LACK OF RAILWAY ORDERS REDUCES OUTPUT OF MINES

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19197, 10 October 1930, Page 8

LACK OF RAILWAY ORDERS REDUCES OUTPUT OF MINES

Position At Millerton Is Due To Australian Coal Flooding Market.

VIRTUALLY all the West Coast coal mines are sharing ■with Millerton the slump in coal output, with a consequent loss in wages for the men. In many cases the plight of the miners and their families is said to be desperate. The reasons for the slump are said to be the flooding of the New Zealand market with coal from New South Wales, the Railway Department’s policy of using up a good proportion of their stocks of bunkering coal before ordering more, and the loss of the bunkering trade when ships are converted from steam-driven to oil-burners.

Inquiries in Christchurch, -whence many of the West Coast mines are controlled, show that the Millerton mine has been working short time for some months past. The coal from Millerton is not very suitable for making gas, and consequently its market is restricted in that direction. Most of the Millerton coal is used for bunkering ships and for the railways, but the railways

are using very little fresh coal now. About a month ago the railways had a six months’ supply of coal on hand,

compared with their usual holding of three or four months’ supply; they are now using up their heavy stocks before ordering more. Australian Importations. Since the settlement of the New South Wales miners’ strike about three months ago, coal from the Commonwealth has been coming into New Zealand in great quantities, and every effort was being made to recapture the trade lost during the strike. That industrial upheaval improved the mining outlook in New Zealand, it is stated, but now that importations are heavy again the position is even worse than before the trouble in Australia. Few mines were working round about Greymouth, stated one mine director this morning. The town itself was feeling the pinch, and the shopkeepers were doing little business. He declared that the coal industry of New Zealand should be given more encouragement, as it had carried on without any inflation of prices during the troublous times in Australia. An earlier report on the position at Millerton appears on Page 11.