THE GOAL SHORTAGE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16447, 28 May 1919, Page 3

THE GOAL SHORTAGE.

STATEMENT BY MINISTER

Per Press Association. ; WELLINGTON, May 27. The Hon. A. M. Myers, Minister in charge of coal distribution, referring to the statement published recently, that people were short of coal, not so much because there was lcs| hewn in the country, but because of the huge quantities being taken by the railways, said this was not the position, and, in order 1 to remove any misapprehension, he quoted the combined outputs and importations for the last five years:—l9l4, 2,793,663 tons; 1915, 2,562.095 tons; 1916,2,551,091 tons; 1917, 2,360,016 tons; 1918, 2,078,626 tons. Compared with 1914, the figures for 1918 disclose a. shortage of 715.037 tons, of which '529,138 tons.is the shortage in hard coals produced in Now Zealand. It would thus be seen how the present shortage of coal for industrial and domestic use had taken place, as the total cost available for 1914 represented about the normal requirements for maintaining tho Dominion’s industries, public seiwices, and trade purposes. In order that the public might ha,ve some idea, of the coal required to maintain the public industries of the Dominion, the Minister supplied the following figures : —Railways 360,000 tons ; bunkering requirements 440,000 tons; freezing works 130,000 tons; gasworks 240,000 tons; electric light and power 70,000 tons. These industries and services required almost exclusively hard coal. Therefore, it would readily be understood the difficulty there was in making full provision for domestic and other requirements of tho Dominion on tho balance available, 898,626 tons, approximately. Regarding the statement that the railways had been building up stocks of coal, to the detriment of householders, the Minister stated that the present position in regard to railway stocks was causing tho gravest anxiety, and if the position did not further improve further curtailment of the train services might be looked for.