NO CONFIDENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26772, 15 May 1948, Page 7

NO CONFIDENCE

NATIONAL COAL BOARD AND ORGANISATION

MEMBER RESIGNS OFFICE N.Z.P.A.—Copyright LONDON, May 13.

The Ministry of Fuel and Power has announced that Sir Charles Reid has resigned from the National Coal Board, following a disagreement about the arrangements the board is making to review the organisation. The board to-night announced the appointment of a committee, consisting of Sir Robert Burrows, who is a member of the board, and two independent members to take stock of the position reached in the development of the board's organisation, and to advise the board whether improvements could be made.

Sir Charles Reid, in a statement, said: “ I resigned because I have no confidence either in the board or the organisation it has set up.” He said he saw the then Minister of Fuel and Power, Mr Emanuel Shinwell, on March 7, 1947 (a few weeks after the date on which the industry was vested in the board), and expressed deep concern on the methods adopted for control of the industry. He told the Minister that the management was unhappy and uncertain its position and the extent of its authority. Sir Charles added that this state..of affairs had continued and become worse. In a letter to the National Coal Board chairman, Lord Hyndley, on November 6, 1947, Sir Charles said that without radical alteration, from the Coal Board downward, both of control and personnel, nationalisation of the mines would prove a disastrous failure. The letter said: “The present uninspired and cumbersome organsiation would not produce the coal the country needed at a satisfactory price, and could not effectively check production costs or deal with indiscipline. The letter contained proposals for complete decentralisation, “ which was never seriously discussed.” Sir Charles Reid said he submitted his resignation to Mr Gaitskell on March 18. but agreed to continue on condition that an impartial investigation of the entire organisation was undertaken. No satisfactory decision had emerged from this proposal. Sir Charles emphasised that he believec. State ownership of the coal industry was necessary to achieve full technical reconstruction, but it must be founded on sound business principles. . In a speech on April 17 he criticised the number of disputes in the coal industry. The,Scottish miners on April 27 called the speech an “unjustifiable attack” and demanded withdrawal of the statement. j _ , Mr Gaitskell has appointed Sir Geoffrey Vickers to fill the vacancy on the Coal Board.

Sir Charles . Reid has been a member of the National Coal Board since 1946. A mining engineer and former manager of a British colliery, he was production director in the Ministry of Fuel and Power from 1942 to 1945. Sir Geoffrey Vickers, who takes Sir Charles’s place on the board, has been legal 'adviser to the board since 1946. During the war he held high office in the Ministry of Economic Warfare.