CONTROL OF MINES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24824, 22 February 1944, Page 6

CONTROL OF MINES

AUSTRALIAN PROPOSAL

LEAD FROM HON. P.C. WEBB (Heed. 12.15 a.m.) SYDNEY, Feb. 21

The introduction of the Commonwealth Government's new coal bill may be delayed by its temporary rejection in the Senate. This has been indicated by the Leader of the Senate Opposition, Mr. G. McLeay, who said the bill centred on consideration for the minors and disregarded the claims of consumers, mine owners, the war and the nation. Defeat in the Senate would delay the bill until July. Opposition Senators defeated in the last elections will have to give up their seats in July to Government supporters. , A strong section of the Miners 1' ederation is expected to oppose the probable appointment of Mr. Norman Mighell as Coal Controller. The Miners' Federation officials objection is on the grounds that such o-reat powers should not be vested in one man unless he has a thorough workinc knowledge of the industry. The new bill indicated the persistence of the Government policy of "covering up weakness with expediency," said the secretary of the Northern" Colliery Proprietors' Association, Mr R. W. Davie. He added: "It is freely rumoured that the Government was influenced in its decision by reports given to it from the New Zealand Minister of Mines, the Hon. P. C. Webb, on the effect of Government control in the Dominion, where Waikato mines were taken over followWebb reported there had been 110 strike since and record production had followed," Mr. Davie continued, "but while Mr. Webb was giving this glowing account of State control things were not going too well at Waikato, where the output from January 5 to January 31, 19 working days was 43,4.70 tons, compared with o»,loJ tons for the same period in 1943. "This was a falling-off of 20.26 per cent on the 1943 production. The main reasons for the falling-off were absenteeism and stop-work meetings. The time lost at the mines during the 19 working days because of stop-work meetings was 142 hours, or 15 per cent." THREE MEDICAL MEN CARE OF MR. CHURCHILL TWO YOUNG SPECIALISTS LONDON', Jan 7. Of the three doctors attending Mr. Churchill during his recent illness, only 'Lord Moran (until last March Sir Charles Wilson) is well known to the public. He is Mr. Churchill's personal physician. Lord Moran is 61 years old, married, with two sons. He is the ablest orator of the medical profession, was the anonymous "doctor" of the B.B.C's Brains Trust; is capable of dictating a couple of columns for a newspaper article without a note. In appearance Lord Moran is pale and ascetic but his manner is breezy and soldierly; lie won the M.C. in the last war and believes in the healing power of laughter. Brigadier Davis Evan Bedford is a heart specialist, and edits the British Heart Journal. He is consultant physician to the Middle Last Forces; in peacetime he gives his services to the National Hospital for Diseases of the Heart, and the Middlesex Hospital. He is in the early forties. Lieutenant-Colonel Robert .James Valentine I'ulvertaft lirst made news when he was Director of Pathology at the Westminster Hospital. Then he designed a "standing only" lecture theatre —so that students could not go to sleep. He is the 45-year-old son of a clergyman, a last war Royal Flying Corps pilot, and one of the most prominent of the younger school of pathologists. Tall, fair, and still a keen athlete, he is married and has two daughters and a son aged four. At the outbreak of war Dr. Pulvertaft was Reader in Pathology at London University. Ho has been in the Middle East for three vears.