N.S.W. COAL CRISIS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 57, 5 September 1944, Page 7

N.S.W. COAL CRISIS

DEBATE THIS WEEK

(Special P.A. Correspondent.) r^i „ j SYDNEY, September 4. ■JS i~ p£ T oduc£°n is almost at its peak in New South Wales today no mine idle because of a dispute It is hoped that production this week will equal that of last week whenYthe fe^.JK?^*?l^ was less _ All special trains and trams to race meetings other sporting fixtures c? £6^ S£ u# Wales, Victoria, and bouth Australia were banned as from today, till further notice, under the National Security Regulations. Linked with the Opposition's coal censure motion, the .treatment of Peter Dargia, one of the principals in the recent Portland "butcher's girl" strike, is to become a maior issue m the Federal House of Representatives this week. A flood of protests^ against the opening of a second butcher's shop in Portland has poured m on Ministers. The Opposition is expected to make the claim in the House that Dargin is being injured because of the stand which he took to preserve his rights. The permit for the second butchery in Portland will be cited as a further example of the Government's appeasement policy towards the strikers. x £• Sydney "Sun" correspondent says today that because constant stoppages have made coal supplies from New South Wales uncertain, other States nave been forced to develop their domestic resources in an effort to become independent of New South Wales. Most successful in this move has been Tasmania, which now imports only one-third of its coal from New South Wales, compared with 75 per cent, three years .ago. . "The current debate on the Opposition's no-confidence motion has focused the widespread public resentment against both the miners' indifference to the country's interests and the Government's weakness," comments the "Sydney Morning Herald" in an editorial today. The paper adds that the tone of the Minister's speeches has plainly reflected their realisation that the Government deserved reproach.