LESS GOOD COAL; MORE INFERIOR

Chronicle (Levin), 23 April 1946, Page 3

LESS GOOD COAL; MORE INFERIOR

— Press Association

£717,916 PAID IN SUBSIDY

1 By Telegraph-

AUCKLAND, April 20. As was the ease in 1911, the increase 1 in coal production for tlie Dominiou m 1945 was largely made up of inferior quality ' fuel from out-erop miues and small units, according to tlie annuai report of tlie New Zealaud Coal Miue Owners' Association. The report eon-ta-ina figpr^s which it is stated, sliow elearly that it was impossible to make coalinining pay at present prlces, and that without Btate subsidies very substantial price increases would be necessary to enable the iudustry to function. " Of the total Domiuion output for 1915' of 2,829,830 tons— an increase ot 23,860. tons over the previous year — ■ %042, 583 tons were produc'ed in tne northem district, this being 5769 tons more than in 1941 and 239,878 tons more than in 1939. The West Coast district, which yielded 1,138,813 tons in 1941, showed an increase of 31,256 tons. In the southern district, there was a decrease of 14,259 tons, the total production there being 616,084 tons. Foiiowiug are figures of ontput from miues operated in the northem district bv members of the association: —

There was a total deerease from tiiese principal inifl.es iii'the uortherii district of 74,930 tons. In the West Coast area the decline was 50,535 tons and in the southern district there was a loss of 50,497 tons, making a flational deerease of 175,962 tons. Tlie iigurcs showed that the" increase in total ontput for the Domiuion liad been obtained not from the principal ' miues that were iu operatioii before the war, but from the newly-dcvcloped sources of supplv — niaLuiy the State operated open-cast niines, continued the report. Production from all the old niines which wero yiekling liigh-grade coal had furtlier deereased and the present trcnd appeared to be toward continuing decreascs. It was esseutial that some plan sliould be dcveloped which would enabic a substantial voluiue of coal production to bc maiiitainod at a cost which could be absorbed by iudustrics and domcstic cousumers. Without subsidies, the price of coal from the fcjtate mines would re(|uire to be iuereased by varying amounts rauging from ,2s 9d to nearly'lOs' a ton. The total increase in the cost to cousumers for a year was. in'dicated by the fact that a groSs subsid'y of £71 7,916 was 110 w being paid. This ainount, liowever, would flo.t be sufficiout 'to place the iudustry on a souiul economic. basis. Of the total subsidy of £717,916 paid in 1945, the State mines had received £302,528. This ivas more than 42 per cent., although the State 's proportion ■ nbf- total -autgMfcs was v26.S -per cent. It w^is olear that in - the matter of siibsidies the Stat'e-owned miues had been given preferential treatment. "Dnving tlie year; the State acquired other lflining pro.perties — one.in Otago, oue in the Waikato district and two m Southland — and so the process of nationalisation goes on," the report added. ' ' The Minister of Miues (Mr. Webb) recently reiterated " his opinion that tlie production of coal is a job for the State. However, this lias not yet been put forward offieially as a Government policv and we know 110 more oi the Government 's intentions than we did a year ago. "

De1944 1945 "crease Tons Tons Tons Taupiri .... 213,827 195,205 IS, 622 Pukemiro . .. 129,647 116,696 12,951 Glen Alton and McDonald 205,547 190,416 15,131 lieiiown .. .. 158,263 '130,037 28,226