Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1919. THE COAL MINING TROUBLE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1703, 17 December 1919, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1919. THE COAL MINING TROUBLE.

That Greymouth telegram published yesterday, foreshadowing a further re*, ductiou in the coal output on the West Coast, on and after January 4th, comes as a further indication of the dry rot that is setting in amongst a certain class of workers. Because things are not just as they think they should be, the coal miners of New Zealand, with but few exceptions, have been voluntarily cutting down their earning powers fully 33 per cent. The West Coast miners now propose to reduce them still further. No official announcement has been made on the subject by the union loaders concerned, but individual unionists state that “the maximum earning of the miner will be reduced from 15s 7d to 10s 6d per day.” The statement is in keeping with the announcement made a few days ago by the Grey River Argus, which is now largely owned and controlled by the Labour Party on the Coast, that the movement was likely to become permanent. Iho next thing we are likely to hear, if the policy is adhered to, will be that the minors are unable to earn sufficient to keep themselves and their families decently, and at 10s 6d per day, working only live days per week, as the minors do, it would bo next door to impossible for them to do so. We shall then probably have to listen to a lot of nonsensical talk about the poor miner whose earnings are less than those of a clay labourer. ■ But the position, as stated in the report on the working of the State coal mines for the year ending 31st March, 1919, is that “the coal hewers’ average earning (gross) was 24s 11.38 d, and the net average returp to each man was 24s 3.lSd ’ in the Point Elizabeth colliery, and 21s 2.38 dat the Liverpool mine. Both mines, according to the report, showed u decrease in the average daily output —Point Elizabeth of 170 tons and the Liverpool colliery of 33 tons —as compared with the figures for the previous year, the number of men employed being practically the same. On the days actually worked (2363) in the Point Elizabeth mine ffiis represented a shortage of 40,247t0n5, the similar shortage in the output from the Liverpool mine being for the 2081 days worked 68051 tons. Thus the output m both mines was reduced by 47,253 tons, and, the “overbead charges” remaining the same'as before, the cost of production naturally increased. But that does not show the entire loss, because the mines could have been worked for at least another 50 days in the case of the Point Elizabeth mine (allowing 52 Sundays and 24 days throughout the year by way of holidays), and another 801 days in the Liverpool mine, with the same allowance for Sundays and holidays. Had tho men worked on the days thus indicated, and had the output reached the average of the previous year, another 76,040 tons of coal would have been available for consumption.

THE GOVERNMENT MUST ACT. Had the miners worked on the additional 50 days mentioned in the case ot Mho Point Elizabeth mine and the 80} days referred to in the Liverpool colliery they ‘would have (on the average daily earning) added £63 and £B4 17s 6d respectively to their earnings, bringing' the average Point Elizabeth payments up to £349 and the Liverpool mine average up to £304 12s 6d per annum. It is just as well that the public should be seized of these facts, and that they should bo borne in mind in view of the impasse to which the coal situation tfoems to be driving the country. At a> time when (as wo have insisted again and again) increased production is'a necessary, if we are ito maintain our credit unimpaired ■and (check' the, upward trend of prices, which is doing so . much to add to the.

burden of living, the West Coast minors are adding to the already overburdened cost of living, and are further impoverishing . tpemeelvos in doing so. Whatever may be the outcome of today’s appeal to the constituencies it is essential that the Government should take this coal business firmly in hand. The output of the two State collieries last year, as already demonstrated, shows suck a marked reduction on that of the previous year, that, with a further big reduction this year, the mines themselves must become increasingly unprofitable. It is only (as we have pointed out previously) by continually increasing the price of coal, that the State mines have been able to make a profit during the last three years, and oven then the profit has never been commensurate with the increase in price, added to which the State poa! is sold at higher rates than the coal from privately owned mines. The Government will have to face the facts and deal with the situation resolutely and fearlessly, and .if it is necessary (as it appears to be), to import miners from Australia, and elsewhere, that step should be taken with the least possible delay. All the facts point to a very serious shortage in the coal supplies during the coming year. There are, moreover,' reports going the rounds concerhing.other labour troubles in the New .Year,. the most regrettable feature being that it is among the bettor paid class of unskilled labour that the agitation is assuming the most formidable dimensions. Under a strong and capable leader the Government should prove quite ’equal to the emergency, which necessitates vigorous handling'and firm dealing. The country cannot much longer submit to exactions which are unfairly handicapping and penalising every class in the community, nor can it continue to put up with a “go-slow” policy in the mines, which carries with it no benefit to the miners, while it severely taxes the pockets of the general public, and is more particularly oppressive in its incidence upon the poorer classes ot the community.