TIE RAILWAY CUT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 251, 17 July 1919, Page 5

TIE RAILWAY CUT

A BAY OF HOPE COUNTRY INDUSTRIES : DANGER OF UNEMPLOYMENT MINISTERS DISCUSS COAL SITUATION PASSENGER TRAFFIC TO BE RESTRICTED The nresent coal situation was discussed in all its bearings on trade and • industry vestcrdny by a deputation from Pnlnie.rst.on and the West Coast districts and Ministers of the Crown. In tho course of their statements in reply to tho deDutation. Ministers said more than thev have vet said about the position and the Dossibility, of relief. Mr. Nash. M.P., Mayor of Palnierston; introducing the deputation, said that it represented the Palmerston Borough Council, the Wangauui Borough Council, the Kairanga County Council, and various other county councils and chambers of commerce' in the districts, as well as other business concerns. The interview was the result of a conference held in Palmeraton recently, at which various ipsoliitions had been passed. They had not come, he assured Ministers, in any SDirit of aggressiveness, but with the idea of helpiug the Government if possible in the trying time through which thev were passing. Country Hard Hit. Ha wished to noint out that the cut in railway services was being felt in tho country much more than in tho cities, udiacent as they were to the ports. The farmincr community was suffering no end of inconvenience, and the end of tho business would be that many country industries would have to close down. One of tho results of this must be the urevalenco of unemployment. As always happened in the middle of winter, there wero many men .unemployed already, and if tho factories and mills closed down -there would bo a great deal of uneinnloment which would not bo in tho bast, interests of tho country. They had como prepared to make some suggestions to tho Government for tho alleviation of the present position. One suggestion thev would make was that passenger traffic on the railways should be reduced. People could afford to stay at home, in these- times, but- tho carriage of poods on the railways was essential at this neriod. and it should receive tho earnest consideration of tho Government. Then thev looked to the Government for n lead in another direction—in regard to the cmisumntion of coal. Would it v.ot bo nossible for the business places in the (owns lo close down earlier, and so to save coal? There might bo more economy in tho use of coal for the genoration of electric light and power, and for the running of trams. It was not nossible for one., municipality to act m Ihwinnltiir. If Palmerston restricted its people in these tilings the only result would Tie to release more coal for \Vanganui. The restriction must be general, and without the instruction of the Government this could never be achieved. He did not believe tha.t the present stale of things could continue much longer, and such inconvenience as might be put upon the people would be but for a short time. , Difficulties of- Industries. Mr. W. H. Field, M.P., said that he supported the deputatiou on behalf of his constituents, and he claimed to represent an electorate which was much dependent on t'h-o railways, and which was suffering a great deal on account of the present cut in . train running. Ho also pressed for a further curtailment in passenger traffic.': It Whs impossiblo to say what tho continuance of the present, state of things would lead to in some industries. Sawmillers in his district did not know what to do. It was true that they could go on cutting timber and stacking it, but most of them were men of 'small resources, and they could- not go on paying their heavy wages bills if they could not.get rid of their timber. Unless the Government; could arrange to givo them some relief in the course of a few days, a number of sawmills would have to close down. His suggestion was Hint tho Government should give the millers advances against stacked timb 1 ;'-, which, he understood, could readily be insured against fire. He referred also to the prohibition of the carriage by rail of young trees for planting, saying.that because he was unable to plant trees a resident of the district of Otaki had had to abandon a scheme he had in view for tho planting of a large area of sanddrift. He asked how long the present state of things was likely to continue. "It is useless for us to blame fcbo Government for what has happened," he said. "Wo hear thr.t other people have plenty of coal. For instance, we knowthat the coastal steamers have plenty of coal.' The Governor-General is 'having a cruise of the South Ssa Islands in the Tutanekai, a'jd is burning plenty of coal. I d-'Vt want to stress the point as to whether the Government could have saved the situation. The situation exists, and our only object is to relieve it." He asked again for an indication of tho time that the cut service would have to remain in operation. If it was to be a I matter of weeks merely, some of the in- - dustries' might be able to null through, hut if it was to he a matter of months there would be widespread unemployment. Restrict Passengers? Mr. Croucher spoke for the Palmers.ton North Chamber of Commerce. He said that they were faced with absolute paralysis of industry unless something was done to relieve the. position very quickly.' He knew of one industry employing 800 men, and unless it wn6 known that the services could bo extended soon theso men would be out of employment. He stressed the point already made that goods traffic should have precedence on the railways. As a means of restricting passenger travel he would urge that firstclass carriages should lie taken off all | trains, and that second-class carriages should be reduced in number. There should bo ft censorship of all passenger traffic. At present the flax industry was in jeopardy, because not a 1.010 of hemp or tow was accepted for carriage on the railways. Tliey considered that the consumption of coal for municipal uses, might bo Tcduced, 'but the only way in which this could bo done was by the Government talcing action. He urged the Government to reduce the consumption of coal on electric light and power and for tramway services. It wis much more important to have goods and products carried over tho country than that people should be trammed about Wellington. He had been asked to speak about measures that might be taken to improve the supply of coal, lie had read the report of the Hoard of Trade on tho coal industry, and he felt that unless something was done to induce labour to go to the mines there would bo no increase in output. Either the mines should be taken _ over by the Government or State aid should bo given to provide better housing for the miners. Hemp Industry. Mr. Reginald Poll sjkil;o of the troubles of the flax industry. He said that.nt the present time the American market was open to New Zealand fibre. Recently the Tahiti had como hero to load hemp, 'but because tho railways would not carry the hemp to tho port the ship had hnd to go out partly loaded, to pick up other libre at Honolulu.. This was not good for the New Zealand flax industry, and it might Ire detrimental to the industry in future years. To close tho mills now would bo a vim'}' serious matter from a labour point of view. The millers had just come through a. laliour trouble, and had got the Ihing settled when the-lhiMi-derboll of tho cut in railway service.'! cKino upon them, lie considered that the industry should be helped by being given a proportion of the available space for railway froight. Mr. James Johnston suggested to the Government that they should get more coal by opening up again tho Mokau field. He said that this coal had at

ono time been extensively nsed, but somo time ago a flood in the rivor had so

filled it with snags that it was not now possible to work it. He urged tho Government to clear 'he river. The coal would not be suitable for the railways, but it would servo for the dairy factories and for private consumption from New Plymouth down to Foxton. Mr. S. It. Lancaster said that stud stock could no'- be moved by rail at present. Annual..,- largo numbers of stock of this class were sent from Manawatu to the Waikato district. This was the season of the year when such cattle should be moved/and as the traffic would not be heavy, he urged that something should bo done to give relief in this particular. Mr. SI. F. Luckie appeared to represent (he Mayor of Wangauui, instructed to support the deputation on behalf of Wanganui. He said that the heavy curtailment of goods services on the railways would bring about in this country a more serious crisis than we had yet faced, and he mentioned the danger of widespread unemployment. Mr. Seifcrt, speaking for the flax industry, said that if the flaxmillers went on milling (lax if would not give the railways any relief, for there, would Ire such an accumulation of flax in the country that when the Government was ready to resume the normal running, it would never bo able to overtake the accumulation. This applied to other country industries, such as sawmilling. If tho industries were kept going now it would not bo possiblo when the services were resumed to provide trucks for tho produce.

Mr. Clausen, representing the timber merchants, urged that the railways should carry timber for uncompleted dwellings. He alsc; offered his opinion that the railways should not carry coal into the King Country, where there was plenty of firewood. Mr. A. E. Mabin made an appeal to the Government to allow flax for shipment to be carried ]>y rail. He also asked ihat coke should bo carried into the country for use in gas-producer plants to drive flaxmill. engines. Dire Necessity. Sir James Allen, replying, said that he wished to thank the deputation tor tho spirit in which they had'come to the Government. They had realised that tho Government would never Jiavo imposed these, restrictions except in case of dire Ho knew that tho time was one of -difficulty- for those engaged in industry, but he believed that they would prow to have sufficient pluck in meet their difficulties. He would ask thorn to make every endeavour to carry on their industries, and to prevent unemployment, which was dreaded by the Government just as much as by anybody else. He knew that somo heads of industry had set to work to develop schemes for carrying on until relief uame. He had oil several occasions warn-' ed the public that this cut- might haves to be made. It would not have been wise for the Minister of Railways to I have anounced a lortnight beforehand I that' ho was about to make the cut, | because this would have placed tho Mini ister and the Department in difficulties. | He could give, mo assurance that the Minister had brought down to Cabinet a full schedule or tho goods lie was carrying. The schedule had been devisetl to carry only those goods which were essential—ioou for tho peoplo and perishable products. Non-perishaolo products had to be refused carriage for the time being. This schedule had been carefully examined by Cabinet, and it had been carefully gone through again tho day previous, and it was very difficult to seo how anything could bo excluded from the schedule in order that something else might be put in. The position was, and the public must know this, that unless the coal supply improved the list could not be increased. Jt might be amended, but the total quantity of goods to be carried could not bo increased. Passenger Traffic to bo Restricted. The question of restricting the passenger traffic had been up before Cabinet tor discussion moro than once. It had ueen up again on Tuesday. The Minister of Railways had recommended, and Cabinet liad approved of. the revision of the conditions with regard to passenger traffic. When tho cut was made it had been the opinion of the Minister of Hailways and the Railway, 'Department that tho inconvenience imposed on passengers travelling would" have the effect of reducing railway travel. This effect had not been so great as had been expected, and the Minister would take steps to 6CB that passenger traffic on the railways was limited to essential passengers. Whatever saving could be made in tins way would be used for the cartage of extra goods. (Hear, hear.) The que&tion of reduction of lighting and the closing of business places earlier had been beforo the Government on many occasions. Mr. Myers, as tup Mm. ister in close touch with coal distribution, would deal with this question. The question of the timber industry had been discussed in Cabinet on many occasions. They had tried to devise some means to meet the difficulties of those engaged in milling timber. Ho was aware that millers-were arranging to go on and to stack their timber. His request to them was that they should go on with this, and tho Government, would try to help thorn in every possible way. Ho would make the same appeal to the flaxmillers. He would like very much to bo able to say that theso products wuild be carried, but they were non-per-ishable, and for the present tney must give way to things more urgently requiied. How Long? "You have asked how long this present position is going to last," continued the Minister. "I wish I could say it will last until to-morrow, but the answer I j am bound b give you on belialf of tho Government is that wo do not know. Mr. Myers is moro in touch with the - position, and he may tell you what he thinks, but whatever he may tell you will be dependent on the maintenance of oversea supplies and the production of our own mines, and it may not therefore prove to be correct." He said that the Government had done everything it could to increase tho supply of coal from New Zealand mines. It had been suggested that j new mines should bo opened, but the j Government had como to the conclusion i that it was impracticable to opon up new mines, and that the only safe course was to concentrate available labour in the developed mines from which an output of coal could be obtained. There was a certain amount of restriction on the importation of Newcastle coal from Australia, owing to tho tying up of a number of ships of the Union Company's fleet there. The Government had obtained coal from there in overseas vessels, even in refrigerated steamers, and so possibly endangering fihe shipment from New Zealand of produce in the cold stores. Coal had also been obtained from America in overseas steamers, and wo wore relying on this coal now. The position would be very much worse but for the importations that had been made from America. Only by pressure on the Shipping Controller had ithe Government been ablo to get ships for this coal. Miners and Housing, The Government was anxious to iniprovo tho conditions of the miners in regard to housing,, but any improvement in housing conditions would take time, and it woiild not have any effect: on the present difficulty. It was possiblo that this housing question was being exaggerated for some purpose or ol'lKr. At the same timo there was to-day good accommodation for miners, and a miner could earn up to 355. a day there. And still men could not bo induced to go there. Ho suggested that tho deputation should nob go away with tho belief that the housing problem at tho mines was creating the present difficulty. He admitted readily that the industry, of coal-mining was an uncomfortable one for those engaged in iti, and that everythinj reasonable ought to be done to dive them comfort in their homes, but this question of housing for miners was one for the future—lie hoped for the immediate future. Tl could not be tackled in a way to relieve the present shortage. It had been suggested Hint the Molcnu River should be snagged. Tf the Mokau River were snagged to-morrow it would take some timo to set. tho mines o.nen. and miners would have In bt> obtained from other mines. The scheme was not feasible. lie lioni'd that: employers and local bodies would do their best to keen things going in this time n f trouble. The country was in trouble, but it was just Ihe sort of timo to bring out the grit which he believed was in tho people. Making tho Cut. Tho Hon. W. H. Herries said tio would bo glad if tho deputation would go down

to the General Manager and discuss with him specific cases in which relief might be given. When a new thing like this | had to be dono it must 'happen that in- | sti'iictions were misunderstood. Cases , had occurred already of over-zealous officers refusing to carry goods which in the opinion of head office ought to hi; carried, lie knew that the cut was inconveniencing tho people, hut he was iltsiruus that tho inconvenience should be made as light as possible. If anything could be pointed out in which relief could be given, tho Department would be only 100 glad to look into it. It had not'been possible for the Department to give long notice of this reduction in running, be. cause they would have been overwhelmed with freight, and the cut would not hnvo teen effective for some considerable time. In any case they did not know until a couple of months before that ths cut would have to l>e made. There had been a shortage of coal since the begin, ning of the war, but the ast straw wa.i the strike in Australia, preceded by tlio epidemic. Now the Department wouln lie glad of tho assistance of business men, and would lie glad of advice as ta what goods ought to be carried when the time came when a little relaxation could be made. Passenger traffic wa.\ to bo cut down as .much as possible. Only a certain number of carriages would bo put on trains, and these would have to carry oiity those people who were obligee* to travel. They could not carry im.v joy-riders. Mr. Nash: Race-goers, for instance!' Do you call them essential? Mr. Hemes: "No, I don't eaT.l them essential. No special provision will bo made for them. Hut if a man's auni dies in Christchurch about the secoim week in August wo shall have to take him to the" funeral." (Laughter.) A suggestion had been made (he continued) that tho Department should use the coat pow being used by tho steamers for tho running of the express trains, lint the bunker coal was not suitable for locomotives. The bunker coal used by tlu> Pateenn on the trip to Onehunga wouii; not take the express further than Palmerston North. The End of the Month. Prospects were a,. little better than when the cut was made. It was possible that towards the end of the montsi «• slight relaxation might bo made in regard to goods traffic. It would bo a difficult problem to know wliat goods to open out on first, and ho would be very glad of advice from chambers or commerce on this question. These necessities would vary in different districts. In the Waikato district _no doubt the first essential was tho carriage of goods for the dairy industry, for extensive alterations wero being made to works. There was also Hie question oi the carriage of timber tor soldiers' homes, .and for uncompleted contracts, .'lie diti not know whether the present hope that more goods might be carried towards tho end of the month would bo realised. But if ,thero was to be any more naulago on the railways, the goods truffle would have to be increased first. (Hear, hear.) lie was glad to hear from tho deputation that this view was accepted, it might bo possible to do something about the carriage of stud stock, timber, mill flax, and cement tor dairy factories. ' He could give the assurance that tho Railway Department had no pleasure in putting these inconveniences on the people. They had no ulterior motive. Somo people had said that the Government had done this to give Labour a slap in the face. It. would have been very short-sighted policy on the part of thcvGts-crnment to do this with that object. The truth of the matter was that there was no coal.

Shortage Since 1916. The Hon. W. D. S. MucDounld said that tho Government had known about the coal shortage long before the, cut in services was made. Ever since 1916 thero had been . a coal shortage in the country. There had been continual trouble about tho wages of miners, and tho trouble was still going on. There was to be a conference between tho unions and the mine owners about the end of the month. In tho last year of the war there had been a fair output from the New Zkiliukl mines, but after tho Christmas holidays hundreds of minora had not come back into the mines. In some of the mines which had employed from 500 to IiOO men not more than naif this number were being employed now. At the State mine 110 men had been lost after the holidays. Eveiy inducement had been offered to these men to come back, but up till the present it had not been possible to get anything like the required number of miners. Some men were certainly coming back now to tho State mines, but whether this was to bocorno general he did not know. Tho Government had even gone outside the Dominion to get coal miners, but wages were high all over the world, and New Zealand could offer no special inducements. In Australia the Government might have got some men—a hundred had actually been booked—but they had got information from tho unions here that miners were idle here, and that times were 'bad. Mr. Mabin: Then there is some evil influence keeping men away from the mines.

Mr. Mac Donald said that,at anyratp tho men would not come. Tho present acute situation was caused by the epidemic and the shortage of shipping caused by the strike. New Zealand had never mined sufficient coal for her own requirements. When our ship; went to Australia for coal at the time of the strike the crews gave notice and walked ashore, and the boats were tied up. It was impossible for any Government to get over such troubles. So far as possible the Government had been trying to meet tho miners, trying to induce tlieni to get into the mines. It was not claimed that the State mines were ideal, but they seemed to bo satisfactory to the miners, and yet there wero always houses to let there. No doubt the housing conditions at some of the other mines were iiot good, but a large number of the uni satisfactory houses were owned by the miners themselves, and it wa; a question whether these men would move from these places into rented houses if they wero provided for them. The conditions would have to bo made more sanitary and more attractive for the wives and j families of tho miners. This matter was now under consideration, and something might yet be done. .A suggestion had .been made about Mokau coal. He received aliout 25 letter? I every day making suggestions for the [ opening up of new mines. He would refrain from saying anything much aboi'.t Mok-au, liecau'so it belonged to private peonle. But he had had a report from a Public Works. Ensineer to Ihe effect that it wou'd cost ,£100,01)0 to make the river navigable. He urged, in conclusion, that the sensible thing lo do at presentwag to concentrate the available labour in the mines already equipped and devoloned. New mines would not help out of the present trouble. There was _ not enough labour now for the opened mines. Unless miners went back to the mine-> again there would bo no more coal. Tho mines wero no lontrer attractive to men. High wages, could be made above-ground on the waterfront and in the sawmills. Plain Speaking. The Hon. A. M. Myers said that tho Minister of Railways had had every justification for supposing that ho would bu able to continue, normal traffic becauso until the month oi June the quantity of coal iriven to tho railways was equal to tho average requirements. Prior to Juno tho railways had received 21,000 tons a month, but iii Juno this had In hn cut. down to 13,000. In his anxiety in cator for the peoplo Mr. Merries had boon instilled in hanging on to the existing services as long as possible. Tho outlook for tho future was at the moment more hopeful. There, was at pro«ont in sit;ht about: 70,000 tons of coal, and this coal had been obtained by tho olt'orts of tho Government in obtaining and chartering ships for tho carriage of coal. Whether it was possible _ to go hack to normal now was a question for \orv serious ''osuteration, because no one know what; was going to happen. .Sneakiim as Minister who had been in charire of coal supply and distribution, and as Minister of Finance, he would • sav Hint, this Dominion had never been faced with a more serious position than at mvsent. We could not go on should, erintr our war burdens with a shortage of tliree-n natters of a million tons of coal a vear. The output of the Now Zealand mines since January was down 1117,000 tons hv comparison with last year, and I hnd it not been for tho importation of • more than 50.000 tons of coal tho position would have been worse. Tho outnut, of the New Zealand mines must bo increased. Without that tho country could not carry on. The problem would

have lo be gone into on its merits, and nnv bndv of men suggesting that there should be higher wages without increased nutnut vim ;ißKii"'.K faf the impossible. He wished to make this very clear lo the neuule of this country, for it was his ilutv as Minister to speak very clearly as to the responsibilities of the people. The onlv solution of the present problem w.'us mite work and more output. The eeuntrv could not go on with any section of the community—farmers, walersiders. or miners—restricting output or h'ssenimr outnut. and no section of the cmumunitv could refuse to accept its lesnonsibilities for increasing output. All must aim at greater efficiency anil greater output. AVe had iust coma through the biggest war in historv, and we hnil spent on it eighty million pounds. How could tlie Dominion bear the interest and sinking fund on this sum unless tho output were increased? No effort had been spared 1-v him or his Department to get coal from overseas, even at high prices. Prices had never been a consideration. .Efforts were still being made .0 get ao much coal as possible from Australia, but it was not possible to say when any of their anticipations would bo set aside. Por tlhis work there had been available only three of the vessels of the "Union Company. 'As soon as conditions altered every available ounce of tonnage would be put into the running to bring coal from Newcastle. All Questions Considered. The question of. the earlier closing down of business premises had not been lost sight of by the Government, and regulations had been uassed some. time ago in regard to lighting. But having regard to'the fact that only slack coal was used for the generation of power lo produce electric light, it was not considered desirable that there should be a curtailment. Tho local authorities themselves had power to make restrictions on lighting, power, and tram services. If the local bodies did not use these powers, and the exigencies of the situatiou demanded it. the Government might have to give a lead. In regard to tramways, Auckland and Wellington were very scattered cities, and unless in case of. dire necessity the Government would not be justified in making restrictions. It must not be supposed that the Government was doing nothing. Owing to tho efforts of the Government all essential industries 'had been kept going. Had any singlo dairy factory or freezing works slopped work for a'day for lack of coal? If there should bo a continuance of the present position, the Government would have J ; q give a lead to the local authorities in tho matter of the; consumption of coal for municipal services. There had been n shortage of 37,000 tons in t : li« output of the mines for last month. If this continued the Government would have to do something. As to tho question raised about advances to sawmillers against stacked timber, he would suggest that, this was proper business for the hanks, ami Tie had no doubt that they would help tho country in this matter. Mr. Hemes had told them that the steamers used only slack coal useless for the railways. But let it not be supnosod that, the shipping companies were doing as • they liked. He had had interviews with the general manager of the Union Companv. ajid hail discussed with him the possibility of vestricting steamer running. The question was s'lill mmV consideration, but until the position lwcanie more acute ho thought tho ships should be allowed to run as at, present.

He only hoped that the-situation would permit of the resumption of tho railway services in (lie near future. If nothing untoward 'happened i'i the meantime there might be justification for reviewins the position at th<; end of tlnynonth. But there was only one woper and permanent solution, and that was to increase tho output of the New Zealand mines.

CLASSIFICATION OF GOODS. Uy Teloeranli-■ l'ri-« A«nclntlon. Auckland. July 10. The Auckland Farmers' Union passed n motion protesting against tho blocking on the railways of absolutely necessary commodities, and urgently calling nn tho Government to immediately classify purely essential works as distinct from nonessential works, stick as material, plant, etc.. for dairy, freezing, and w.Miure works essentially necessary in the interests of production.