Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1920. COAL AND EXPLOITATION.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 January 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1920. COAL AND EXPLOITATION.

In a trenchant criticism of the coal situation throughout the Dominion, the Dunedin st.ar, puts the petition very plainly when it says that one thing is at least clear in the disturbed conditions of the coal industry; the public pay the preposterous cost of the whole chaotic business. It is regrettable to be. compelled to say that prospects grow blacker with the passing of the Summer. Supplies nro short, almost everywhere, except, perhaps, in the State’s railway Bins, where it is asserted by men who ought to know, there is now seven months’ supply; while in several localities the shortage of coal is desperate, necessitating an early closure of essential industries. There are many disturbing factors in the present rotten state of the New Zealand coal industry, and the system of controlled distribution of imported supplies. Pro-

duction is deliberately limited on the I.W.W. principle of the staying-in strike—folding arms whilst on the job for 15s a day; the trade in seaborne coal is deranged as a result of the chronic fever of Australian Labor; and the opportunities for exploitation are iu some eases flagrantly used. It would never do to suggest that the State is guilty of exploitation. How could it he, in the face of its possession of the most drastic anti-profiteering legislation in the world? Yet the suggestion is mado in the coal trade that the ' State, through its agents, is a party to deliberate exploitation. It is a serious charge, that calls for serious attention, for it affects the people as well as the politicians. The indictment is founded on these facts; Under the normal system of unrestricted dis-

tribution the standard price for imported coal was 40s 3d per ton, ex Union steamers (initial cost at Newcastle, 17s 9d); under the present system of State control the price is said to be GOs'ia ton. That, at any rate, is the price demanded on the instruction of the State’s representatives. It is naturally condemned as stark profiteering, and is characterised as an evil example of the results of State monopoly of the distribution of a very essential commodity. There appears to be no definite reason for the preposterous increase, though the opinion has been hazarded that the additional charge has been imposed .shrewdly for the purpose of balancing losses on shipments at exceptionally high freight rates. Unless there is a valid reason for the enormous

increase in tho price of imported coal for essential industries, the Government must he prepared to answer a charge of exploitation of customers. There are other irritating features. As a result of the lessons of the chaos experienced last year in respect to railway traffic, the bulk of the limited coal imports has been secured for the Gocomment railways to such an extent that tho spectre of famine has becen laid for many months to come. Tho departmental policy cannot bo condemned. New Zealand cannot afford a repetition of tho railway chaos, and the Prime Minister as Minister of Bail-

ways is entitled to a full measure of credit for the thorough manner in which he restored the railway traffic to appreciable efficiency. But the balance of the controlled distribution of imported coal has nob been anything like so satisfactory. Consider, for example, the recent experience of the Dunedin gasworks. A shipment of coal at the Dunedin wharves, offering .good prospects of a. good supply for an essential municipal industry. Application was duly made for an allocation of several hundred tons, but it was declined. But a supply was available at Lyttelton. It had to bo obtained, with the result that, in addition to the extra high cost of the coal at the steamer’s side, the railage, cost some 23s a ton. That surely was gross exploitation of a section of ratepayers. It is at least a notorious example of official efficiency as practised by agents of the State. As was so often experienced during the war, desperate need frequently involves desperate costs. The taxpayer will naturally think, however, that the Board of Control, and all other experts in the business would have made less costly arrangements for the supply of coal to essential industries in each centre. And the taxpayers will want to know if there is any excuse for profiteering to the extent of 60 a ton for imported coal. It is interesting to note that the Huntly Miners Union desire to break away from the accursed Federation of Labor whose vicious policy is the product, of alien agitators, who, while drawing good salaries too, easily incite honest workers to practise immoral methods at a heavy financial loss to themselves and families and to all kindred workers' in the of exploitation. There was a. time when workers enjoyed the agitator who could sa.y vulgarly, “To hell with agreements” ; it is now time for workers to .say -bluntly “To hell with the agitator.”