THE COAL INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3862, 20 March 1928, Page 80

THE COAL INDUSTRY.

POSITION IN NEW SOUTH WALES CONDITIONS VERY UNSETTLED. AUCKLAND, March 15. The coal industry of New South Wales is in a very parlous state according to Mr J. S. Bragg, secretary of the Lithgow Coal Association, with headquarters in Sydney, and. also secretary of the Western Coal Association’s Industrial Union of Employers, who was a passenger from Sydney by the Maunganui. In some cases the trade had tallen by over 40 per cent., Mr Bragg stated, lliinking that the conditions might improve the employers had withheld suspendi ig the men, but the conditions had gone from bad to worse and the services of many had been dispensed with. No doubt the increasing consumption of oil had much to do with the position. Many manufacturers were now using oil instead of coal. In addition, shipping business was practically dead, and freights had increased very much In prewar days the freight from Lithgow to Sydney per ton was 4s 2£d, but to day it was 8s 3d.

“ We are watching the developments in the scientific advances made in producing by-products from coal,” Mr Bragg said. “ One large New South Wales coal company commenced to work along these lines, but the results were not so satisfactory as was anticipated, and now it is waiting like the rest of us. . Rapid strides are being made in the United States, and no doubt the latest methods will be employed in New South Wales in the near future.”

Speaking of the conditions in the coal industry Mr Bragg said the relations between the mine-owners and the men were particularly friendly at present. Unemployment was very serious, but the men did not want to hP Put on the dole. At a recent conference of mine-owners and men the representatives of the men said they were not seeking any dole or unemployment insurance. They would like to see freightand wharfage, and crane charges reduced by the Government so that the industry would be placed on a better footing. “ They feel and I feel, too. that the dole would only encourage laziness,” added Mr Bragg. “ The unemployment position is no doubt serious, but I expect that the troubles will be solved in some way or another.”

Mr Bragg is accompanied by his wife and young daughter, and proposes to spend a month’s holiday in the Dominion before leaving Wellington by the Tahiti for San Francisco on an extended tcur abroad. It is quite possible Mr Bragg will meet representatives of the coal industry in New Zealand while he is here.