USING LOCAL PRODUCTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 February 1931, Page 6

USING LOCAL PRODUCTS.

There was considerable force in the appeal made by the Under-Secretary for Mines, Mr. A. H. Kimbell, to the New Zealand Gas/Institute. Mr. Kimbell urged that gas authorities should refrain as far as possible from using imported coal. • He pointed out that even if Australian oal was more economical in gas. production the orders sent oversea reduced employment in New Zealand. The corollary was unemployment and a lack of return upon capital invested in local coal mines, the cost of both having to be borne by the community. His argument that because gas works were content to use New Zealand, coal during the strike period in New South Wales it was evident that the local product was as suitable as that imported was not so convincing. During industrial strife manufacturers must often accept whatever material is offering if they are to keep faith with their customers, irrespective of the cost of adapting such material to the needs of the moment. This is one of the costs of industrial warfare that is not fully recognised, though its effect upon trade and industry quite outside, a particular- dispute may be very serious. It looks as though the prompt return to the use of Australian coal by the gas manufacturers when the strike was over is an indication.that it i- much more suitable than the local product, at all events in its raw state. On the other hand, it was asserted al a recent meeting of the N?w Zealand Chemistry Institute that with proper blending New Zealand coals could be as suitable for gas making as the imported article, and further, that the various gas making plants had much of the necessary equipment and staff for carrying but the experiments that would show how best to utilise Dominion voal. It appears that co-op-eration between coal mining and gas manufacturer is urgently needed. New Zealand is richly endowed with coal deposits, and if ever there was a time when dependence upon local products should be as uviversal as possible it is to-day, when the problem of unemployment* is the gravest the country must face.