CEMENT AND COAL

NZ Truth, Issue 771, 14 August 1920, Page 5

CEMENT AND COAL

_♦ Is the Recent Rise Justifiable d Bunkum from tha Board of Trade. 3 "Watchman" writes: The question of 0 the high price of coal and its bearing n on the manufacture of cement having ■ been recently before the public, a little £ further information may be of intern est. It may be noted that I deal solely with the mill operating m the Nortli a Island, at Portland, Whangarei.whicli s is wholly driven by hydro-electric r power. Coal for this plant is needed a only for actually making "clinker," fi 't small quantity for drying the raw 3 stone, and it requires less than halfe a-ton to produce one ton of cement _ The company draws its supplies al- _ most entirely from the Hikurang: . mines and pays various prices, ranging from 22a 6d to 27s Gd per ton, raile , way freight adding an extra 2s 3d. II is safe to say that the coal is landecl at the mill for an average cost of 27s t per ton, and that a ton of cement is 1 produced at a coal cost of 11s. Tr> ' V and reconcile these figures with n \ statement published m the dailj n press, that the Board of Trade hac sanctioned a further rise of 12s pei o A ton on the^-price. of cement owing tc s the increased cost of coal. More s bunkum ), TO FOOL" THE PEOPLE, - and this wonderful Board must 'know 3 it is bunkum. Also, I can hear th<

Cement Trust, v/ith a fat grin, exclaim, "Good old Board of Trade; you tire a help to us theso hard times." Possibly, however, this company may ■ i try an "excuse that they havo had to ''■ import high-priced Newcastle coal. : ! As a fact, during this year about GOO ! I tons of Newcastle coal have been ' ' Sanded at Portland, a week's burning-, '! at a cost of about £5 per ton. Is it 1 to enable this poor and struggling 1 concern to reimburse itself for this : tremendous extra outlay that the 1 Board of' Trade sanctioned the late 1 rise ? ' In a recent letter, published m the ' 'Auckland Star," Mr. Reid, the com- ■ tany's town business repi-esentative, ; -ittempts to justify the concern, and 1 .dates that the price of cement m ' 'vfew Zealand compares favorably v/lth other countries. That Is of no - interest to those requiring the pro--1 'luct m New Zealand, who are being ' .ixploited. His little bit at the end of ' his letter, . hinting at patriotic senti- ' inent towards his company's New 1 Zealand people is very nice indeed, r hut he forg-ot to mention that his 1 benevolent concern • while sticking to its home folks, demands, and gets, ' over 100 per cent, profit out of them. - I conclude by advising the Cement Trust to leave coal out when they approach the boss for another rise, ,• i'or they have surely done ' their best 5 (or worst) with it.