STATE coal STRIKE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14235, 4 December 1909, Page 7

STATE coal STRIKE.

THE FEDERATION MEETING.

.'THINGS QUIET AT HUNTLY. I TOT Miners* Federation meets at WeiThb Miners' Federation meets at Wellington on Wednesday to deal with the strike position- The mines in the Westport district continue busy. | Mr. R- Manning; secretary of the New Zealand Miners' Federation, loft Auckland i for Wellington last night to attend the meeting of the executive of the federa- ' tion which is to be held on Monday to I consider what action should be taken I with reference to the State coal and Newcaitlo strikes. Speaking to a Herald representative before he left, Mr. ■ Manning stated that he was hopeful of a :'■ satisfactory settlement in the State coal dispute- 1 f%'}lr. J. Fulton, president of the Waifcajp Coal Miners' Union, left for Weill 'lington on Thursday night to attend the ; •jams meeting. ; ',..Though strikes are in the air, things I'aw'gouig'along here very smoothly (writes 'oar Huntly correspondent). Work is iplentiful and the strike agitator is con- \ kpicuously absent, so that it is likely that 'the miners will continue the even tenor fjjji their way. ..'•'.-,,. ' HOW THE MINES PAY. | '*$$/•*' ' . STATE BLEEDING THE STATE. '■ ■ . .. . \ Referring, in the Sydney Daily Telegraph, 1 to| tie nationalisation of coal mines, Mr. Edmund Lonsdale. M.L.A., writes:—"This question is' being advocated by the State Labour party as a panacea for all the ills of the miner and a great advantage to the ' public- I desire to put before your readers a few facts and figures taken from the re- • port 'of the much-vaunted New Zealand Stave mines. " ..... „•.■;■. ~ " There was sold out of the mines the fol- ; lowing quantities and values : —

To whom. Tons. Value. Per ton. £ £ ». d. Saltwars # ... '-.'.. ' ... 96.419 96,157 lOC* Other, Sowmment dept*. 6,403 5,808 018 0* , Depots ;-... ... - 65,380 57,712 017 8 gluppins and private • ■■'.;iXeoniumew- ... ... 115,578 67,918 0 11 9 '•"" ' l» About)

," These figures show an extraordinary difference "between the price of coal sold to private consumers and that sold to the Government., V

■ s"lf the railways obtained their coal at I the price the depots obtain it, and which expose o( it to private consumers—where wiffifl degree "of competition comes in—there would be ft wiving of £10,900 to the Govern- .- ment, and the profit of the mine disappears. s ; If wo take one-half of the difference between what the shipping companies and large prill: vate consumers pay for coal, and calculate I ; the price to the railway and other Govern- ! meat Departments at that, there would be a i living of £28,500 to the State, and there Woula be a very great loss to the mine. "The men who are advocating nationaliwtion should weigh this position well. It «hows, so far as I have been able to analyse •the report, that the mine is made to pay •by charging the State a high price for its coal.''