MARE'S NESTING AGAIN.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2189, 30 June 1914, Page 6

MARE'S NESTING AGAIN.

:The spirit of cheerful mend icity ; vlrteh-so.oftp.n characterises thfl outpourings of uur Anti-Ueform friends I r'artig-dfr' over qu.i'ti! a remarkable variety of subjects. he very latest effort in this direetkm involved ' a laboured Attempt- in suggest- that, the attitude of the .Reform Government, towards the State colliery enterprise r-ts that of an assassin towards hi? victiiu. it was a quite delightful storj. Tlio fact that the State collieries have been developed under the. administration of the present Government to a hfgher point of efficiency than they ' ever before reached is calmly brush'eji aside, together with the offiei.ii information as lo the existing position, which is available to everyone. 'the facts count, as nothing, but an obviously biased letter is made the. flimsy fotindafciaa on which to base a series of chargi'S which, in spite of. their vagueness, are a tribute to the. powers of imagination of ■ tlxeiiauthor, Already it is stated," so an article published locally rUnu, "the Seddonville mine is to' ba closed down, notwithstanding' the fact that there, js ample coal in. sight and the further fact that a new 27-fcct seam .. was recently discovered.'' I'roin this: point the preposterous fabrication, is tarried on until it culminates in a . tikmn warning that ''the policy ' of reaction is at work at last." _ It is. almost a pity to blow away this airy, structure 1 pi' misrepresentation, but the facts of tlie case do so cnnvinc-

iiigiy,, It is not true, of coarse, that, the Gpvlifnmeiit hits been caught i;edhanded shutting down a good mine.. The decision tp shut down the feed'' donville. colliery 'was arrived atnionths ago, "013. the advice of responsible officers, and was announced at the rime. The .. reasons making ,t?he abandonment of-the mine .flecessarj were succinctly stated hy the Manager (Mi:. j, L J aiikS) m his last annual : report presented to Parliament, He there made ths following observa-tions:--"liavißg in view the near exhaustion of the mincj, it would not be out of place to mention that, if only hard-tod places are to be worked in the ■ future, the time is fast approaching when ojicra'tioas will have to be abandoned.''' The accompanying report 0f... the General ■ Manager of the State" Mines Depa.rtiticn!, (Mr. Vv. C. Gasquoine.) contained tie following passage;— •'Owing to fhe exhaustion of hard coal and the poor quality of the Sij'it coal vvnaering it unsdeable, operations at; Sr.ddon* Lllo must shortly be ■afesndeiied.." It only remains to add, ■that ilia exhaustion and abandonment of th-a SeddonviUe mine have been accompanied l>v the deveiopment of the new Liverpool colliery at Point-. Elizabeth, ishiih ;is ostimated to contain GG,000,080 tons of coal. Frain this mine and from the older mine at Point Elizabeth (imple supplies will henceforth be obtained, and the abandonment- of the. worked®it Sedrlonville colliery j.s-a- mer-o incident in the progressive development of the. State mining enterprise, That the facts erf the ease shut;ld have. been so absolutely inverted by the Icctl journalistic champion of the Opposition - Party is not, of course, swimming.. Begird; for facts has never been ane. of its failings.