STATE COAL MINES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17286, 29 September 1916, Page 4

STATE COAL MINES.

——4 ! The correspondent who imagines that our comments on tho State coal enterprise were biased is no doubt honest in that mistake and may himself bo absolutely impartial. But bis arithmetic and deductions are nevertheless faulty, and his information is incomplete. It may lie—we have not gone through those particular details, because the \>oir.t may be waived for the general purposes of our argument—it may bo that the accounts of the State collieries and retail depots show a trading loss of £45,000 during the last four years. Nor need we dispute our correspondent’s opinion that losses were recorded in nearly every previous year. But during that period a great deal of developmental work was carried out, which promises to yield good results and increasing results in the immediate future. The Liverpool colliery, reached tho output stage only towards the middle of 1913. This mine produced last year 115,000 tons of marketable coal and tho increase in v its output during tho next few years is expected to bo substantial. The whole business last year showed a profit, so that the public may hesitate to be disheartened by timid people who object so wholeheartedly to State enterprise. Moreover, the main contention that we advanced stands good. Through coming into the market the State unquestionably has saved consumers a large sum of money hy steadying retail prices. This is not “ a mere unsupported assertion which is contradicted by the facts.” The only “fact” mentioned by “Watchman” is that “the competition of Australian coal has been and is now the great factor in steadying prices.” That assertion, bowover, is not a “fact,” because Australian coal is retailed by New Zealand middlemen oa a tariff fixed among, them-

selves. The influence of the State depots is not a matter of imagination but of concrete experience which can bo certified to by every householder who takes an interest in his domestic economy and who remembers what happened as soon as the State depots were opened for business. Prices have risen somewhat since then, but not anything liko so much as would have been the ense in the absence of the Government sale. Our correspondent argues that the reasonableness of prices is proved by the fact that “ comparatively Tew New Zealand collieries have ever reached the dividend-paying stage." On that showing, wo may be excused for remarking, private enterprise would appear to be not more capable than the State. The published accounts of tho State. coal undertaking, by tho way, are fuller than “ Watchman ” has discovered, for they do show that interest is paid on capital—which is tho equivalent to a dividend, so tho State manages better than tho companies according to our critic—and they show also that liberal allowances are made for depreciation. As to tho railways and other public departments using only 26,88-1 tons of State coal in 191314, our correspondent has selected a year in which industrial conflict reduced tho outputs of collieries, both public and private. Nearly 50,000 tons of State coal were used last, year by the railways and other public services. They do not supply all' their requirements from those collieries, probably for good technical or economic reasons, Ifat the statute gives the Departments first call upon tho output. We maintain that; this is a- very large and important fact. It is a permanent guarantee against the publicly-owned railways ever being quite at the mercy of private individuals for the supply of -fuel to carry on the people’s great carrying service. These questions of public policy cannot bo decided by arithmetic alone, .but rather by a fair and adequate consideration of all the cin?;unstances. But if in this particular matter figures could be employed to balance tho losses shown in tho accounts against the savings to consumers, there is not the least, doubt in our mind that there would be revealed an enormous public benefit.