STATE COAL MINES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10417, 20 July 1895, Page 8

STATE COAL MINES.

TO THE EDITOIi. ... ■ Sis.—ln these days of proposed State lotteries?, State banks, in fact when it fe^f gested that almosb everything should be nrnbv the State, why not a coal mine ? With as is claimed, the finest coal'the world prodowjs s^oog efforts shoold ba made to develop tbfc most valuable asset Kew Zealand enjoys with every probability of an almost nLriteble demand for steam coal of the highest qualitrto supply the coaling atations of the Pacific-* large order, if New Zealand can supply Wehesn as New South Wales. There SeS reason why this should not become one of tfee largest coal exporting colonies, arid instead of a paltry 5000 or 7000 tons per week bdn?kota£ upon _as- something prodigious, a regular output of at-, least 50,000 tons per 3 become an established fact. There is no -harking, the fact that only from our forpta of exports over imports can we pay. the • "horrid nightmare of interest" the colony is burdened ■with; and.tins interest has to ' 1&" paktofaS: ™te«.;- With wool and all prbdu J aIS fall lately not remunerative to the producers, it behoves the Government and the people to see if thereia no other source of income beades woolgrowmg, frozen meats, dairy produce wheat, and other ceieals, root crops, &&, aU O £ which seem to have been "faked oat "and overdone. Goldmining has waned, and the quesbon stares onein.the face, What JEdustrv is prospering, and how can the present etate-of affairs be unproved ? ■.-... l^ Certainly were the market opened for the disposal of one superior coal there. ■siould be employment for many hundreds now BeeMog Bm6li scale of operations and thl prohAitory prices chacged for West Coasfcwal lT«, an rd OMB"Pad the industry. Bat m the hands of an energetic Government the coal deposits may made what CoDlgaidie has done for Western Australia. Of cmr£e preset interests must be conserved, or-booght oiit by compensation or otherwise °^ "*' Inducsinent must be offered to large ships and steamers/ to come sndload, and the port daes^and fac,hlaea, iacluding deep watez-loadW ber&s, p«macd, arid above aU the coalnrined Md placed free en board at the sasae cosfe aa at Newcastle. If this cannot be done, it is,Wlees to entertain the matter. But why esS Booulditnotbedcne? The coal exist^ &*££ a matter of brains and ability to ntiliw it. For tne rest it is a question for experts Ths Government can easily obtain all necessary iaiormatura from theirnumerous stafFof engineers, suTveyors, mmc inspectors, fee.-I a.v^&T^ Donedra, July IS. , Cto^E. f- s -—yic^isfiatßivg the attention of her settlers to beetroot, flax cultivation, • and coal production, m all of these New Zealand can and <*onl<i excel. Victoria is also opening im trada with China, Japan, J 6V a, and India.—C^