Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 1919. EUROPE'S FUEL SITUATION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14984, 11 August 1919, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 1919. EUROPE'S FUEL SITUATION.

No matter how bad things maj^ be one 'can always obtain consolation by finding that somewhere else someone is getting it worse. So with the coal situation which is causing a good deal of ihcon venience and annoyance m New Zealand, at the present time. ' In Europe the coal situation is desperate, as Mr. Hoover, the P^od . Controller is reminding America m a despatch quoted m today's cablegrams.^ He confirms all that has been said m. these columns regarding the prospects of a hard winter for millions of people. Not only is food scarce but fuel is almost unobtainable. France is m urgent need of coal to restore her ruined industries and the ccs r , sation. of the. export from Great Britain has put her manufacturers into a very serious . position. A few. weeks ago it was -officially stated that France was arranging to buy, one million tons of coal from the United States and would organise a special fleet to carry it across the Atlantic, but Mr. Hoover's despatch infers that sufficient shipping is not available to lift anything like the quantity, of. coal /required to* relieve the European situation,- Italy is .also endeavoring' to buy coal m America, and has actually offered £4 per ton. for freight, but found she could not 'get ships: to' carry it ( everi at that rate. . The heed for fuel m Italy is desperate. Her people se t e no possible, hope of successful competition m manufactured goods with the cost o^ coal as it is, and as' it is likely to be for some time. And Italy must export manufactures or go bankrupt. As far as pqsfiiibte unutlsiled water-power will be set to work both m Italy and France— only last week we were told of t a gigantic scheme to harness the Rhone— but' that.' will take time and the people of the two countries are needing work urgently now. France's most important coal mines ? deliberately wrecked by the Hurts, and it will take many years to restore their productiveness. The quantities of coal to be obtained: from the Saar basin, aocprding to the terms of the peace treaty, will not make up the .shortage. By so much as is , delivered from thS.ae mfnes will the amount available to QeW mauy be reduced, and German industries will probably be found to be m sore stvajts before many ! months elapse, Which' U no. .more than, they deserve. But ;• possibly the worst situation m Europe is' 'Groat Britain, hitherto the: world's greatest, exporter of coal. Today's cablegrams j'shQw that the output for! last week was^'2£. million tons, q*» 50 per c6ht; of the average for the, weeks m July preceding the present industrial struggle. Such a, reduction of output cannot but prove disastrous tQ,a country dependent on its manufactures, as Britain, is, -if long continued. The miners by their . obduracy are killing the goose whiqh lays the golden eggs. Great Britain's greatest^ asset m her struggle for i the domination 'of the seas >.and. • auppoi^ting hpy population by the e,xpdrt .

of manufactures was her cheap and excellent coal for home use and : the ability to ship it at low rates to/remote parts' of the world m ships which brought hack food and raw materials for the support of industry. Ships /.in the Atlantic trade took cargoes of coal to America an,d came back loaded wi(h wheat. The absence of the, coal freights > now., must mean mi increase m the freight on wheat and consequent addition to the price of the loaf m jSritain. The impairment of ability to export coal is endangering Britain's ability to maintain her shipping', m competition with foreign shipping, and is impairing her' power to manufacture merchandise at low cost, which aleo plays into the hands' ■• of foreign competitors. The question of cheap power is a barning one nil /the world over, but nowhere 'more'sa than m Britain where it has been the basis of all the great manufacturing industries. It is sincerely to be hbped that before long a method of compromise will be effected between the Government;- the miners and the owners, giving an .iSgUrance of peace m this great basic industry. Unless some settlement is' cotne».to there will be great privations iii .Britain m the coming. weeks, trade and industry will be crppled, and the country will com? very ncai< to the verge of national bankruptcy; ■„.••■.

PUBLIC EXTRAVAGANCE. ' ' The report of the British Commltvtee on Public Expenditure makes. sorry reading. Of course a measure of extravagance, under war time conditions, $a9 only to be expected, Vast expendiiitre of money on hurried contracts gave';opportunity to the dißhonest; 'tHe neglige j>t and the careless to waste or steal. Afis"takes, dishonesties and negligence Wre more numerous, m, the United- States, where war work was taken up suddenly and on an enormous scale/ and some^oi the mistakes reported there run into tens of millions of pounds. In. v Gri)at Britain the outlay was enormous -"niid under high pressure. After the^ first few months when it was .found how much was lacking', m the national 'equip, ment compared with~(3ermariy mucli^was sacrificed to speejfc. How: much' iaKbfmg revealed by the , investigati6»ii; ihe Auditor i / General, ■ says *u l -Hsne ■' paper, is r,ecovering*?|qme tonqunis, overpaid to various, pers&ns and retforts- the collection of several million pounW. : Jfor. example, a, contractor had received from ' the Government '? certain metals to :; be worked up. He u£id about nve^eighths of the material and kept the rest:' A. short time before ' the report was issued the Government had" succeeded m recov-, ering the value of £125,000 . fcdm ;the missing goods. There. was a contract for rolling plates, the •Government ;supjafc.ing the material and paying for the prbduct.. Among .payments were allowances tor material lost -in process. The auditor ' objected to the War Office payment iorr material belonging to the Govermnetit and claima t* have made a large, saving. There was a loss of £225,009 on the production of a kind of gas that had nbt x been authorised and was never used- and an equal loss through/ the failure* of/the Government to supply ,ra,w material to a ' contractor for forgings as agreed. : ~ l A complicated story 48; told of a~confcr#cl tor rifles, _. the Government ts&yihjr. • for ' plant and 1 m- advances £170,000" :^Tlie contractor could xipt proctace d-lnea 'ittd the CrovernmenV consented -to' accept parts of the rifles; The, concern -^ell short again and ..'-at?- /length the -ObveWiment gave it the building and plant^as - a return for such work . as was done; : Afterward the Government botight. back the property at a reduce^ prioei.. pa-s^ne twice, as the auditor thought, ftr the same goods. A piric acid transaction m- • yolved the payment of £1600 m salary to a manager who.: was a failure, and who gave tofhia work dhly two days m .the week for four months. The Government seems to have expended over £l6tT,of)O on the filant which was closed dbylfii after eight unsuqcessfnl imonthsi Some improvident outlays for civilian camps were reported, They .cost- £36Q;<XX> aid ' were not long occupied. There i? criticism, of a payment: of £4 i poo,ooo^itholt' investigation^ as toi.prices tlie?flriai : ' made > very- larger profits ind.eed." = . i ■-„T blk London Times summary clpajS^ swith transaction, m v exp|pßiyes^^^^T^ nient had been buying .^rom foreignvyeji*?. dors at, a shilling, a pdun^. It !was^*t cided to prodnce)! at , hbm.e>and t 'a; io^lti*of £9 jier-tbnr.was allowed. A 'fa6#nry> was built at a. cost of £700,000 to. .produce 30QQ tons, a ye^r., -product was 700 ton's and the cost was three' shillings and eight' pence per poundswhile import price had been one shfl* •v^ li«gi and another factory managed., llj*. contractors produced three titeefi '.'". a» !mxLch at less than; half the cost 'per pound. Grouped together this, looks t lilte^ a_ _bad list. < But after all it is a: inie i trifle, m the munition expenditure 'of ' i£700,000.000. And.the Goyernment; black list of 29 firms of contractbrs declsjfceaV to be nb longer eligible for pttfiHo 'con- 4 tract or employment is >• mititrte/fractioh of the number of persbns/ witji whom the Government did business: -In- " ; eluded m this list' are eight. eqiiviote^ 1 . ; of bribery or attempted bribery, .aboiifc the same number of stealing Goverhiiieriit property, several of misrepresenta£iori» some of making false income return*, triading with the enemy, and supplying brtd milfc, andi butter^ , Whatever^. may have hftppened to' others, those. 'itiu'thft black list appear, to haye -received;^^h," stantial punishment , m fines. ' and im^i?s^ onment. The reveliitidiis now being made will do pood. The English people . are ; too easy going aird have .viewed • witlt complacency a (rood deal of ineptitude ' iii ' high planes. T^ ness administration, and the^^^brnwDetents 1 must crov '■■■"• r . .-■ - . .V-i*;': -'.iih"' «,-