SLACKNESS IN THE COAL TRADE.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1932, Page 4

SLACKNESS IN THE COAL TRADE.

It is difficult to tee what good purpose could be served by setting up another commission to inquire into the “production, transport and marketing of coal.” The suggestion comes from the West Coast of the South Island, in which district the coal industry was for many years one of the most profitable of the Dominion’s undertakings. To-day the business is moribund and any idea of bringing back the former conditions by legislative action must be regarded as playing with facts. The decline in the coal trade has arisen from two main sources, excessive costs and a diminishing demand. Of these the unreasonable demands of labour both in regard to wages and conditions, the introduction of mining methods designed to reduce manual labour wherever possible, with the resultant accumulation of “slack” coal for much of which there is no market, above all the uncertainty caused by lack of industrial peace, have had the effect of crippling the industry. Warning after warning was given the miners that there could be but the one end to the disastrous policy they insisted upon following. They were warned that electricity and oil were competitors which were limiting the market for coal, that a reduction in the price of fuel for domestic or manufacturing purposes was imperative if coal were to be marketable, and therefore the cost of obtaining coal must come down. The advice was disregarded until too late. Now, when the miners are apparently in a more reasonable frame of mind they find the demand for West Coast coal so considerably diminished that there is no hope of the industry being able to absorb the same amount of labour as before. A conference of the industry might be of service in arranging a method of rationalisation. A diminished output must be accepted as a necessity unless new markets oversea can be developed, and here again the question of production costs looms large.. With the market limited it goes without saying that production must be limited to mines in which costs can be reduced to a minimum and from which the best quality of coal is obtainable. It will mean that many miners will have to seek other avenues of employment, but it is the only method which offers any practicable means of putting the coal industry on a sound basis again.