THE COAL SITUATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25625, 28 August 1944, Page 3

THE COAL SITUATION

Sir,—The Associated Chambers of Commerce might seem on the face of it to have struck a new note in the discussion of the coal position, in its ponderous if spurious statement. I call it spurious because on analysis it turns out to be only an exhibition of the same, perhaps iustifiable, spleen in a new guise. The Associated Chambers of Commerce claims not to attack the miners but to “ inform the public of the facts.” From its amateurishness this is presumably its first attempt at being scientific. , , Their first failure Is implicit in the association’s own contention. As a body representing the section of the public that distributes production it has a sympathetic, if not an actual, connection with the distributors of coal. In view of the outlandish price of coal to the public (3s to 7s a bag) compared with the miners’ earnings (3s to 7s a ton) the association can hardly claim to have no axe to grind. A factual study should at least be made by a disinterested party. Secondly, the association has presumed in a factual study to generalise on the whole of the mines of New Zealand in terms that are unconditionally applicable to only a few mines. Some centuries back Newton was guilty of this error in physical science. In social science Karl Marx did the same last century. Surely the Associated Chambers of Commerce would hardly like to follow his illustrious footsteps? Any social problem, as Lenin found out after the Revolution, has to be attacked piecemeal. The Associated Chambers could at least be as up-to-date as Lenin. If the Associated Chambers were competent to speak on any aspects of the coal position, surely those aspects would be distribution and management. On this subject, however, they maintain a pregnant silence. I wonder why. Is this the skeleton in the cupboard?—l am, etc., Stirling, Aug. 23. S. S. A.