COAL MINES CLOSED

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 300, 18 December 1931, Page 7

COAL MINES CLOSED

Slackness of Orders Forces Cessation. 85 EMPLOYEES DISMISSED. (Special to the “Star.”) AUCKLAND, December 17. Eighty-five workers at the Taupiri Coal Company’s mines this morning received fourteen days’ notice of dismissal. Yesterday a notice was forwarded by the secretary of the Taupiri Coal Mines to the secretary of the union, informing him that the directors had, owing to slackness of orders, been reluctantly forced to reduce the number of men. When interviewed this morning the Hon E. W. Alison, chairman of directors of Taupiri Coal Mines, stated that with the existing economic conditions and the large number of unemployed, the directors of the company were extremely reluctant to reduce the number of workers. However regrettable it was, there was no alternative, as the whole of the coal to supply present, or even additional, orders, could be obtained by the working of one mine. The company had been working three mines, Nos. 1,2 and 3, and the directors had. now decided to close Nos. 2 and 3 during the summer period. There was always a falling off in the demand for coal, but this summer it had been more marked than in previous summers. With the decreased orders and three mines working the directors had decided that it was imperative that steps should be taken at once to stop the loss consequent upon the working of the three mines. However, in closing two of the mines, precautions would be taken to keep each in good order, and in readiness for reworking at forty-eight hours’ notice. Colonel W. D. Holgate, president of the Coal Owners’ Association, had nothing to say.