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Northern Advocate, 13 August 1948, Page 3

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Much had been said about the loss ! of coal under private enterprise, said i Mr Holland. A . ! It must be admitted immediately | that millions of tons had been wasted j under private enterprise and state management also, and he had been | given expert information that as much coal had been wasted by the state as by private enterprise. The Minister, however, had nothing to say about the wicked loss in production caused by stoppages in the mines. The Minister had said nothing about the use of better methods to obtain more coal, and the bijl did nothing else but complete the state ownership of the coal resources. ! 'The bill merely assured ownership i and provided compensation. It did nothing to improve production | methods or to ensure a better quality 1 of coal, or to make coal cheaper. While the compensation proposed | looked a reasonable proposition on the ! surface, when it was examined it was i found that an average would be taken ! over a complete area and not those in ! respect of which royalties were at i present being paid, j As complete areas, which included : those not being worked, were at least | three times the size of those being worked, the average would be greatly decreased. In his judgment there could not be 'a set rule for fixing compensation 1 unless the geographical position of the 1 area, its accessibility, quality of the ceal, thickness of the seam, amount of l overburden and whether the area v;a ,: ; proved were all taken into considera- ! tion. ! Mr Holland said the National Party j would support the nationalisation of j the coal resources provided a case j could be established that the public ! welfare would benefit better that way ; than by any other. The bill, however, had failed ‘to establish that national- | isation would be for the benefit of i the people. Mr A. C. Baxter (G —Raglan) said it was correct that there was nothing in the bill about the working of the mines, but that could not be separated from the ultimate winning of the coal. ! The bill dealt with the national isaj tion of the coal measures as distinct from the nationalisation of the mines, and the most important reason for that step was to ensure in the future proper control of the coal measures. , Production of relative amounts of I coal would be in accordance with the , relative needs of the particular type of coal. Mr C. M. Bowden (O—Karori) said state ownership of coal mines in and New Zealand had not yet effected an increase in the output of coal or lessened production costs. The debate was interrupted by the adjournment.