COAL FOR PETONE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 141, 10 March 1920, Page 8

COAL FOR PETONE

BOROUGH COUNCIL COMPLAINT AGAINST COAL COMMITTEE BOTH SIDES OF THE QUESTION A series of complaints against the distribution of coal by the Wellington Coal Trade Committeo was mad? by a deputation representing the Petone Borough Council, which waited on the Prime Minister yesterday. The council, some years ago, undertook tho sale and distribution of coal within the borough, and it was in respect of meagre supplies allotted to the borough coal depot-that the complaints were made. Members of the Coal Trade Committee were present at the interview. Mr. J. W. Mlwan (Mayor of Petone) put the case for the borough. He said that the council had entered into the coal Imsiness in 1914, and as the result: of their opcrnt'ons had obtained an increasing share of the coal supply' business in the borough. It had never been the intention of the council' to make money out of the business. Some proftfs had been made, but they had been all absorbed in the purchase of plant and ia the erection of a coal store. His first complaint against, the Coal Committee was that it had failed to realise that tha b-us'ness of the council was a growing business, and had not given to the council an increasing share of the coal available. It was said that the private dealers were entitled to consideration, and he would have little to say in opposition to that if Hie private dealers had as= efficient and as cheap a system of distribution as had tho, council, but this was not so. He claimed that the council served the people better than the private • dealers.. The council delivered only in 'hundredweight lots, but the privato dealers delivered in average lots of 3cwt. Private dealers had their own particular group of customers, and seldom supplied any others. The council, 'being' a public body, had to supply any persnn who was in need of coal. The result of the practice of s the coal dealers was that their customers often had plenty of coal, while the great majority of the people in the town had no coal at all. The council sold coal at 3s. 3d. per cwt., while the private denlers were charging 4<s. or even ss. per cwt. when they could get it. He de. ckred, too. that the dealers were in the habit of delivering only 1001b. lac a hundredweight. $nd he had some cvidonee that the weight was sometimes very much shorter than that. If tljo council had the privilege of supplying all the cnal now going through the hands of the private dealers, there would be a saving to the people of Petone of .£1437 in one year. It was quite apparent that the cnal dealers had taken full advantage of the coal shortage, and were turning the situation to profit, knowing that the people must have coal, and would pay almost any price for it. On behalf of the council, he asked for more supplies for the municipal depot. What the Dealers Do.' Councillor Anderson said that the figures supplied by the Coal Committee to the Minister "regarding the distribution of coal by the private dealers were wrong. When the dealers had coal they would supply to customers in any lots at all, oven in ton and two-ton lots. Tho majority of the people in Petone were working folk, and they could not afford to buy coal in such quantities. The6e people were customers of the council, and they comprised 75 per cent, of the population. In his own home he had had only one hundredweight of coal in three months.

Councillor Tovey appealed to the Prime Minister to make a veal reduction in the cost of living in Petone by giving the council a larger share of the available coal for the people of the borough. Statements Contradicted. Mr. W. W. Gibson, of the Coal Trade Committee, replied on behalf of the committee. He said that the deputation had made some amazing statements—that no other dealer in Petone but the council was delivering cgal in jots of one hundredweight, and that dealers were in tlie habit of delivering in one and twoton lots. He could pretty safely contradict both of these statements. It vas not possible for any dealer to deliver a lot of more than 3ewt. without obtaining a. permit, and these permits wei'o very carefully scrutinised. Without committing a breach of the regulations no dealer could deliver one or two tons to a single customer. The truth of the mutter was that the committee had no ijoal to give to the council. Only by closing down industries would it be possible to release sufficient coal for household eonsumption. Last week the State mines had been closed down owing to an outbreak of influenza, and the committee depended on theso mines for the supply of gas coal and bunker coal. The result of this closing down of the State mines was that the cominittet had to call on the Westport mine and the WestportStockton mine to keep the gasworks going, in addition to supplying other industries. Tha Wellington Gas Company would have been out of coal on Thursday if they had not been given 420 tons of screened coal which should have gone to householders This was sufficient only to keen them going until next Tuesday, and tnero was then no coal, in sight with the possible exception of a cargo of Newcastle coal coming fonthe Bailway Department. Owing to the state of the tramTay services in Wellington it was not possible for the corporation to burn anything but Westport coal. If all this coal were given to the council there would be none for bunkering, and the ships would have to be laid up. Theso were some of the committee's difficulties. The Petone, Borough Council was asking the Coal Committee to use the machinery established ;by the Government for a purpose for which it was never intended—to give the council a monopoly of conl supply in the borough. The committee was not concerned with the council or with the dealers, hut it was interested in the people of Petone, and he claimed that the people of Petone were not worse off, but rather better off than the people of other suburbs or of the citv.

"Creatinn a Monopoly," Mr. A. S. Collins, also of*the Coal Committee, said that the citizens of Wellington, "the real herons of the coal shortage," had put up wit> much more than the Petono people, and had done it with much lew complaint. The Tctone Borough Council had had better treatment than any other rooJ'dealer in tho Wellington district. He maintained that •he Coal Committee had no right to use its power to create a monopoly for tho Petone Council, even if the council's methods were better than the methods of the dealers. As to the charges that the dealers were giving short weight, these charges should not lie made in'the absence of the dealers, but should lie made the subject of prosecutions, or offieial complaint. The remedy for tho trouble was in the hands of the people of Petono; they should refuse to give orders to tho private dealers, and then the dealers would eet no coal. Mr. Massj}-: If these statements nbout «hort wch'tft a'v '•orrcct, then the people in possession of them are not doing their dutv in not reporting the matter to the Authorities. ■ Mr. Collins said also that it would not be possible for dealers to sell coal to householders in ton lots. Tf cases of this were roported the committee would try to discover a remedy. The members of'the cmumitfpo could imt do their own detective work. TTe lield _ that the committee had nothing to do with the price of ccal or Hie cost of living. AH that the com. mittee had to do was to see that avail- ■'!•'•• sM'inlies of coal wore equitably distributed. M- ll'Vwn-i ns'.-n-l Hi!'l- H'e eommillve should take account of the fact that tho business of the borough was a glowing business. Mr. A. Hamilton, also a member of the i-mnii'iHpe said Hiai H wmild not be fair to apply this test of the growing 'busippss in distributing supplies of coal which were often much less than sufficient for roiuiremeuts. Mr. Collins, in reply to a statement that the Pemne Council had 75 i-.;r cent, of the people of Petono as customers, said that any dealer in Wellington could

•do 75 per cent, of tho business of tho city if ho were given tho coal. Good Work of Coal Committee. Tho Prime Minister, roplying, eaid that the coalshortago had been a long-stand-ing trouble, and tho outlook at present was not much improved. An agreement had been made between the cool miners and the coal owners, but work in tho meantime had been stopped at the State, mine by influenza, and ho understood that in 'one or two other mines tho output per man had not yet got back to normal. He wished to thank tho Coal Committee for its assistance in a time of l great difficulty. The mombers nad done their work without reward, and ho had never had to find any fault vith tte manner in which they had done it. He hoped that in future their tasks would be lighter. Ho trusted that the interview would be productive of much good, and would clear away some of the misunderstandings which had apparently existed between tho Petone Borough Council and the committee. As to tho sharo of coal being received by the Petonp Borough Council, the figures supplied to .him showed that in the six months ended January 31, Petone Borough had received "24 tons of coal, while the several dealers in the town had received in the same time 192 tons, 177 tons, 121 tons, 149 tons, and 107 tons. If inoro was to be given to the council, then less would have to be given to the dealers, and the people of the borough would not ibo in any belter fix, except perhaps in respect to price and distribution. It was possible that some improvement might be made in regard to these matters, and he would bung tho matter to the notico of the J-'oard or Trade.