AN IDLE COALMINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19827, 23 December 1927, Page 9

AN IDLE COALMINE.

MEN TO TAKE IT OVER. CO-OPERATIVE SYSTEM. Owing to unsatisfactory financial results the company which has been working a coalmine at Catamaran, on the south coast of Tasmania, has decided to discontinue operations, and negotiations have been entered into with the Coalminers' Federation. with a view to the mine being taken over by the union It was stated that the company had offered the property to the miners to work on a co-operative basis, and it is probable that the offer of the directors that the men should work the mine at the recognised wage rates and deliver the coal to the wharf, where it would be purchased by the company, would be accepted. Any profits, it was suggested, should be distributed periodically as dividends to the men. The installation of the surface plant has involved the company in an outlay of £IOO,OOO, but it was stated that'it had no further funds for developing the mine underground." The general secretary of the Coalminers' Federation, Mr. D. J. Davies, who has been on a visit to Tasmania, said in .Melbourne recently that he had in vestigated the proposal, which he had discussed with the employees concerned in the mine. There was a seam of coa! 4ft. lOin. thick, and it was equal to the best steaming coal produced on the Newcastle field. In addition, there was a 3ft. seam of anthracite. The mine, which was well equipped, had been closed on September 19. There were 50 families in Catamaran dependent on the mine, and the miners were eager for a resumption of work.