WORK IN MINES

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 23, 27 July 1945, Page 9

WORK IN MINES

MINISTER INFLUENCE"

VIEWS OF MR. M-LAGAN

Allegations of go-slow tactics, absenteeism, and stoppages among «oal miners brought a vigorous reply in the Legislative Council yesterday afternoon irom the Leader (Mr. McLagan), who is also Minister of National Service and Industrial Manpower. He produced figures relative .to coal production and days lost through stoppages and accidents, and said/ that the "sinister influence" that a critio claimed was at work in the ruaines was really the slanderous and I unjustifiable attacks made on the miners. There was room for the suggestion, he said, that the attacks were made with the intention of producing discontent among the miners, and not with the intention of increasing production. i xln the six years from 1939 to 1944, "said Mr. McLagan, coal production increased from 2,342,839 tons to 2,805,970 'a year, an increase of 463,331 tons. ?From 1939 to 1943 (which was before open-cast mining started) the miner increased his output per man shift by 10.2 per cent. Was that go-slow tactics? Up to 1944 the overall increase was 6£ per cent,, and it had to be remembered that the men were working coal in places that would not have been touched years ago, some places where the material was 50 per cent, rock.

The miner today was .-orking with inferior explosive which very often failed to explode or only partly exploded—resulting in- wasted work— and to a large: degree the mines were being worked with inexperienced men, 834 men having gone into the mines in the last two years. In spite of those factors and the unfavourable coal, the ininer had increased his output, and his reward was to be accused of shirking his job. Much had been made of the time lost- through labour disputes, Mr. McLagan went on. The working days lost through disputes were 21,439 in 1939, 11,375 in 194Q, 11,569 in 1941, 24,450 in 1942, 9105 in 1943, and 18,470 in 1944. It should be possible to run the mines with fewer stoppages of work through disputes, but he did not know anybody who could have avoided disputes as successfully as the present Government. One of the main reasons was the mutual distrust between owners and workers, and the miner had very bitter experience on which to base 'his distrust.

ACCIDENTS IN MINES.

Another and much larger cause of lost time was accidents in the mines. In 1939 the casualty rate was 61.3 per cent, of the total miners engaged, in 1940 57.2, in 1941 65.4, in 1942 70, in 1943 77£ (an all-time record), and in 1944 68.74. Those figures referred only .to accidents in which three days or ' more • were lost. ■ figures supplied by the Mines De-< . partment showed that the average !time lost by a State miner through 1 accident was 28J days.. For all mines it would be reasonable to take an average of 28. Therefore, in 1939 73,000 working days were lost through accident. There was a terrible uproar about 21,000 days lost by disputes, but there was no concern about the .accidents. There were' 72,100 days ldst in 1940, 81,600 in .1941, 87.425 in 1942, 104,200 in 1943, and 96,150 in 1944—a1l thrcfugh* accidents.

New Zealand was the onljr part of the British Empire that had increased its coal output in the war years. The output in Great Britain was 50,000,000 tons lower than in 1939, but New Zealand had increased its output by 19 per cent. ~ •

The Government had done well in keeping the retail price of coal to its old level—the wholesale price of coal in Britain had increased by 70 per cent. —and in boosting the; output, but the miners had done still better. Instead of being slandered habitually the miners should be recognised as the most hard-working body of men in the Dominion.

The miner was not criticised by other hard workers —labourers, shearers, farm labourers, and so on—but by those who could do as much in a mine m a week as a ; miner would; do in a day. He submitted, said Mr. McLagan, that the "sinister influence" was the constant attacks on the miner. Could anyone expect to improve the state of affairs by unjustifiable attacks? It had brought the inevitable result that the miner felt that if people would not stop slandering him he would stop work, and there was room for the suggestion that the attacks were intended to produce that feeling and not increase the production.

LIVING ACCOMMODATION.

The problem of miners' living accommodation had to be overcome, but he was afraid the owners could not be looked to for assistance, as they had fallen down on the job of providing housing and amenities for their employees. There were mining communities in New Zealand that were a disgrace to any civilised countryThe time would come when the intensity and duration of work in the mines would have to be reduced. Miners were willing during the war, but they were not machines and there was a limit to endurance. As soon as the war was over the reduction of working hours would be undertaken by the Government, which would also improve living conditions and would see that the coal required was produced. ,■''■■■

He felt, said Mr. McLagan, that the campaign of attacks on the miners had been carried to such a stage that the people of the Dominion/had come to the conclusion that it was well founded. The time had arrived when something had to be said in reply and the case stated for the miners as it actually was and riot as somebody wanted to make it appear. ,