35

C.—4

COAL-MINES COMMISSION: MINUTES OF EVIDENCE.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

AUCKLAND DISTEICT. WHANGAREI. Satukday, 15th December, 1900. Henry Gilfillan, Jun., Secretary of the Hikurangi Coal Company (Limited), examined. 1. The Chairman.] You have been secretary for the Hikurangi Coal Company for how many years ? —Prom the formation of the company—six or seven years. 2. Did the company take up the ground in the first instance, or was it acquired from somebody else? —They acquired it from others mostly. Part of it belonged to the old Bay of Islands Coal Company, which company went into liquidation, and a syndicate bought the land taken over by the Hikurangi Company. 3. Had much work been done before that ?—No ; the present company opened it. 4. What is the capital of the company ?—30,000 shares at 10s. nominal value paid up to 7s. 6d. 5. Are there any debentures or other working capital ? —-That is the entire capital. 6. In round numbers, how much has been expended on the ground ?—Not the whole of that. 7. How much has been expended on the works in connection with the mine, exclusive of wages ?—ln connection with opening the mine and acquiring the land, very nearly the whole amount I stated. I cannot tell exactly without seeing my books in Auckland. We did issue shares a little bit ahead of what they actually cost. It would be very nearly £11,250. 8. Have you any idea of what would be the gross output from the time you began to win coal to the present time?— Say, 150,000 tons or thereabouts. I can give you the exact figures in town. Our present output is a little over 3,000 tons a month, but we have not been doing so much as that the whole time. 9. Mr. Lomas.} Do the miners make fairly regular time ?—Yes ; 3,000 tons a month would be a very good average. 10. The Chairman.] How many acres does the property consist of? —800 acres of freehold, but not all coal-bearing so far as we know now. We estimate the coal area to be contained in about 400 acres. We are also working a piece of leasehold adjoining. 11. Leased from the Government ?—No, from a private individual. 12. Do you hold any leaseholds under the Crown ?—None. 13. What is the market value ot your coal in Auckland?—We sell it here at 7s. 6d. per ton, f.o.b. at Whangarei. That is for steam coal. For little lots we get Bs., but for the majority of it 7s. 6d. 14. How do you pay the miners ?—By piecework —so much per skip. We get a little more for the steam coal we sell at the mine. The 7s. 6d. applies to the bulk of our trade —almost the whole of it. 15. Have you any objection to state what you are paying now per skip for coal-winning ?—We are going to pay Is. per skip under the recent Conciliation Board award. We are paying 2d. per skip less just now. The skips hold 12 cwt. each. 16. That is about 2s. a ton ?—lt will be Is. Bd. at Is. per skip. 17. Does it cost you anything more before it is put into the trucks?— Yes ; there is the wheeling out of the mine, or trucking. There are men laying the roads in places, and engine-men winding up the dip, and men employed putting the coal into the wagons. 18. What would be the cost omitting the trucking and supposing the coal is taken into the railway-wagons : what have you to pay for the coal and terminal charges ?—-2s. 6d. per ton. That puts it into the vessel's hold. That includes everything in railway charges. 19. You then sell it for 7s. 6d. per ton?— Yes, f.0.b., subject to slight allowances. 20. Is there a good demand for the coal?— Yes, just now. 21. How do you class that coal?—-It is steam coal principally. Very little household coal is sold in town, because we do not screen it. As it comes from the mine it goes into the wagons, except coal hand-picked in the mine for local household trade. 22. About what average wages do you suppose your coal-miners have been earning? —Bs. 6d. to 9s. per day, I should think, on the old rate at lOd. per skip. 23. Aye they a special class of men, or just ordinary working-men ?—A great many came from the Bay of Islands mines, and Mr, Moody, our mine-manager, tells me that some of them have been with him for twenty-two years. 6—C, 4.