ROYALTIES ON COAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18222, 16 October 1922, Page 8

ROYALTIES ON COAL.

ACTION BY DEPARTMENT.

IMPOST ON SPECULATION. [BI XBLEOBAPH. —SPECIAL fIEPOETEE.] WELLINGTON. Saturday.

A statement by the chairman of the Reef ton Progress League in regard* to coal royalties was mentioned in the House yesterday by Mr. R. P. Hudson (Motueka). The statement was that the royalties were being increased by the Mines Department, and the money spent whereever the Government des'red, which action the chairman alleged amounted to confiscation.

The Minister for Mines (Hon. G. J. Anderson) replied thnt the royalties had not been increased. The maximum royalty under the law was Is per ton, and the intention was to make the maximum rate anply to speculative cases. For instance, there was the- case of the man who signed a lease on December 22 and on January 17 sold it for some thousands of pounds, and at the same time exacted a royalty from the incoming lessee of 2s a ton. It was tvup ho linci ngreed to pay a portion of the upkeep of the road over which the coal was carted. In another case, three months after a lease had been, signed, it was resold, and the original lessee exacted a royalty of 2s 6d per ton, besides a substantial sum of money. In this case it was proposed to carry the conl by motor lorry over ten miles of road. In such circumstances it was only right that a certain portion of the royalties should be used for the upkeep of the roads. What was being done was to protect the public and tha local bodies who maintained the 'roadi.