RAILWAYS SAVED BY OPEN-CAST COAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 227, 25 September 1945, Page 5

RAILWAYS SAVED BY OPEN-CAST COAL

MIMSTERSSTATEMENT REPLY TO GENERAL MANAGER (P.A.) Wellington, Sept. 24. “If the General Manager of Railways lias been correctly reported tonight, I can only say. quite frankly, his statement, to the Railway Officers’ Institute is not only far from helpful in a probelm of considerable difficulty, but also inaccurate and misleading, especially in regard to open-cast coal.** declared the acting Minister of Mines, Mr. O’Brien, to-night. The Minister said, with equal reservation about politics, that it could he stated that had open-cast mining not been developed in New Zealand on the initiative of the Mines Deportment, the railway services would have collapse:! long ago, with resultant chaos to industry and public distress,. Mr. Sawyers specifically mention* three open-cast mines in his published statement, Waitewhena. Otorohanga and Ohai, and, by implication, places the label of bad. quality on all opencast coals,” continued the Minister. According to the Dominion laboratory. Waitewhena coal, by analysis, contains 17.6 per cent, moisture and four per cent. r.sh. Compare this with Waikato coal, which contains 161 per cent, mo'sture and 3.4 ner cent, ash.”

Mr. O’Brien said Waitewhena coal was lumpy and should be suitable for certain types of usage in locomotives, but was produced In a district with a heavy rainfall and the:*'' was difficult v in keeping it free from fire-clav, which was constantly slipping from the Milsides, over thn working faces. Mr. O’Brien said h n recognised the problem which faced locomotive crews in dealing with this coal, especially If used almost immediately after it was mined, but. short of an expensive washing plant, it was not easy to remedy matters. Engineers were looking Into ways of keeping the qoal cleaner, but it was a gross misstatement to assert an average run of this coal consisted of 41 per cent, moisture and ash.

The Minister similarly defended the qualities of Otorohanga and Ohai open-cast coals. The latter was similar in quality to otner Ohai coals mined in the same locality. Until a month ago no complaints were received concerning this coal, but in August soft coal and stine intrusion was encountered in a seam and some trucks of this coal were filled out in error. No complaints had been received since that error was rectified.

The Minister said there was no mystery about the fact that more coal was used for less railway miles than in 1939; nor had that fact anything to do with the quality of native coal, which could not be altered by the simple process of washing. Until early in 1943 the department used a high proportion of bituminous, or hard coal, which gave better results. When supplies of Newcastle coal ceased in 1943, the Railway Department lost not only that source of hard coal but also lost up to 100.000 tons annually of Now Zealand bituminous coal, which had to be diverted from the railways to maintain gas services. In these circumstances the railway services had been maintained with lowergrades of fuel. This had made the railwaymen’s jobs harder, but there was no other way in the meantime of maintaining the set-vices. Mr. O'Brien said he had. asked railwaymen for their understanding and tolerance in the same way as the public had done in the last few years of the war period. Coal stocks in the rialway depots were extremely low, but now that the domestic trade was abating there should be a progressive increase in the stock position. The Minister reiterated that onen-cast mining had saved the country's transport and industrial system from collapse. (See earlier story on page 4).