A STATE COAL MINE

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1515, 14 March 1901, Page 23

A STATE COAL MINE

DEFINITE ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PREMIER. PROPOSALS TO BE SUBMITTED TO PARLIAMENT. Replying to the deputation from Tie trades unions on Saturday, Mr Seddon announced that- it was his intention to ask Parliament next session for authority to open a State coal mine. The deputation brought up, amongst other mattei's, reported elsewhere, the question of the price of coal. Air Allau Orr, the spokesman, complained that not only was it impossible for any poor person bo get a hundredweight of coal unless this was paid for before it left the yard, but the prices had been increased. Customers were told that the reason f..» this was that wages were going up ; yet they saw that Mr Brown had referred the case to the Arbitration Court, so that it was evident that the employers were taking time by the forelock. He appealed to Air Seddon, If he could cl j nothing else in the matter, to’ start a coal yard, and let the people have their coal cheap. This insistent appeal provoked some merriment, v bether from the emphatic gesture with which Air Orr accompanied it, or that the sight conjured up of the bluff, good-humoured Premier running a coal-yard was too much for the gravity of the deputation. “Well,” exclaimed Air Orr, “he has done a good many things already, and he’ll do this next if he finds we are right.” Air Seddon, who had joined in the laughter, and then relapsed into seriousness, said that this was really the most important question yet brought under the notice of the Government. A greatmany things had been hurled at the Government before now, but he hoped in a few months to be able to say that they were coal dealers. (Loud applause.) He had informed the House, and it could not be said that the public had not been informed on this question. He maintained that the combinations existing in our colony, and the manner in which these thing’s were worked to the detriment of the majority, especially poor people, were such as to demand immediate attention. Alost of the coal mines, and the coal itself, were on land belonging to the people, and it Avas no use for the Government to improve the condition of the workers, or to assist in increasing the earnings of the workers if those earnings were to be taken from them by combinations and others Avho put an undue cost on the necessaries of life. (Applause.) Coal was a necessary of life, and poor people were entitled to have it at a price which was reasonable. And then to be served 1 with a notice such as that before him! Air Seddon hero read a circular handed to him by. Air Orr, intimating that all coal above a;cer-

tain quantity must be paid for before delivery. This notice, he went on, was signed “Henry Wright.” That name seemed to him to be familiar. Private enterprise, Air Seddon Avent on to say, had not met the interests of the colony in this question of the coal supplies. We had an order for 4000 or 5000 tons of coal for the Admiralty, and he believed that could be doubled. The American Navy had gfren orders to oe supplied with Westport coal from New Zealand, and in many other ways orders Avould come. At NeAvcastle at the present time they could not supply the orders, and vessels had been Avaiting four or fivo months for supplies. It .Avas no use saying that if we had this or had the other, our trade would be driven to Newcastle, for it was evident they could not supply orders there noAV. He had already helped a little by putting a party of working miners in the Mokoninui mine, where they were getting thousands of tons of coal out of a nu.ie that he had been told Avas no good. The Cardiff Company had given up its mine, after it had been mismanaged, and he would put a party of co-operative miners on trie coal there. He held that we had been acting; on an entirely Avrong basis. It was the duty of a colony possessing such mineral Avealth to see that the markets outside the colony were supplied, and that internal and local wants were supplied, and that no company, or combination of sellers, should dictate, or arrogate to themselves the right to say that oiving to the coal'famine, owing to the small number of coal miners, they were to put on certain conditions, and charge what -iliey wished. lie Avould have the support of his colleagues in the step he noiv proposed, and he believed he would have the support of all, because this question touched not only the, workers, but all consumers. When he could get Westport coal for the railways at from 19s to 21s a ton, and yet had to pay cash for household purposes £1 18s or £2 a ton, the whole thing pointed to’ a condition of things Avhich ought to be met. Having observed that the mine - oivners at the present time could not supply the demand, Air Seddon went on to suggest that they no doubt thought it was easier for them to hand it over to certain vendors throughout the large centres, and in view of the agreement probably existing between them, to supply only to this combination, they no doubt thought they could fix up the miners, and then no one could interfere. But if they thought, they could get things into that condition in New Zealand, they made a Very great mistake. (Applause.) Thecas© the deputation had put before him was an ex parte one; but ho had had other evidence on the subject, and he would not have spoken so strongly if he had not. had other evidence. It was the duty of the Government to take action. He held that it was the duty‘of the State, as the largest coal consumer in the colony, to have ooal mines of its own, if only for its own consumption. They must not have their coal field too far away they must not have, it in broken country, or too far from railways or shipping. The Government had a good bit of country to select from, and after locating a good field with easy accommodation to port and railway.- it was his intention jtcfc ask Parliament next session to authorise the opening up ; jof a coal mine owned by the colony and worked by the colony.. [Then they would See whether: tbe>§£ hqnds.: or rings would continue, and think they-werp ’going, to fleece the country. These things were done in America, but “he did not think many pedtple a ires from what they were able to dp in this directjoii in New Zealand. This was a matter. 1 bf : grave importance,' and'; a matter of' policy, and next session‘.the Governmeaifc would submit proposals to Parliament, and ask Parliament to give them the necessary authority. He thought they would be able to show Parliament that they, could do the thing properly, and that they would bo able to demonstrate—as they had already shown in other things—that they were able to work a coal mine as economically and profitably as private individuals were. He knew it would be said that people working for the Government wanted more “from, the Government than from anybody else; but the Government had shown what could be done with the railways and other Government Departments, and he thought that in the same way’they would work? a coal mine just as cheaply as it wasi done by the private individual. It was monstrous to have poor people fleeced as they were, Avhen subject to these charges for coal, especially as with many in the winter time, when eamiegs were smallest and work scarce, and probably sickness and suffering in the home—indeed, it had perhaps gone further than that in many a poor man’s family. The Government were determined to take action, and he did not care whether it vexed or pleased ; for this was a state of things that should not exist in a country teeming Avith coal. (Applause.) Mr Seddon was given a hearty vote of thanks by acclamation for the courteous manner in which he had received the deputation, and for the satisfactory character of his replies.