The Grey River Argus THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1948. SUITABLE INDUSTRY FOR BULLER

Grey River Argus, 25 March 1948, Page 4

The Grey River Argus THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1948. SUITABLE INDUSTRY FOR BULLER

among proposals advocated to promote development in the Buller district, there would appear to be merit in that tor the establishment of a coal briquetting' works, which was yesterday a subject of discussion at the meeting of the County Council. As there pointed out, the plans of economic development some time ago formulated allocated to Buller this particular industry, as was naturally to have been anticipated when one of the objects in view was that of a considerable degree of decentralisation of industry. There may, indeed, be several considerations which would go to make some other locality a suitable one for briquetting. It has been publicly stated that a site for briquetting works lias been proposed in Canterbury. If is not, indeed, the first time that briquetting has there been projected, there having been some years ago a plan to establish works ar Soekburn. which is the location now being mentioned. For a lengthy period it has stood to the credit of Christchurch entrepreneurs that tfhey have fostered new industries, and to-day that city has a pretty fair variety. The existence *of facilities for fresh industries is therefore more probable in such a place than in localities where secondary industries are lacking. On the other hand, this very circumstance of industrial aggregation, evident so markedly already in this country around the two main centres of the North Island, is apt to create problems of a social character, as well as to accentuate still more the growing tendency of population to concentrate in urban masses, leaving the countryside relatively depopulated in a greater ratio from year to year. From that standpoint alone, any policy decision on industry which might tip the balance in favour of decentralisation is to be desiderated. As between the Buller and Canterbury districts, other things being reasonably equal, the former, not only from a local, but also from a national standpoint, ought, it, would seem, to be entitled to preference. It is understood that as yet no final decision has been taken by the Government on this matter of the. site for a South, Island briquetting plant. It is true that the thing was tried previously in the Buller, but in those days whole coal was so plentiful for all and sundry that briquettes did not find a sale so readily. Indeed, no little coal used then to be discarded as “slack”, the idea of briquetting which having been to turn such waste material to account, as some, day may be the case also with, sawdust,

The position is entirely different now. Anything that burns is welcome for householders no less than industrialists. Briquettes, if economically priced, will never again be a drug on the market, whether produced in the vicinity of a city, or of the place where the raw material is in plentiful supply. It is not claimed that costs of production in the forme” case would be markedly less than in the latter. It might even be that transportation of the raw material so far would entail the greater cost, but whether so or hot, the. briquetting industry should be relatively a greater benefit for the community of Buller than for that of Canterbury, affording greater employment, and more closely correlating two industries which have a natural affinity. The Dominion depends upon the mining communities for fuel, an.l to the extent that it studies the interests of those communities its fuel supply should b'e fostered. Local bodies representing conn ties of Buller, Nelson, Marlborough and Inangahua have endorsed the proposal for briquetting works in Buller, which has a place in the regional develop mental plan. Whatever the advantages, therefore, which may be expected from locating the works elsewhere they do not appear as weighty as those which point to theirestablishment precisely where the essential material is more readily and cheaply available.