COAL SUPPLIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 687, 12 June 1929, Page 10

COAL SUPPLIES

NO AUCKLAND SHORTAGE SOUTH MORE AFFECTED Although Christchurch people are giving an anticipatory shiver or two at the thought of a coal shortage that is becoming more acute because of labour troubles in Australia and on the West Coast at Blackball, Auckland can still draw its chair nearer to the blaze and think comfortable thoughts. Auckland is not affected by labour troubles, and the local supplies are so near and so plentiful that there is no need for worry. The South Island will be more affected than the North by any decrease in the output from the mines at present, and Christchurch will be hardest hit, as Dunedin has its own supplies. The West Coast supplies decreased before the strike at Blackball, as the mines were sending part of their output to Australia. Sickness among the miners helped to embarrass the suppliers of coal in the South also. Auckland, however, is in a different position, and the Waikato supplies can compensate for any deficiency in the Newcastle or West Coast market. Auckland uses very little Newcastle coal. It has been said that arrangements are being made in Christchurch for the importation of English coal, but it is thought that the cost of such a procedure would be prohibitive. As far as is known, there is no shortage of coal on the railways, which uses New Zealand coal almost exclusively.