COSTLY FAILURE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 29, 4 December 1945, Page 6

COSTLY FAILURE

GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF

MINES

Mil SULLIVAN'S CRITICISM

"Alter comparing the various coal mine accounts I have comc to the conclusion that the Government purchase and control of the coal mines of New Zealand has ..been a costlyfailure and that the public will have lo make up ;i considerable amount of monej' " declared Mr W. Sullivan (National, Bay of Plenty) discussing the Mines Statement in the House, of Representatives. The accounts showed that the iinancial position was depreciating day by day. The object of takipg over extra coal mines was to cure all difficulties regarding coal. The subsidies for coal production were becoming greater and greater. Last year the total subsidy was £510,642 and this year it was to be £717 916. Whenever a

subsidy was to lie paid in connection with the operation of coal mines it meant that that money was to come out of war loans or public savings or some other account. Opencast mines had, he believed, saved the situation to some extent. A good deal of the coal from open-cast mines was* not up to standard, but nevertheless that type of mining had filled the gap and kept the industries going for the last year or two f particularly since the country had been unable to obtain approximately 100,000 tons of coal from Australia. The total production of coal from all mines last year was 2,806,000 tons. The output from State mines was about a quarter of that—762,ooo tons. That left a total of tons produced by private mines.

The total subsidy on coal production was £717 916. Thirteen State coal mines received £.'U(i 531 or ? 'f about half ? leaving approximately £385 0110 for the private mines. The State turned out about one-quarter of the coal and received over onehalf of the subsidy. Where, the mines were conducted by private enterprise a less subsidy was required to keep tliem in production than in the ease of State coal mines. If the companies that had been running private coal mines had been given reasonable assistance by the Government in the first place < it would not have been necessary for the Government to have taken over those mines. The subsidy worked out at 10 S J'or the State coal mines a ton and. 3/6 a ton for private mines. The total subsidy paid, including that paid to March 1945 since the system was introduced in 1910 was £1 941 000.

y. * » "I often wonder Avhat will happen when tlie War Expenses Account goes out of existence " said Mr Sul. . ' livan. "On what fund is the Government then going to draw to make up losses incurred in coal mining and other industries it may take OA r er. The Government will have to impose taxation to meet the. losses."