CORRESPONDENCE

Southland Times, Issue 19770, 19 February 1923, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE

Letters must be written in ink and on one side of the paper. Unless a signature, not necessarily for publication, accompanies a letter as a guarantee of good faith it will not be considered. An asterisk attached to the signature to a published letter denotes that some portion has been deleted by the Editor, a right which is exercised in questions of public policy, libel, good taste and fair play. COAL AND ELECTRICITY’ CRITICISM. To the Editor. Sir,—ln your issue of this morning’s Southland Times, Mr W. Handyside criticised the quantities of coal that were estimated to be within the Coaldale Goal Coy. mining area, at Nightcaps. If I recollect aright, Mr Handside, when opposing the application, made by the Ohai Railway Board, to construct the railway from Wairio to Ohai, stated that he would only claim for compensation £40,000, but the amount should be about £120,000. If the latter were the value of the 9 acres taken by the Railway Board, Mr Handyside must have estimated the land to contain about 4,000,000 tons at the Crown or State value of the coal. I think that the Coaldale Company’s estimate of 2,000,000 tons is not so wide of the mark considering that their area comprises about 3,000 acres of land.—l am, etc., RATEPAYER. Ohai, Februaiy 16.