THE HUNTLY MINES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21734, 27 August 1932, Page 11

THE HUNTLY MINES

SHORTENING OF HANDS THREE COLLIERIES AFFECTED (Per United Press Association.) AUCKLAND, August 26. Notices terminating their engagement were served this afternoon on 146 miners in the Huntly district. These are to take effect in a fortnight’s time. The men concerned are employees at the Rotowaro and Macdonald and Glen Afton mines. Seventy men at the firstnamed mine have received notice of dismissal and 76 at the Macdonald and Glen Afton mines. So far no action has been taken at Pukemiro or Renown, but it is expected that the bands' at those mines will be reduced later. The reductions are due to*a falling off in the orders experienced by the companies operating in the area. For a period the mines have been working short time. PRECARIOUS CONDITIONS. “ The coal industry is in a .very precarious condition,” said Mr Dynes Fulton, acting managing director of Glen Afton Collieries, Ltd., in an address to the suppliers of the New Zealand Cooperative Dairy Company, Ltd., at Hamilton on Tuesday/ Mr Fulton fcaid the position was that there were more mines opened than the demand for coal warranted. Glen Afton Collieries, Ltd., he said, was the only company that had made a clear profit for the year. Two companies were unable to pay a dividend. An effort had been made to stabilise prices, but so far no satisfactory action had been taken. The output of the company’s mines for the last year had been 248,670 tons, compared with 219,281 tons for the previous year. The contract to supply the Auckland Power Board with coal as the result of the situation at Arapuni had been resumed, and would be continued for an indefinite period. Mr Pulton said the Macdonald mine had opened up satisfactorily. In answer to a question, Mr Pulton said a profit of £6849 was made by Glen Afton Collieries, Ltd., last year, and of this amount £6OOO was paid into the debenture reserve account for the redemption of debentures issued when the company was formed. The cost of opening the Macdonald mine was £59,547. The company’s output of coal was 180,000 tons annually, and the requirements of the New Zealand Dairy Company’s factories and suppliers were 52,000 tons.