COAL BILL GOES TO A COMMITTEE

Wanganui Chronicle, 18 August 1948, Page 6

COAL BILL GOES TO A COMMITTEE

DIVISION ON SECOND READING (P.A.) Parliament Bldgs.. Aug. 17. In the House of Representatives today the Minister of Labour (Mr. McLagan), continuing his reply to the second reading debate on the Coal Bill, said that in the last three years under the Labour Government, the loss of time worked in the mines because of industrial disputes amounted to 60,487 days, compared with 195,328 days lost in the last three years under the National Government.

Mr. McLagan said that wages and conditions were incomparably belter now than in previous years, and one would have thought that these improvements would have reduced the amount of time lost but wages and conditions alone would not end disputes. It would take time to eradicate the legacy bequeathed by previous Governments to the miners. The nationalisation of coal measures would, however, help to lessen the time lost in the working of mines. The Minister said no privately owned coalmine could have shown a profit were it not for the subsidy it received. No company was making a profit equivalent to the amount of subsidy it received. A waste of coal and the need to conserve coal measures could not be denied and the need for better working was admitted by the Opposition. It was good Bill, concluded the Minister. The Bill was given a second reading, after a division, by 36 votes to 32. The Bill was referred to the Goldfields and Mines Committee.