COAL SUPPLY.—MEETING.

Thames Star, Volume VI, Issue 1769, 3 September 1874, Page 2

COAL SUPPLY.—MEETING.

A, meeting of those persons injtrusted iii securing'ia good supplytof coat for tb!e v field was held in the Gorenor Boweh Hotel last evening. There were present -jMessrs.^Masters,: Sims, Beech, SZennan, Comer, Brodie, Souter, Webb, Eernicfr, Walker, Donnelly, Wickham, Cook, Hicks, and several other mine and battery managersv ; ..••>• : . ; ' ■■' Mr. W. Rowe was 5 called to the chair, \ and read the advertisment calling the meeting from the Evening Star. He said he, had no doubt, the gentlemen calling the 'Weeting would lay the matter* before them, but that it was necessarysteps should be taken to insure a regulajr supply of coal for the Thames, there wa,» no doubt. It would, be necessary to point out shortly to the Government the position of the district, and the great want of wharf accommodation,, which,wways y tHe whol^ cause of the. supply/notsb|ing *jegulari -'He was-sorry to 1- sdj that the Provincial Government had refused to assist until the foreshore had been handed over, and that question was not jret settled, but the only-course-would be to point, out to the Government in the strongest* manner, and to badger them until somethink was done. * ;

■„Mr. Masters, said that he woukifnqEtprefer to the great inconvenience that battery and mine-imanagera hacL ./experienced during the past, for had it not been for the,kindly .feeling ;that ; ,exijste,dj;b,etwee'n such, half the batteries on the field would every week, pr,. so,, bo., ;cqmp£jlled : to stdp for the' want' of coali The future h;e thought -lppked worse,. ;and there \ wag; tho greatest necessity for some s'tep3 to be taken to insure a; constant;Supply,rior ia dead stop would be come to. He bujjI gested>a< committee, .ifco-;/cooperatevypitli gentlemen in Auckland who were interested here to prevail upon the Goverhment to extend -the -wharf accommodation. .■.'■■•! Mr. Sims said that there was but o^e ormne oil ihe field which* hMf'morei than $0 tons of coal at the present, and had bp.t little prospect of getting a supply soofr. He believed, there was plenty of coal jat the Bay of' Islands,'* and if 'large vessels could discharge here, there would always 7 be a good supply. ■; Mr. Brodio remarked that once or twice before deputations had gone to the Government about wharf accommodation, but little attention had apparently been paid to them. He believed now, with the prospect of the.. Upper Thames being opened, and atsbj large blocks of land for settlement, the 4 Government would see the necessity |of doing something, though it would be probably only of a temporary nature, jas according to their usual system they woxfld have to send engineers, etc., to report bn any large expenditure for permanent harbor works for which there was increasing necessity. He proposed that the following gentlemen be. a committee :—Mes|rs Errington, Masters, llowe, Kenn|n, Souter and Brodie, to lay the matter before the Government, after consulting with some of theleading Auckland inyestor|s. Mr. Souter pointed out that we were; paying half as much again as the Auckland people in freight, and' all for tjhe, 'Want of a good wharf. - I After,a vote of thanks to the chair thg, meeting broke up. |