The Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1906. AUSTRALIAN OOAL COMBINE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 12003, 22 October 1906, Page 4

The Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1906. AUSTRALIAN OOAL COMBINE.

Coal consumers in Australia are faced with a grave position, involving serious consequences, due to a combine among all but one of the collieries in the Newcastle and Maitland districts in New South Wales. Certain ohipipng companies have also been admitted into the ring and given a monopoly of the inter-State carriage in connection with the mines concerned. The company which stands out was ordered, as a condition of being admitted to the combiue, to curtail its output of coal by somewhere near one-half. This proposition was, however, promptly rejected, whereupon the others entered into a similar compact to that agreed upon by the New Zealand Flourmillers' Association, when they some time ago attempted to force the Northern mills into the Millers' Trust. The undertaking is to run the recalcitrant •company off the market altogether by pooling the loss of selling to the combine's customers at less than a remunerative price until their purpose is accomplished, when no doubt, as the Sydney Telegraph opines, the cost of the transaction will be duly charged up to the public, who, in the end, pay for everything. There is of course another aspect to the question, and *thi» is explained by one of the mine owners, who says that now the proprietors are united and organised they are in a better position to demand a fair price ' for their coal, and the miner will be able to obtain- a more reasonable reward for his labour, while the entire community will benefit in a iolative degree. The public which has iv the past profited by the keen competition which has been carried on, cannot, he thinks, complain at now being asked to

pay a reasonable figure for its fuel. "There was no desire on the part of the proprietors to extort an exhorbitant price for the commodity, and the fact that tinselling price would be declared every year was a guarantee that no unfair methods would be resorted to. The whole business was being conducted on bushier lines, ;vnd bad come to stay." The minoraie said to be fully in accord with the action taken by the proprietors, as they recognise that any increase in the selling price nieaun a corresponding advance in the hewing rate. There is, however, just a little uncertainty among the men as to the ultimate aid and power of the vend, and how far this might be used against them in any conflict which may arise in the future. In order to be prepared foi any contingency of this character, they consider that their be«t plan will be to consolidate their forces as mucji as possible, and so be able to present a bold and united front, should the necessity for doing so arise at any time. Several ot the members of the Miners' Feaeration, when spoken to on the subject, stated that the maintenance of the price of coal to a reasonable figure would be of immense advantage to the Northern district. Regarding the methods of the owners' vend, they did not care to express any opinion as they had no direct knowledge of what was being done. One prominent unionist ventured the opinion that tho step taken by the proprietors was only the beginning of a series of changes which would ultimately end in the nationalisation of the coal mines of the State. The Telegraph does not view the combine with favour. It characterises it as a "commercial conspiracy," and outrage of the spirit of the law , though a punctilious respect to the letter of it. Ii believes the simple obje'et is to get more money for less coal, and thereby increase the profits or the colliery-owners, as well as the earnings of the miner.-.. Fewer men being required to get the sniallei amount of coal better wages can be paid to the individual miner, and an the same amount of money comes into the coffers of the companies their dividends need not suffer if they do not even improve. The Telegraph goes on to say : There is no public objection to the capital and laboir employed in mining being fairly remunerated. If the present selling price i>. too low to enable that to be done it ought unquestionably to be raised. Besides, anything that combination might save in the way of minimising friction and reducing the waste consequent thereon would be ( a perfectly legitimate adddition to the profits of the industry, such as tinemployers and employees would be entitled to divide. If the trust was formed for no other purpose than that, nothing would remain for the public but to congratulate all concerned. A combination of coal-miners, however, secures for itself a power over all other industries, and the public begins when this is used to extort more than fair market value for a natural commodity that the community is unable to do without. Every traveller by boat, or rail, as weir as every shipper of merchandise, every burner of gas, and in fine every consumer of goods produced or distributed by the aid oi steam power, would be levied upon by any artificial inflation in the value ol coal. The argument put forward • for tho present movement is that instead of causing artificial inflation its object is to prevent the effects of artificial depression tlirough which is called "cut-throat competition." In what way colliery- workerF are liable to suffer more from such rivalry than persons in other businesses is, however, difficult to see. When the American trusts get rid of internal competition they immediately threaten to cut the throats of dependent fndustries which refuse to accept their arbitrarily dictated conditions of trade. This is the kind ot commercial cut-throatism from which the public interest has most to fear, and it is one which a coal combine would have special facilities for practising. It is intimated, however, that no such abuse of the power of the trust is contemplated, aim everything depends on how results are found to square" with that assurance. Through their own disagreements in the past, leading to strikes and lock-outs, the Newcastle miners lost a great deal of their foreign trade, for tjie recovery oi which inducements in the shape of cutprices have had to be offered. This, of course, cannot go on for ever, and there is no use sending coal out of the country unless a remunerative price is returned for it. As far as the object of the combination is to prevent that, no public objection can be taken to it. But if the high-horse is to be ridden in the Commonwealth after the fashion of the American trusts, and only such coal-users, or coal-carriers, or retailers as the combine chooses to favour are allowed to participate in the trade, and on terms which it dictates, a serious public question will arise.