INCREASED OUTPUT

Southland Times, Issue 24602, 26 November 1941, Page 6

INCREASED OUTPUT

WESTPORT COAL COMPANY

(Special) DUNEDIN, November 25. Addressing shareholders at the annual meeting of the Westport Coal Company today, Mr James Begg said it was satisfactory to report that both the Denniston and Millerton collieries had worked well during the year and been almost free from any unnecessary cessations of work. Those that had occurred had been mainly due to bad weather, which had at times upset shipping arrangements. The output of 282,875 tons showed a substantial improvement of 28,323 tons over the figures for the previous year. Speaking of the profit and loss account, Mr Begg said rates and taxes, which were a big item in most balancesheets these days, had increased by £9OOO. A sum of £lOOO had been voted to the staff provident fund. The chairman added that although in the 60 years’ history of the company 20,000,000 tons of coal had been extracted, he was pleased to say that there were still large areas of good coal available and the directors were investigating the best means of opening up further areas. Considerable capital outlay would be necessary, but the quantity and quality of the coal available were such as fully to justify the expenditure on the development of these seams.