RAILWAY "CUT"

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 7, 3 October 1919, Page 8

RAILWAY "CUT"

SITTINGS OF ROYAL COMMISSION INCIDENCE OF SHIPPING Tho Royal Commissionwhich is inquiring into the oause of the curtailment in . the railway Bervices continued its deliberations" under the presi- \ dency of Mr.'.'l. P. Maxwell, associated '. -with whom, were Messrs.' J. Marchbanks and.W. D. Hunt. 1 Mr. A.' W. Blair, on behalf of tlio Board of Munitions, put in correspond- ■ ence which he contended showed that the ; . coal shortage was due, to the action'of' 'ths!'*Mlwwr'-'Depaitment' owing., to .the 1: fact, that: it did not pTess for'sufficient ; .tonnage." " 1 ! Evidence., was given bvl'VJ. Gunn, officer in control of the Coal Supplies Depaj'tmont,' wk> said that'in his opinion ' the Coal. Bhorwge'was due to the number : ■of miners being greatly depleted during . the iror period and the lack ,of tonnage f 'for th 6 conveyance of coal. Coal could ■ have been prooured from Newcastle, but ■ ■ • there was no tonnage' to convey it. The shipping had 'been diverted l'or Imperial i purposes. Steps were taken to seoure i. tonnago by oorrasj>oridence. with the - High - Commissioner -and ', the Commonf; wealth, but the conditions created by tho war absolutely precluded tonnage .. boing secured at pre-war rates. . -Any ' vessel engaged in: tho. Newcastle trade oould'haye earned three time 3 the usual ■{■''rates' if-employed' elsewhere. • No stone, 'was loft 'unturned by the -Minister .in ; ehargo aiul tho heads of his Department i 'to relieve tie position. Every endeavour -was made to lneet the. requirements, and P - ell ; tKat'vras humanly possible to; cope -with. :tha urgency of the position was car- ■ ' ried out. Witness went on to state that ■ lie,: wished; to .express his appreciation of the cooperation which he received from Mr. Asians, of tho Railway Department, : in connection with the coal situation. He .'. -wished to emphasise this because he had reason to differ, with Mr. Aekins touching certain views the latter had expressed - before the commission. Ia stressing .that ji- • the State ■ Coal Mines -Department had , more than fulfilled its obligations to the. ; Railway Department, witness pointed out ; ■ that in' 1917' 50,000 ■ odd/ toils' of screened -''coal -from 'the .State, mines were delivered . 'to the Department, and in 1918 48,172 i: . tons were delivered, notwithstanding the faot that in 1918 there'was practically a : ■ roduotion of 20,000 tons in the output at the-Point-Elizabeth.mine. • Witness did, .not conceive that .-it was any part of his. ? duty to find coal- for tho ..Railway Dc--partrtiont..No interference whatever was mnde ivith the Railway Department proW curing coal on its own account. Records showed that for the year ending March; ' 1919, the Railway Department had received 35,000 tons more of hard coal than i it did the previous: year. Erom '1914 to. 1916 there had .been -comparatively few . strikes, but since then they had increased to'such an extent as to constitute grave difficulties in the way of tho Ixmrd. : , . (At this stage Mr.. Blair put in a etatof;- ment .from; Mr. A,. S.' Collins, -'deputy-, chairman.ofthe Wellington Coal Trade Committee, who was unable to be present f: on Mooornt of'indisposition: • ; '

A Witness's Opinion. - ; In answer to Mr. .Blair Mr. Gunn aaid i that they ; had found no difficulty in disposing of the coal offered' to.and. refused by/the Railway: Department.,- , Mr. Blair:.Then we may take it that h . the'hea'ds'of'industries were-longer-sight-ed than; the Railway. Department, - and ' " that they'eagerly accepted the coal refused by the Railway Department. Witness: Yes, to their-credit, they did. ' Witness added that they realised the / seriousness of -the situation and were ; willing'to.fake coal at any: price,' Later i.'witness stated that, there had been more strikes during the war period than before—under peace. . ■ , , . - • To the 'phairman: *In 1918-19 the ami ports'/of coal fronn Newoastle ,were '.nearly, double those of the previous year.This was the result of the measure of control ! exerted over shipping. T There was no' : . sealed contract as to ■ freights between - the railways and the Union Steam Ship ii Company., To Sir. 1 'Marchbanks: Tlie distribution ' of coal w:as fairly, earned out •- 'the different industries. ' 'No influence was brought to bear on the Department . to dre 'preference to any one industry. Had the epidemic not occurred and had It not been followed by the . shipping i : strike railway "cut" would never have occurred. ' . Witness, was examined by. Mr. Hunt, -who remarked that seeing that the gas ? companies had been supplied all the time > and .the railways had n6t, and had had to cut down their time-table, witness must have considered'them of moTe.im.- ; portance: than the railways and, other i,. essential industries. The gasworks had V never had'to.close down. ". : - : i Witness,"in replying at'some, length, explained that frequently some 'of the ' gas works had been reduced to ,two ; hours', supply. In keeping them supi, plied- the board took' into account the -fact-, that"!the- use of gas for heating and ■ ■ cooking by'householders would keep down the..dqmestiq.consumption of 'coal. An-; "J-- other point.-was that they got back 50 ' per'cent of: the coal used by gas works, - inline'shaijie'of. ooke. ■ The gas works. ; 'again could utiliso some of, the poorer grades of coal.whioh wore, . wholly un!;i -suitable for the railways. .

j'. To-Mr.,.Myers:/His Department was j ;' constantly;' getting particulars from the r Railway Department as -to tho amount of : - coal-requirirf.' Except as regards their i attitude during the last month tlie De- ; partment had supplied the fullest infori mation. 1 : Mr. Myers: .Would it not be possible " to divert.moro of the, hard ooal to the ' railways:,and other: essential purposes;', and more'of the lignite 'coal, (a'ton of hard coal being equal to 1} tons of lignite for, railway puiyoses) from .the railways to ! householders arid, non-essential " industries?. .. " '. ' Witness: I don't think that wo oould have done more, than we - have done in *-\ tho .matter. .Mr.'Myers: It is a fact that there has , teehipsed by,-the railways since' the war '-/'-started.and during your administration of . coal distribution aoout the same quantity of lignite as they used before the, •J the figures inn very'even. - Witness Withdraws Criticism.

Alfred If.-Adams, assistant-manager of the Woolston Tanneries, and formerly chief executive officer of tho Munitions : and Supplies Board, in evidence said* ' thatino ono was more disappointed than : himself to find, that in! July lost tho : Railway Department had to further cur/.tail its services, bccanso of coal shortage. ■ Tho board,had always made every effort to a«sist the railways becauso it rccog,'nised that they were entitled to first consideration, -ivhioh they always, got. >' Mr. Adams emphasised that the Railway '< Department had oonsistentl*- refused to look at the question except from their , own- standpoint, and had stood in their I own light through their. refusal to en- ' tertain any proposal'to burn any olass of - coal but firet-olasa screened hard coal. Witness also took the Department to task for its refusal to pay more than 255. per ton freight for coal except in isolated oases at long intervals. There : would have been no acute shortage for the railways if tho Department had been prepared to pay tho price ruling for overseas tonnage in 1917-18. Through this ac- • tion on tho part of the Railway. Depart- : meat, the Munitions and Supplies De- ' partmen't"virtually came to an Impasse-. ! it could not proceod any further. Mr. Adams went on to point out that tliero : were times when coal was required for national purposes outside of tho railways : - just as urgently as for tho latter ser- • vice. < Witness, who was subjected to a searoh- ■ ing cross-examination by Mr. Myers, said I that the statement made by Mr. Ackins arid other railway officers reflected on bis " (witness's) reputation. Ho denied having attempted in his statement to the commission to vilify tho Railway Department's officers. • , ■ Mr. Myers: You say that tho shortage . happened through the Railway Departnient refusing tonnage at ruling rates?— "Yes, that's the heart of it." : After further examination of witness ; the chairman pointed out that somo oi ' Ms'"evidence, merely amounted to an oxj pressiou of opinion and nothing else. Witness rejoined that his statement had : ; been hurriedly prepared at short notice, and lie would neleto certain portions of it. - i The commission adjourned at 5.10 p.m. : until 10.30 o'clock this morning.