GOAL SUPPLIES.

West Coast Times, 3 September 1909, Page 4

GOAL SUPPLIES.

WHY THE GOVERNMENT IMPORTS

(By Electric Telegraph.)

WELLINGTON, Sept. 2

The Minister for Railways (Hon. J. A. Millar), has made a statement to the press on the subject of the discharge of 200 men from the Westport Coal Coy's mine at Granity Creek,

"We havej" he said, "taken all the coal that the Westport Company has been able to give us and on the 58th of August there was a short .lehVery of 4974 tons on orders given as follows : — Bluff 1100 tons ordered, received 224 tons, Dunedin 2400 tons ordered, received 1429 tons; Lyttelton 1200 tons ordered, received 707 tons; Tim am dOO tons ordered, received nonej Oamaru 300 tons' ordered, received nor:e ; Wellington 3300 tons ordered, received 1266 tons, since July which totalled 8600 tons out of which the Company has only delivered 3626 tons, leaving 4947 tons still not delivered.

"The Company has not asked for orders," continued the Minister. "We are quite prepared to give it an order to-day for 5000 tons more than it owes us at present but it must be soreeied coal. We are not going to take inferior stuff which merely adds considerably to the cost of working the l"nes.

TnE STATE MINE.

"I may add that the State Coal mine has only delivered 47,257 tons out of a total order of 70,450 tons given by the Railway Department s^nce April The local demand for domestic screened coal is so great that they cannot supply the Department. We always have been and are willing to take local coal that it is suitable for railway purposes in preference to Newcastle but when we e'anitirt get suitable coal locally v.c are forced to get it elsewhere and therefore we have to. go to Newcastle to make up the deficiency.

SHORT DELIVERY.

From these two mines alone there is a short delivery of about 5200 tons. The Railway Department never allows its stocks to get lower than three months supplies, so that in the event of a strike taking place in the coal mines the Department will be able to run a full service or at at least a modified' service for three or four months and we are not going to draw :ipon our reserves simply to meet the requirements of the local Companies. Our supplies must be maintained rail if we cannot get suitable local coal itmust come from Newcastle. DO NOT WANT NEWCASTLE COAL

Whether there is a duty on it or not we don't want Newcastle coal and we won't take it while local coal is available. But the Department is not going to take any rubbish that is sent out of any mine. If we studied the question of economy only in running the Railways I have no hesitation in saying that the use of Newcastle coal alone vould be more profitable from the Raihvay point of view but we don't look at it from that point of view to the fullest extent, as we believe in using all the local coal that is available and suitable for our purposes.",