The Northern Advocate Daily “Northland First” WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1937. OIL AND COAL ROYALTIES

Northern Advocate, 15 December 1937, Page 6

The Northern Advocate Daily “Northland First”

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1937. OIL AND COAL ROYALTIES

Regifftered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper.

The decision of the New Zealand Government to ascertain as quickly as possible whether oil exists in large quantity in the Dominion has met with universal approval. Apart altogether from the commercial value of ample domestic supplies of oil, it is realised that if New Zealand were independent of overseas supplies it would be a matter of supreme importance to defence, not only of the Dominion, but of the Empire itself. There is no need to labour this obvious point. Parliament was agreed as to the necessity for facilitating prospecting for oil. The sole question upon which there was division of opinion was whether the State should collect the whole of the royalties chargeable upon oil obtained, or whether the owners of land upon which oil might he found should share in the royalties. That matter was left in abeyance until Parliament re-

| sumes in order that prospecting j operations might not be held up ! unnecessarily. In view of the j discussion which will take place j early next year, it is interesting Ito consider what is being done in respect of coalmining royalties in Britain, This throws into bold relief the whole question of royalties. The coal deposits of Briti ain are privately owned, and suci eeeding generations of the orig- ■ inal owners have collected royali ties on all coal obtained by comj panics and others to whom the i coalfields have been leased. It I is now proposed that the State | shall purchase all the mining i royalties for £66.450,000, payable over a period of fifteen years. A central valuation board will divide the country into valna- ! tion regions, and allot to each I region its due share of the total I compensation. Every region will have its own board to make the valuation of individual properties. When adjustments have been made, the ownership of all the royalties Avill be transferred to a body to be known as the Goal Commission. All coal, worked or not, and whether now known to exist or not, will be acquired, as well as ail rights of working. There will thus bo a single ownership. It has been computed that the-Coal Commission, after paying all charges on a loan required to pay the compensation to the royaltyowners, will have in hand a surplus of royalty income approaching four and a half millions sterling That surplus may be used to reduce underground wayleave rents, to reduce individual royalty rates which are heavier than the average rates in the district, and to reduce royalty rates as between one district and another. The Oo'al Commission; will have the duty of adminis-j tering the whole of the coal re-1 sources of Britain, and pro-| rooting the interests and better | organisation of the coalmining in-; dustry. Beyond prospecting for coal, it will not undertake any -j mining operations. All its surplus revenue will, in one shape | or another, be returned to the industry so as to promote the social and economic -wellbeing of the miners and all associated with the industry. There will thus he single-control of the coal resources of Britain under the direction of the State. The financial benefits of the control, it j is urged, will accrue to the industry directly, and to the State indirectly, through the industry’s improved efficiency and stability, and the increased wellbeing and spending power of the mining community. It is hoped that the Government’s policy will put the coalmining industry in Britain upon a solid foundation and promote the welfare of all sections of the nation. The necessity to deal with the gigantic question of royalties in Britain shows very plainly that the Government of New Zealand' should give the most careful attention to that subject as affecting oil royalties. Big deposits of oil may, or may not. be discovered in New Zealand. The time to make a fair and equitable agreement as between the State and the owners of property' upon which oil may be found is, therefore, now, when the whole subject is a matter of conjecture. For that reason it is most desirable that the deferred question of royalties should be discussed dispassionately by Parliament when it reassembles next year