COAL SHORTAGE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3090, 22 May 1917, Page 6

COAL SHORTAGE

CITY ENGINEER'S DRASTIC REPORT

PICTURE MEN'S VIEWS

NO DECISION-NO RESOLUTION

n A special meeting of the City Council n was held yesterday afternoon for the purpose of discussing the report brought ~, down by the City Engineer and Tram- _ ways Manager (Mr. W. H. Morton), deal- ■ ins with proposals to conserve tht limited coal supply of the municipality hi view of (ho present and the threaten--0(1 nituTo shortage of coal, and laid on the council table on Thursday ovenine last i hei Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) pi-e sided. J. here were present: Councillors G. 1-jost, J. Godber, A. Veitch, It. A Wright, W. J. Thompson, J. 0. Shorland, J. Castle, L. M'lvonzie, M. V Luekie, A. K. Atkinson, W. H. P. Barber, J .Fitzgerald, and W. T. Hildreth. n Ihe Mayor, before the meeting conis menced, read a letter from the Jiataitai 0 Municipal Electors' Association, settinc s out that the residents of that district e wero entirely dependent on the trams s and had not the option of walking, n which meant that, .however much tin! 1 fares were increased, the traffic to Hataii. tai would not be reduced, and that those o conditions should be taken into consider- - ation when the council was discussin" il the proposals. t A telegram was' read from Councillor - C. IS. .Norwood (who is in Auckland), a pointing out -that the Minister of Muni--9 lions had stated that 30,000 tons of coal a month were coming from Newcastle, and that the Auckland tramways had a shorter supply of coal than Wellington had, and there was as yet no proposal to reduce the servico. In" uoiunientmg on Councillor Norwood's telegram, the Mayor said that he would have something tu say about Auckland later on. The Mayor 'announced a deputation from tho picture proprietors. It consisted of Messrs. H. Shortt, E. ,T. Kighton W. Johnson, E. Bushby, and T. l>. Halpin. On behalf of the deputation, Mr. Shortt said tiiat the position of the picture theatre proprietors, if the proposals published in the papers were carried into effect, would be a very serious o'no, The restriction of hours, such as the cutting out of the day sessions, would mean the difference of loss as against profit, and should the council decide to cut out the day hours, he believed he would be right in saying that tho whole of the picture theatres would be run at a loss. Their profit was made iu the afternoon. Ho asked that the Mayor and council should not treat their business as a freak business, but one- that was as valuable as any other business that was being conduoted in the city, it was the fifth largest industry iu tho world, and was unique in that 90 per cent .of the money that was taken at the theatres/was'retained in New Zealand. The outgoing practically was for film. Mr. Shortt also pointed out that tho amount of capital invested iu tho industry was considerable. It amounted to ■ a sum of about .£IOO,OOO in Wellington alone. It was a, business which- had been recognised not only in New Zealand, but throughout the world, as one that supplied a lonj-felt want. It provided for visitors to town who had nothing to do a place where they could spend a quiet hour and benefit by it. By closing down the picture theatres in tho day time the council would be depriving mothers with young families, men who. worked at nijht, and returned soldiers of opportunity of seeing the pictures at all. The proposals prohibited people from attending the cheapest and most popular form of entertainment. Mr. Shortt referred to the number of people who passed through Wellington, and who without the pictures would wander up nnd down the town. If tho council closed the theatres iu tho daytime at least 50 erap.ovees, who earned .£IOO and •E125 per week would bo thrown out of employment. Ho hoped that when the report was being discussed that matter would be given consideration. The amount of electrical current used wan a small matter. It only amounted to the sum of £1 Bs. lid. per day for the whole of tho theatres. They took the cost at l!d. per unit (3d., less ljd. discount). Everybody's consumed 60 units, tho Queen's 52, Now 50, and Shortt's 4S, making XI Ss. lid. per day. He did not know what the cost of working was, but assumed that the council sold the current at a profit. Estimating the cost of producing a unit of electricity at \<\., the cost of producing the electricity consumed by the theatres would amuqnt to 9s. 7d. per day. As regards tho lighting thoy had not given the matter any. consideration at all, as the lights ing of the theatres was practically nil. Only four of tho continuous theatres were using the tramways powei—three of them had always used their own power. Mr. Shortt said, respecting the point that theatres with their own plants would not be allowed to use them because there would be unfair competition Wiwi fho.se which had no plants, he could assure the Mayor that there would be no unfair competition, as those theatres which had no plants at present could make arrangements to get them (gas or oil) at once. It was only fair that if restrictions wore to be placed on the power or lighting they should be made universal, and the picture theatres should not be singled..out. Bestrictions should be made on all users of electricity and not on one particular industry. Mr. E. J. Righton said that Mr. Shortt had covered the ground comprehensively, and had- made clear that the cost of coal involved was tho merest bagatelle. The Mayor said that the report of the Engineer was -the result of a conference with the chairman of tho National Efficiency Board, and dealt with conditions that were not of a normal character. They had hnd to view the matter with a wide vision, and lie wished to say how much they appreciated the report brought down by the Engineer. As far as the lighting was concerned, tho opinion had been expressed that there was a .prodigal waste of light in front of tho theatres, and it was up to the theatre proprietors to effect a saving, for individual saving would mean a saving to the community. He made it quite clear that tho council had not any power to carry out tho provisions of the reportit was only a record of what it was desirable to give effect to. Picture shows, after all, were only an incident in the report. For instance, illuminating signs over, buildings and outside shops were not a national saving or It was his personal opinion, jftd he did not even know whether the council would agree with him, that it wa9 for them to coHsider whether they could not sidetrack some of the amusements and pleasures of tho people that were being carried on at the present time. Ho did Hot wish Wellington to be a gloomy place of abode, but he wished it to be alive to tlic carrying out of its municipal functions. Tho Mayor said that tho picture theatres imposed a tremendous load on the plant just when they wnnted to release the load—at peak load times. The power houses were running for sixteen hours a day to their maximum, and they knew, as well as ne, that one could fatigue machinery as one could human bolngs, and if something happened to go wrong the w'hole community would suffer inconvenience, and perhaps it would mean disaster,to many people. He argued that they should not so stress the plant, as the Engineer had foreshadowed that they were possibly eating up r» sources that would be more urgently needed than they were now. '~ Finally Mr. .Luke mentioned that he hart met the lion; Mr. Myers on his arrival from Auckland that afternoon, and had received from him the assurance that the 30,000 toi* of coal per month (mentioned by fho Ministoi in Auckland) would be forthcoming, and that had put a rather different comploxioh on the whole thing. Mr. Slio-tt, referring to Mr. Luke's reference to people attending picture shows who might be more profitably employed, handed a copy of a speech "made by Lord Derby on the value of pictures aa an entertainment. The deputation then left, and the council went into committee. On resuming in open council, it was decided to adjourn consideration if the veport until the next meeting of the council. No resolution was passed. .The Ma»or, in a personal statement, said thai (Jib announcement by the JJliister msb* tkc

Newcastle coal "had put a different complexion ©q the matter, since the council had lii'st received tho report.