even in competition with the State. The State, of course, can face a loss, bub so also can private companies, and the taxpayers would no more tolerate a succession of losses than would the shareholders of a company. The only way in which the State can undersell its rivals is by working its mine economically and putting the coal on the market at a lower price. As for the Government paying wages “ that no private owner could hope to pay,” our own experience is that the Government employee receives rather less than the employee of a private company, (

and a Conservative contemporary, whose views on our labour laws seem to have undergone a marked change,even warns the workers net to deprive themselves of the protection of the Conciliation Boards and Arbitration Court by seeking Government employment. The “Daily Telegraph” appears to labour under the same delusion as its contemporary, that the State would work its mines at a loss and make good the deficiency out of the general revenue. We have no fears in that direction. Xt is probable, as the “Telegraph” implies, that the Government will commence operations by providing for its own wants first, but Mr Seddon’s proposal is much more general. Ho pointed out that while the Rahway Department can obtain coal at 19s per ton the private consumer is called upon to pay £2, and the discrepancy is altogether too great to he ignored. If the present producers are absolutely unable to place the coal on the market at a lower 1 price, then it is the duty of the State to overcome the difficulties that face them. It is simply monstrous that with immense supplies almost at our doors we should have to pay so heavily for such a necessary article. The trouble is not to be met by helping a few co-operative parties, without capital, to work abandoned mines, although that in itself may he a wise policy; nor. would the consumers be an a, betterposition if the Government paid heavy subsidies to existing companies New fields must be opened up and the output greatly increased, so that there will be no danger of a shortage. The methods of handling need to be improved and the process of distribution simplified and shortened, and with it all there must be a considerable reduction in the ultimate price to the consumer. The appearance of the State in the field as a mine-owner seems to> us to offer the only satisfactory solution of the whole problem, and we believe that when the Premier submits his proposals to Parliament next session they will he warmly welcomed by the members and by the whole community.