A STATE COAL MINE

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4302, 11 March 1901, Page 7

A STATE COAL MINE

DEFINITE ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PREMIER. PROPOSALS TO BE SUBMITTED TO PARLIAMENT. Replying to tbc deputation from *’;c trades unions on Saturday, Air ScdJon announced that it was his intention to adv Parliament next session for authority to open a State cord mine. The deputation brought up, among- 1 , other matters, reported elsewhere, the question of the price of coal. Mr Alias Orr, the spokesman, complained that not only was it impossible for any poor person to get a hundredweight of coal nubs-. this was paid for before it left the yard, but the prices had been increased. ( 'icJ oinOil's wore told that the reason f •> this was that wages were going up; yet they saw that Mr Brown had ref or re a I lie case to the Arbitration Court, so that it was evident that the employers were taking time by the forelock. Tu appealed to Air Scdcfon, If he could d: nothing else in the matter, to start n coal yard, and lot the people have th fir coal cheap. This insistent appeal provoked some merriment, v bother from Hie emphatic gesture with which Mr Orr accompanied .it, or that the sight conjured np of the bluff, good-humoured Premier- running a coal-yard was too- much for the gravity of the deputation.

‘■Well,” exclaimed Air Orr, ‘‘be haclone a good many things already, and he'll do this next if he finds v/c arc right.”

Mr Sodden, who had .joined in the laughter, and then relapsed into seriousness, said that this was really the most important question yet brought under tin; notice of tbe Government. A great many things had been hurled at t he Government before now. but he hoped in a few months to be able to say that they wore coal dealers. (Loud applause.) Ids had informed the blouse, and it con id not be said that the public had not been informed on this question. Ho maintained that the combinations exist ins in our colony, and the manner in winch those things were worked to the detriment of the majority., especially poor people, were such as to demand imme. diatc attention. Most- of the coal mines, end the coal itself, v/cro' on land belonging to the people, and it was 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 whe put an'undue cost on the necessaries of life. (Applause.) Coal was a necessary of life, uncf poor people were entitled to have it at a price which was reasonable. And then to be served with a. notice such as that before him! Mr Scddou here read a circular handed to him by Air Orr, intimating that all coal above a certain quantity must bo paid for before delivery. This'notice, he went on, was signed, “Henry Wright.” That name seemed to him to bo familiar. Private on-' terprise, Air Seddon went on to say, had not met the interests of the colony in this question of the coal supplies. Wo had an order for 4000 or 5000 tons nl coat for the Admiralty, and he believed that could be doubled. The American Navy had given orders to be supplied with Westport cord from New Zealand, and in many other 'ways orders would come. At Newcastle at the present time they could not supply the orders, and vessels had been waiting four or five months for supplies. It was no use saying that if wo had this or had the other, our trade would bo driven to Newcastle, for it was evident they could not supply orders there now. Hr. had already helped a little by putting a party of working miners in the Mokoliinui mine, where they v/cro getting thousands of tons of coal out of a mine that he hud been told was no good. The Cardiff Company had given up its nunc, after it had boon mismanaged, and ho would put a party of co-operative minora on t-no coal there. Ho hold that we had been acting- on an entirely wrong basis. It was the duty of a colony possessing such mineral wealth to see that the markets outside tho colony wore supplied, and that internal and local wants wore supplied, and thateno company, or combination of sellers, should dictate, or arrogate to themselves tho right to say that owing to the coal famine, owing to tho small number of coal vnmqrs, they were to put on certain conditions, and -charge what they wished. He would have the support of his colleagues in the step he now proposed, and ho believed he would have the support of all, because this question touched not only the workers, but all consumers. When ho could get Westport coal for the railways at from 19s to 21s a ton,,and yet had to pay cash for household purposes 111 18s or £2 a ton, the whole tiling pointed to a condition ot tilings which ought to be met. Having observed that the mine—owners at the present time could not supply tho demand, Mr Seddon wont on to suggest that they no doubt thought it was easier for them to hand it over to certain venders throughout tho largo, centres, and in view of tho 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.)* The case the deputation had put before him was an ex parte one; but ho had had other evidence on tho subject, and ho would not have spoken so strongly if ho had not had ,other evidence. It was tho duty of the Government to- take action. He held that it was tho duty el the State, as the largest coal _ consumer in tho colony, to have coal 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 fur from railways or shipping. Tho Government had a good bit of country to select from, and after locating a good field with easy accommodation to port and railway, u was his intention to ask Parliament next session to authorise the opening up of a coal mine owned by the colony and worked by the colony. Then they would see whether those bonds or rings would continue, and think they wore going to fleece the country. These things wore done in America, but he did not think many people were likely to he millionaires from what they wore able to do in 1 this direction in Now Zealand. This was a matter of grave importance, and a matter of policy, and next session the Government would submit "proposals to Parliament, and ask Parliament to give them the necessary authority. Ho 1 thought they would bo able to show Parliament that they could do tho thing properly, and that they would be 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 tho Government wanted more‘from tho Government than from anybody else; .but tho Government had shown what could b© 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 was done by the private individual. It was monstrous to have I poor people fleeced as they were, when 'subject to these charges for coal, especially as with, many in the winter time, whan earnings were smallest and work

scarce, and probably sickness and suffering in the homo—indeed, it had perhaps gone further than that in many a poor man’s family. Tho 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 with coal. (Applause.) Air Seddon was given a hearty vote of thanks by acclamation for the courteous manner in. which he bad received the deputation, and for the satisfactory character of his replies.