COAL FOR RAILWAYS

Taranaki Daily News, 21 December 1931, Page 3

COAL FOR RAILWAYS

HEAVY STOCKS ON HAND. EFFECT ON NORTHERN MINES. The position of the Railways Department as a consumer of coal was outlined in a letter received by the council of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce from the Minister of Mines, the Hon. D. Jones. The letter was in reply to representations mad® by the chamber, which had forwarded a petition, signed by 35 business men In Hikurangi, requesting increased orders by the Railways Department for coal from the Hikurangi and Wilsons Co-operative collieries. The Minister stated that inquiries had been made from the Railways Department as to the prospect of obtaining further orders for the northern mines, and these had shown that the department had been inundated with similar requests from practically all the collieries in the Dominion., The department had not been able to comply with suoh. requests, as stocks held at present at the various locomotive depots were greatly in excess of present requirements.

The department distributed its orders as equitably as possible, having regard to the quality oi the coal offered and the price, and had been compelled, owing to the reduction in train running, to reduce its orders for coaL No coal had been imported into the Dominion since July, and the coal then imported had been held in stock, the only coal in use at present being produced in New Zealand.

"In the circumstances, it does not appear that increased orders will eventuate from the Railways Department,” concluded the letter. “There is a prospect that during the summer months orders for Waikato coal may be reduced and' transferred to the Hikurangi mines.”