GOAL FOE GASWORKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17595, 7 October 1920, Page 6

GOAL FOE GASWORKS.

PROSPECTS MUCH BRIGHTER. • SEVERAL " CARGOES DUE, 1 UNFAIR ALLOCATIONS ALLEGED. The prospects for the resumption of the city gas service at an early date are brighter now than they, have been since the supply was cut off." There are at present in sight some 12,050 tons of bituminous coal, of" which the. Gas Company expects to receive between 4000 and 5000 tons at least.- The company's consumption is about 120 tons" a day and these supplies should be sufficient to keep the works going until further cargoes arrive. ' ' .:/ The company has been advised that the Katoa is to -leave Newcastle to-day. with a cargo of coal for Auckland. This vessel's full coniplement is 3300 tons and the company expects to secure from 1500 tons to 2000 tons of . this quantity.. The Banna is due here on Friday from Westport with about 2000 tons of coal, 1750 tons of which is for the gasworks. The Ihumata is due in Auckland on Friday from Newcastle with 1700 tons, and the Kaiwarra is now loading 3300 tons for Auckland at the New South Wales coal port. The Auckland Gas Company is the ; only institution of its kind in the Dominion which has had to 1 close its works during the present coal crisis. The Wellington gasworks were closed for a few days, but this was due to the waterside workers refusing to unload coal, that had arrived in the harbour.

The opinion is held that other centres have received preferential treatment in the distribution of coal for the manufacture of gas. The gas companies have to furnish the Department of Industries and Commerce- with a monthly return of their coal stocks, these returns being used as a guide when the department is allocating supplies. The fact that no other gasworks in New ZeJand has been compelled to close temporarily prompts the suggestion that Auckland has not received fair treatment when coal has been distributed. The fact that Auckland is much larger than any of the other centres, and that consequently considerably more coal is consumed in tile manufacture of gas, has not, it is contended, been taken into account; otherwise the present position would not have arisen.