WESTPORT COAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6884, 27 August 1900, Page 1

WESTPORT COAL.

ITS SCARCITY.

ITS FUTURE.

STATE-OWNED JANES.

MR BAYFIELD INTERVIEWED

[Fhom Oun Correspondent.] WELLINGTON, August 25.

Mr A. D. Bayfield, bsing in town on business not unconnected with the Westport coalfields, I thought it well in the interest of the readers of the " Lyttelton Times " to drop iv on him and have a chat, Mr Bayfield was qufte willing to impart information. The following is the, result of our respective efforts at drawing and being drawn: —

" This coal f&Hriw*," I began—" scarcity, rather," Mr Bayfield corrects me—" how do you account for it, and what. are your ideas about the best way of preventing its recurrence?"

Before the question is directly answered we come to an understanding that the problem under discussion is more than of a mere temporary scarcity. It embraces the whole subject of the development of our coal-fields, and the large trade, domestic and foreign, whioh they are destined to maintain, for the maintenance of which, in fadt, special financial arrangements were made sixteen yeaTs ago by Parliament for improving the two harbours of Westport and Grey-mouth. Of course Mr Bayfield did not profess to do more than speak for his own part of the country,, the Westport coalfield.

In the past, it comes out, as we proceed through the preliminaries of the subject, that the price of Westport coal was brought down by the increased production due to tbe establishment of the Mokihinui Company and the Cardiff Company. The cost of the haulage of their coal was one of the disabilities of these companies. The Cardiff, of which Mr Bayfield had intimate knowledge, had to guarantee the interest on the cost of the extension from Ngakawau up to 5 per cent. This was a serious handicap, and together with unforseen. difficulties, proved too muoh for the company.

Just bere, it may -be mentioned by way of an aside, that the statutory period has just passed during which nothing can /be done in the case of companies whose rights oease. To-day is the first day of the subsequent time during which arrangements may be made for revival of the industry on any lines .that may he deemed sufficient by the parties concerned, or the Government that is approached, and the people who approach. Mr Bayfield is, I learn, on the approaching side, and the smatter will no doubt be threshed out in the 'proper quarter.

We return to the original question pf the scarcity and Snd the ground prepared a little better by the travel vre have had over it. Briefly the scarcity is attributed by Mr Eayfield to the all-round increase in the colony's prosperity, a consequence of which is a large increase in the number of "ocean-going steamers, not colliers; but carriers of meat, wool, dairy produce, and the other things on our extensive Jist of exports

" Tbe Westporfe' Company is, I gather from youi* Ternaries, tbfj sole company >vith -^ Xfs, that is -true. 7T~*& official annthmcei lnenC lias been Tmadevthat tbe limit of tbiis company's annual capacity is 500,000 tons. It has not reached that yet, its output being •100,000, and at present the limited capacity of the railway inclines .does not encourage any 'hope of immediate increase. The augmented demand, therefore, is not met, and there is a scarcity. The colony is much in the position of the man who, hiving dammed a creek in the hope of getting an unlimited supply of water, finds himself grievously disappointed, not because the -.■rater is not in the catchment 'area, hut because he has done nothing to utilise all the catchments.

" Are there more areas of coal-bearing country— not the vague, rosy sort which require prospecting first by deputation to. Government for a grant and then by expedition of prospectors intent on business, pleasure and loafing combined?' - Yes, surely there are. There is the Onekaka Valley, inland -from Mokihinui, a proved coal-bearing region, and the whole country on the mountain-side between Westpert and the Cardiff Company's ground. The Westport people have their " Granity " ground about half-way or co, and tbe rest is good proved country. As to the whole district, Mr BayfiM showed me his views as forwarded to the Coal Committee of last Session. " I believe," he wrote, "as a further fgctor to secure coal at reasonable prices, the (Jroyernment will have to undertake an extended geological examination of the Buller Coalfield in continuation of that dono by Mr Herbert Cox some years ago. A well-known coal expert Mr Denniston, has informed me that the most Valuable Dart oi ih e Buller Coalfield is in the Onekaka Valley ; and f?c]n information gleaned from the District Surveyor, $[r Snodgrass,' the opening up of this part of the field held by the Crown can be obtained by the extension (vf the Mokihinui railway a distance' of some five ov six miles, Jt will doubtless be said that there is no "immediate occasion for this j but I am nevertheless of decided opinion that the Crown would be wise in posting itself up in detail of this part oi the country, in view of the certain increased demand for Westport coal." - I enquire next how it ia that people do not at once take up coal areas in the proved regions and begin to hew out coal. Mr Bayfield says that special encouragements are necessary. The railway haulage is, to begin with," too great. Then a railway ought to be taken to the Onekaka Valley from the terminus in the Mokihinui Valley, the country being suitable fi-oni the engi» neering point of view, and the coal sure. Thirdly, there is the question of the Westport Harbour Board's position and attitude. From the ftrst, and rightly, he thinks, everything was subordinated to making the harbour what it ought to be. The time has, however, arrived for the extension of the industry, to be considered. The Westport section of the local coal railway last year made 13 per cent on its cost, 12 per cent in 1.398, 10 per cent in 1897, and averaged 8£ for the past nine years. Reductions may fairly and reasonably be looked for, and shouid lead to an appreciable benefit to consumers. Then the cost of maritime freight might not unfairly, at all events between the? coal port and the larger centres, be expected to come down. Further, there is the Harbour Board management. Mr O'Regan has lately got a resolution passed hy "the Board in favour cf urging the Government to assist other companies to compete in tbe coal supply. That resolution is in itself a hint that the Board has been biassed in fay.our of .the. existing institution, a state of thing whioh ought not to be,. and whioh the reformers are "determined to put an -end tc— Bnfr-all these things, I urge, will' take time. Mr Bayfield assented, and it comes out that no company, unless working with very large capital can hope to add to the output as substantially fts the demand requires. I mention again the Weetport .Company. We have already seen that withVits annual capacity limited to half a million a year that company must go behind the growing demand rapidly. I see on looking at the published document referred to' above thatr Mr Bayfield, expressed -therein a delicate hint of danger of scarcity ib the future from this source. '' On the passage being pointed oufc he says, *' if something is not don<? and j very soon, there will \& trouble by and bye,.

and that perhaps before long, as consumers will find out."

The only thing left to mention is State intervention. Mr Bayfield Agrees with those who advocate this course" to the extent that he sees no objection to State mines provided tbey are undertaken in a thorough and proper manner. The State requirements alone would warrant the new departure, and the colony's Imperial relations which require a standing guarantee of unlimited quantity of the best steam coal for the navy at any lmarneut, make another powerful factor. There is moreover, the consuming public to be protected against unduly high prices, and the national industry to be benefited by abundance of. cheap fuel. But none of these things can be secured without thoroughness on a scale requiring a large outlay. If the' public wants State coal mines, the public must be prepared to spend between two hundred thousand pouhcta and a quarter of a million.