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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIX, Issue 18, 22 January 1895, Page 2

THE continual disputes between the coalmine owners at Newcastle and the men is greatly to be regretted. Hardly a day passes without a telegram on the subject, and the worst of it is that there seems to be little prospect of an improvement in the trade, such as will enable the owners to make a fair profit for themselves and give the rate of wages to the men which is a fair remuneration for skilled work underground. When coal was discovered on the Hunter river, long before the digging dayß in Victoria, the hopes of the coY nists rose nigh, and the name of Newcastle was borrowed from the famous town on the Tyne. Up to about fifty years ago the production was small but in 1815 the mines began to be greatly developed, and the trade increased till thousands of miners were employed, and a large town, or rather a cathedral city, grew up, Every possible facility for winning and loading coal was provided and the coal did not fall off. Indeed it is believed that enough is known of to supply a trade equal to the briskest ever known in Newcastle for over five hundred years, which for practical purposes is enough for the present and agood inanysucceedinggenerations. Unfortunately the markethas failed. The Japanese coalfields bave proved formidable rivals to Newcastle, and on a smaller scale our West Coast and other coal has interfered with the Australian product. The export from Newcastle last year waa no less t-ha.i 2^ot),oQo tons, but even that quantity haa only been enough to keep half the mines and half the miners gjing full time. The consequence is that poverty is displaying itself in a marked manner in the villages about Newcastle where the miners live. Wher a strike was talked of lately the Miners' Association, which possesses 3000 members, had only £3ooo to thegood. which would not have gone far in the way of keeping tho men and their families. Apparently the owners got very little for their coal. It is said that in Newcastle coal from the best seams can be bought for from 7s to 7s 6d per ton, and from inferior seams for 5a 6d, whereas on the Tyne and at Cardiff prices run from 103 3d to 13.». Why on all the earth people in New Zealand towns have to pay so much for ibeir fuel it is not easy to see. At all events the coal trade of Newcastle is not profitable at present. Even at the existing prices shipowners prefer to use Japanese coal, and lh>- prospect is anything but a hopeful one.