OUTPUT OF COAL

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 280, 25 August 1942, Page 3

OUTPUT OF COAL

Collieries Chairman In Reply To Minister Dominion Special Service. AUCKLAND, August 24. “The statement by the Minister of Mines, Mr. Webb, that the output of coal a man in the New Zealand collieries had increased was not. substantiated by the experience in the Waikato collieries,” said Mr. A. Hayward, chairman of directors of Glen Afton Collieries, Limited, at the annual meeting. Mr. Hayward, explained that it was correct as far as the quantity of coal produced by the individual miner was concerned, but the output was affected by the trucking position. Mr. Webb had stated that when lie worked ae a trucker he could keep three pairs of miners going. Mr. Webb must have been a good worker, said Mr. Hayward, for today eight truckers were required to remove the coal hewn by 10 jniners. Mr. Hayward added that trucking costs had increased by 03 per cent. Truckers were receiving 24/- a day. Efforts had been made since last March to arrange for trucking contracts and negotiations were still proceeding. There was a definite shortage of truckers in the mines, said Mr. Hayward, and miners had had to be taken off the face to keep the trucks moving. The great concern of the owners was to produce coal irrespective of the economic factor, important as that was.

Dealing with Saturday work, Mr. Hayward said that the scheme had proved a failure. Of 31 miners at Glen Afton only seven had reported for Saturday work on one particular day, while at MacDonald 42 out of 90 had turned up. Production had dropped from 1000 tons to about 300 tons, though this output was sojtietimets increased by sunpliises from the previous day’s mining.