The Wanganui Herald. (Published Daily.) THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 1919. THE COAL SUPPLY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15836, 5 June 1919, Page 4

The Wanganui Herald. (Published Daily.) THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 1919. THE COAL SUPPLY.

Various suspects of New Zealand's coal supply are being frsely discussed in New Zealand newspapers, and some interesting observations have been made in the Wellington journals. The Post takes a gloomy view of the situation, and points out that hitherto the importations from Australia—about 50,000 tons a monthhave stood between this country and. the wall, but labour troubles over there give little prospect of preventing iireless grates this winter. It is contended that the decrease in the output in New Zealand coal is largely due to a reduction of the number of miners and to a fall-ittg-off in individual effort, and the Post suggests that if either explanation is adopted, or if both are accepted, they work back to the same root cause—dissatisfaction with the conditions in which coal-mining is carried on. In dealing with the question whether the dissatisfaction is reasonable and can be cured, our contemporary thinks the time has come for the State to decide whether it is economically possible to grant improved coal-mining conditions that will attract a reasonable supply of mining labour able and willing to do a fair day's work, or whether the miners constitute a mere monopoly group who are trying to extort economically impossible terms by the leverage of output limitation. The Post should hardly need reminding that the f.ict is not questioned that the miners on the Weft Coast have been working and living under conditions which call for dratiic reforms, and it should also be patent that these reforms will have to be instituted whether it 'S economically possible or not. If coal is to be made available—and it is badly needed—the miners' requirements must be satisfied, provided o? coarse they are within reason, and it has yet to be demonstrated that they are unreasonable. If it does not p.y private enterprise to «m the coal, then the State must step -n. Tti:s apparently is the view of the Director of Geological Survey (Mr P. G. Morgv.n, who says that New Zealand's coal resources are so scanty that they oatini.t be profitably conserved unless worktd by s monopoly, and he thinks that » St.'it* monopoly is better than a private monopoly. While on the question c? raon jt would rot be amiss 'f tne Government were alsc to make inquiries why there is si oh a tremendous difference between the price of coal at the pii's mouth and that winch the consumer is called upon to p.aj. Why is it that coal can be purchased in the one case for 5s or 7s Gd p?i ton, and in the other £% to M per ton is not an exceptional price? Have the shipping companies anything to do with the abnormal prices charged to the public? Is it a fact that some of the largest mines in New Zealand arc owned or controlled by the big shareholders in certain shipping companies, who use their influence to pa-event the opening vp of other mines? COAL DEPOSITS. A little more light might also be tin-own on the question of-the extent of the coal deposits of New Zealand. Mr Morgan stated the other day that Fir James Hector in 1890 estimated the workable coal in the Dominion at 44:),000,000 tons. In 1910 Professor James Park calculated] that it was 1,082,089,000 tons. In 1911 Mr Morgan himself put the total at 1,001,000,000 tons proved coal and the probable coal at an additional 2,385,000,000 tons, and to-day he estimates the supply of proved coal at 610,000,000 tons, and the probable supply at 1,8*1,000,000 tons. Then we have the reports of Mr Sidney Fry, Director of the School of Mines, Becfton, who says that Mokau possesses the largest coalfields in the Dominion, containing the 1 ne*S household coal in the counlry '-There are seven seams exposed in the Mokau, the main one of which "is £ft. Cin. thick and contains 460,000,000 ton of coal, which Mr Fry estimates to produce 274,000,000 tons of vendible coal. According to his calculation it would seem as though the Mokau fields alone contain almost as much coal as Mr Morgan suggests- is to be found in the whole of the Dominion. All this may be very interesting, but the fact i 9 there is really no reliable information as to even the approximate extent of- the coal deposits in New Zealand. There are many 'listricts in which quite recently immense warns are reported to have been located, concerning which no geologist has yet made any survey or report. Theee deposits exists in both islands, and exhaustive bores and surveys wili have to be made before any true estimate of New Zealand's coal supplies eon be ascertained. There is thus abundant scope for the investigations of a Commission, the results of which would be-awaited with more than average interest by the public.