NEW ZEALAND COAL.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18830, 19 March 1931, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND COAL.

USE AT GAS WORKS. SIR HAROLD BEAUCHAMP'S REPLY. The following letter has been sent by the chairman of the Wellington Gas Company (Sir Harold Beauchamp) to the Minister of Mines:— Dear Sir, —I am in receipt of your letter of yesterday’s date with regard to the abov_. At the outset I desire to take the strongest possible exception to your remarks that some of the statements contained in a letter I addressed to the “Evening Post" on the 18th ultimo were “not only misleading, but most unfair to the coal producers in the Dominion,” I desire to say that I am not in the habit of making misleading statements, either publicly or privately, nor have X any desire to be unfair to any class of the community. In the light of the experience of my company, extending over and beyond sixty years, I have no hesitation in reaffirming that New Zealand coal, used in vertical retorts such as those installed at Miramar, is not suitable for the production of gas. I am in a position to prove, beyond question, that during the last strike which occurred in Newcastle, New South Wales, and lasted for fully fifteen months, our output of gas per ton of New Zealand coal carbonised fell from 22,000 cubic feet to 17,000 cubic feet; that the use of this coal damaged our retorts (entailing heavy cost for renewals), and that to manufacture the same quantity of gas as that obtained through the use of Newcastle coal, my company were mulcted to the extent of no less than £7OO per month. Altogether, during the period of the strike, as I have already explained, we sustained a total loss of not less than £20,000.

Further, neither the Mines Departs ment nor private companies were in a position to furnish all the coal required by our company. On more than one occasion we had interviews with the Under-Secretary for Mines, and strongly appealed to him to Increase his deliveries to such an extent as to obviate Lhc necessity of procuring supplies in other quarters. That Mr Kimball said he was unable to do, and, finally, we were compelled to import Inferior coal from Queensland and elsewhere. Moreover, at no time was the Mines Jepartment able to give us ample supplies of screened coal, and for the unscreened which we purchased we had to pay considerabl. more than the rate ruling for best Newcastle prior to the strike.

I should like you, or any responsible official of your Department, to inspect the large stock of inferior unscreened New Zealand coal we are holding at Miramar to-day, and trying to use as occasion offers, and to see also the low grade quality of coke that was obtained in the process of carbonisation from this inferior material. I note what you say about the success that has been achieved by other companies and municipal undertakings in producing gas from New Zealand coal, but I am not concerned in the reports you have received in that connection after the actual experience we have derived from the treatment of New Zealand coal at our own works. We have two engineers whose qualifications are beyond question, and I, personally, am satisfied to accept their statements as to the inferiority of New Zealand coal for gas making. The difference between the Under-Secretary for Mines and the two gentlemen I have named is this: that in the one case the former speaks only from theory and hearsay evidence, as compared with the practical experience of our highly qualified engineers. You twit my company with being able to declare a dividend of 8 per cent for the year in which it sustained a loss of £20,000, but I would explain that such a dividend was possible by the creation of reserves some years previously. Had such reserves not been available, it is quite possible that the company would not have been able to give that modest return to its shareholders without Increasing the price of gas to its consumers. You say that you are unable to agree with my assertion that the miners in New Zealand failed to rise to the occasion. In that connection, I would say that on the authority of Mr Kimball I have correctly stated the fact In the presence of Mr Kennedy, he informed me that he was greatly hampered In the delivery of coal by numerous stop-work meetings and holidays taken by the miners. And as to my assertion that supplies of coal from the West Coast were retarded through vessels being bar-bound, that is common knowledge and is quite beyond dispute. It is extraordinary that any Government should attempt to dictate to a company such as mine as to what coal it should use in the manufacture of gas. That savours of deliberate interference with business. If legislation be promoted with the object of preventing importations of coal into New Zealand for the manufacture of gas, I can only repeat that, in all probability this would be followed by the closing down of some gas companies during a prolonged strike of miners that might occur any day in this Dominion, and it would certainly increase the price of the product. One constantly repeated injunction to use local products is even more difficult to understand in face of the large importations by the Government of bitumen and road oil in preference to the prepared tars in which my company is interested, and the removal of every restriction from the importation of disinfectants made from tar which my company would be only too glad to supply. In conclusion, I would observe that If all things were equal with regard to quality and price, and assured delivery, my company would be quite willing to draw the whole of its supplies of coal from New Zealand, ae no one is mores anxious than myself and my colleagues to do all we possibly can to support local industries; but you will permit me further to observe that when any officer of your Department finds it within the scope of his duty to publish statements appearing to reflect upon our undertaking, my company will always feel Itself entitled to an equal hearing. As I mentioned in my letter to the "Evening Post,” my company is using no less than onethird of New Zealand coal, and intends continuing that policy, although it would be more economical exclusively to use Imported coal.