AUSTRALIAN COAL MINES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16590, 12 November 1919, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN COAL MINES.

REPORT OP ROYAL COMMISSION. By Telegraph—Press Assn .—Copyright. (Received Nov. 12, 10.30 a.m.) , SYDNEY, Nov. 12. The report of the Royal Commission who inquired into the conditions of the coal mining industry recommends the need, in the interests both of the State and the public, of more economical methods of working and distribution to prevent the present serious waste. Dealing with the habit of miners absenting themselves from the mines and thereby interfering with the output, the report says that had the miners worked with the same honesty and consistency in 1918 as in 1914 their average daily earnings should have shown an increase corresponding to the increase of the tonnage rate, but that it is only about half what it should have been. This is fairly conclusive proof that the miners are not working up to their normal capacity. They are receiving a rate of pay which, even with their reduced working time, enables them to make sufficient without unduly taxing thenenergies. Regarding profiteering, the commissioner found evidence that the public was charged prices beyond the measure of the initial increases in the cost of production, while there was strong reason to believe that retail dealers charged the prices of first-class coal for an inferior article.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.