FUTURE OF THE COAL INDUSTRY.

Hokitika Guardian, 9 February 1928, Page 1

FUTURE OF THE COAL INDUSTRY.

There are some people who. seeing that we have muddled through tho coal strike, believe that the future may he left to take care of itself. Optimism there must he. of course, if we are to get through our daily tasks, but unthinking optimism of the kind that is onlv too' prevalent to-day is meielt shortsightedness. We must not hide from ourselves the fact that the coal dispute was the most devastating reverse ever sustained by what is called the capitalist system of this count! y, devastating because it was the outcome of the needless insolvency oi our first industry, and because no other way out presented itself than the setetc and abrupt contraction of the personnel of this industry. Unless the basis of coal exploitation lie reconstructed tnrther reverses of a not less damaging character will be unavoidable. As every-, one knows, a large proportion of the raw coal produced in this country is consumed in a negligent and wasteful manner, and vast quantities of fine coal produced in the course of ordinary min-

nig operations are put to no use whatsoever. This colossal waste of coal is a wanton limitation of our powers of production, and one of the chief causes of the poverty that exists in our midst. In the past waste was unavoidable; today, it is inexcusable.—Lancelot Lawton. in The Fortnightly Review.”