Importation Of Coal From Great Britain

Northern Advocate, 5 January 1948, Page 3

Importation Of Coal From Great Britain

GREYMOUTH, Mon. (P.A.).—Although the State Mines Department sells large quantities of screened coal from West Coast mines to private consumers at between 27/3 and 28/9 a ton at the mine, another Government department is to pay probably £7/10/a ton for coal mined in England in order to keep up railway stocks. Much of the West Coast coal is eminently suitable for railway use and much of it is thus absorbed. It is stated here that the Government has obviously found it impossible either to increase output, or to exclude private buyers from the market so as to bridge the gap between the amount of coal available and the railway demand. FOUR TIMES THE COST

The peculiar position has therefore arisen of the Government selling coal which it actually needs for its own use, at approximately 28/- a ton and replacing it with imported coal costing four times as much as its own product.

The selling price of 28/- a ton does not tell the full story, as it is well known that the cost of production in most instances is well in excess of the selling price, the difference being made up through subsidies. It, is estimated that much of the state coal would have to be sold at rcund about £3 a ton to meet the full cost of production. DOUBLE THE COST

The actual price paid by the Railways Department to the State Mines Department for West Coast coal is not known, but allowing for the fact that cost of production in New Zealand is much higher than the selling price, it is clear that the cost to the Dominion of English coal will be well over double the cost of West Coast coal.