STATE TO BUY WAIKATO COAL MINES

Chronicle (Levin), 10 June 1947, Page 3

STATE TO BUY WAIKATO COAL MINES

The Government will soon own all the inajor coalmines in New Zealand. Foilowing the recent tentative agreemeni to purchase the entire undertaking . of the Westport Coal Company, Ltd., the Government will soon make an offer to the four Waikato companies whose mines have been controlled by and worked for the State since early in the war under wartime regulations. The Government is making no secret of its confidence that these ofters will De accepted. The Government offer will be made to Glen Afton Collieries, Ltd., Taupiri Coal Mines, Ltd., Renown Collieries, Ltd., and Pukemiro Collieries, Ltd. The Glen Afton Company operates the Glen and MacDonald mines which each produce an average of 200 tons of coal a day. The two fiolds owned by the Taupiri Company are Rotowaro, producing 400 tons a day, and/ Aiison, averaging 300 tons a day. The average daily output of the Renown mine is 400 tons, while the Pukemiro mine yields 500 tons. Including these six lields operated by the four Waikato companies there are now only nine major coalfields througliout New Zealaud , which are not owned by the State, assuming the agreement with the Westport company is ratified by the sharehoiders: The other three fields are oiyned by the Linton Coaj Company, Ltd.,. in Southland, , with daily output of ;,400 tons, the .Kaitam' gata .Coal Company, :of Otago, -with 400 -tons a day and a pmaller mij^p in. theBuller district operated by- tlie Chhrming Creek Coal Co'rnpany, Ltd., with a daily production of 150 tons. | Ihi teddi-; tion there, are :UboUt »10O;small concerns/ some: thenl Poppefative. The Minister of MmeSj Mh'McLagahy will intrdduce a Bill during' the coming session of Pai'liament to nationalise all coal measures, khown. and unjkuown, m New ZealaudG The Bill is not expected to be brought down until late in the session, by which time the Government hopes to have negotiated for the purchase of all the major mines. The Government takes the view that any mines which are stili under private ownership when the Bill is introduced will be required to pay substantial royalties on the coal extracted from the State owned measures. It is not intended to interfere with the 100 or so small fields. Large Assets Involved. The purchase of the four named Waikato mines will xnvolve the acquisition by the State of a total of £452, 00U nominal share capifal and eombinea assets of an aggregate balance-sheet value of £894,748. Three of the mines have their head offices in Auckland and are public companies whose shares are listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchanges, while the fourth, Glen Afton Collieries, Ltd., is owned and operated by the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Co., Ltd., Hamilton. All the companies have been working under the provisions of the Waikato Coal Mines Control Emergency Regulations, 1942. The capital of the four companies, togetlier with the current rato of orcnnary dividend and the value of assets as standing in the last igsued balanceakoofc: ti r A ti s fnllnW!

Values of Shares. The capital of Taupiri Coal Mines, •Ltd., which was registered in Auckland in 1899, is comprised of £130,000 in £1 ordinary shares and £20,000 in £1 preference shares. The ordinary shares, which have not sold since the dividend was raised from 74 per cent. to 12£ per

cent. last month, have a market value of about 43s, and the preferencp a market value around 28s 6d. BonUs shares were issued in 1929 on the basis of one for 16. Renown Collieries, Ltd., registered in Auckland in 1925, has issued 120,000 ordinary shares of 12s each and 240,000 preference shares of 2s 6d each. Paid capital was reduced by £48,000 in 1934by writing off 8s per ordinary share. The current market for the ordinary and preference shares is around 12s and 2s lld respectively. Registered in 1910, Pukemiro Collieries, Ltd., has'a capital of 100,000 £1 ordinary shares, in which there were saies this week at 24s 3d. Bonus shares weTe issued by this company in 1920, 1923 and 1926, resulting in the doubling of the original capital of £50,000. - TJse of Slack. These three companies are the joint owners of Waikato Carbonisation, Ltd., each company holding 26,666 shares,. on which the year's dividend in the last published aecounts was £1600 to each company. The carbonisation company was formed in 1929 for the treatmSAt bf Waikato slack, and the manufacture of briquettes. Previously slack had been waste. This subsidiary paid its first dividends to the holding companies uj 1945. At the annual meeting of Glen Afton Collieries in 1946 the charrman, Mr. A. Hayward, said that the year's net earnings of the company were £8353, after allowing £56,400.-to come from the Government,

Capital Ord. Assets £ Div. p.c. £ Taupiri . . 150,000 124 322,500 Renown .. 102,000 611-19 154,883 Pukemiro 100,000 6£ 154,883 Glen Afton 100,000 — 262,482