The Dominion. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28,1920. DEAR COAL

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 2, 28 September 1920, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28,1920. DEAR COAL

Probably very few people realise . what an enormous burden is being : imposed on this country, by the < miners who are' systematically reducing tho output of coal, and at the same time blocking .(for the time being) tho enterprising development and expansion of the mining industry, which' would enable the Dominion to make really effective use of its coal resources. As a matter of fact, the annual amount that is being lost to the country by the action of the miners, if it were saved, would fall not very far short of meeting the Dominion's share of the annual cost of the war. It is difficult to reduce the matter to an exact and complete reckoning, chiefly for the reason that the anti-social policy of tfta miners tends in so many, ways to impoverish the jest of the population. There is no difficulty, however, in demonstrating that unlesß existing conditions are changed for the better, the Dominion in the immediate future will be called upon to spend annually 'in importing coal millions more than need be spent if a reasonable output were, secured from its own mines. The country already is at such a pas'; where coal supplies are concerned that the prospect now raised of a big increase in imports from .Newcastle and from America will .no doubt be hailed generally in a snint of relief, but when account is taken of the enormously enhanced _ price of overseas coal, an increase m importations is anything but a reason for congratulation. Already coal has been imported for the railways and for industries at a price exceeding in some cases £7 per ton -that is to say, at more than twice the price of similar coal of local origin! At -the same time, the ruling tendency, as the General,. Mann-, ger of Railways points out in his annual report, is to a still further advance in the cost of imported coal. If the figures of local production and imports arc considered in light of these facts, an enormous annual loss is" at once . apparent. During 1919 tho Dominion imported 455,000 tons of coal, and even so the total supplies available only slighfclv exceeded the output of our own mines in 1914. If the difference between tho price of local and imported coal is taken at about £3 per ton (it promises soon to be considerably more), the loss entailed in importing 455,000 tons that might have been produced locally, is nearly £1,500,000 per annum. This, however, is only an item of the total loss resulting from the partial paralvsis Of the local coalmining industry. The latest report of the Coal' Control Department points out that in order that_ current demands may be fully satisfied the Dominion needs two million tons of hard coal per annum-more «han twice as much of this class of coal as was produced from its own mines during-1919. It is probably well within the mark to assume that an additional outlay of much more than £3,000,000 per . annum would be entailed in importing the deficit of over a million tons (if that were possible) instead of raising it from New Zealand mines. No doubt the importation of coal on this scale is impossible, but it is quite certain that a continued shortage of supplies will occasion even heavier losses than the importation of coal at exorbitant rates. It has to be considered also that the margin between the prices of local and imported coal would be much wider but for the reduction of output in New Zealand mines, which greatly increases the overhead cost of producing each ton, of coal. Seriously as tho Dominion is penalised in paying exorbitant prices for imported coal, and higher prices for local . coal than would be justified if the mining industry, were in normal working order, an even greater burden is occasioned by the ultimate effects on industry of the short supply and high price' of coal. In practically every important branch of industry these factors more or less seriously cripple production, and, of course, are reflected in increased prices to the public. The combined effect on prices of the restricted output of local coal and the importation of supplies at £7 a ton or more has yet to become fully apparent, and wlien it does it undoubtedly will be staggering.. Even now, the total burden the miners have imposed nn 1 the rest of the population vastly exceeds the sums that are being stient in importing dear coal, and is HMo. doubt tli."t under detailed examination this burden would prove to be nearly, if not quite as heavy as that of war obligations.