COAL CRISIS

Hokitika Guardian, 11 June 1929, Page 5

COAL CRISIS

' PICKETS OUT EARLY. SITUATION MORE T'EINSJ*. (Australian Press Association) NEWCASTLE, June 10. Between tnree and lour thousand coal miners marchtvi to tile Richmond Main Colliery before six o’clock this morning and picketed the mine. The police reported Unit nothing had occurred to warrant their intervention. From this mine the engine drivers aiul lii'ejnen had ibeen withdrawn and growing restlessness was more manifest each day. v SYDNEY GAS SHORTAGE. SYDNEY, .June 10. The community is at last beginning to feel the effects of the.coal hold-up. The largest metropolitan gas company announces restrictions on its supply, urging the consumers to use ten per cent Jess gas for cooking. The company is forthwith cutting off the gas between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., and between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. This will affect half a million people lyThe restaurants are already radically revising their menus. The State Government has appointed an' emergency Gas Board, similar to that during the 1917 strike. The Government assures that the police force is adequate for the preservation of order, although the feeling is tense on the Northern coalfields. COAL RESERVES EXHAUSTED. SYDNEY, June 1. Air O. MacDonald, chairman of the Northern Collieries’ Association, when interviewed, admitted that the position was extroiiiely serious for gas users. He said fffiat if the safety men are withdrawn, together with the engine drivers, from the Western and Southern pits, the coal supplies of the State will immediately cease. He added that all of the coal reserves are by now exhausted. THE INQUIRY. REOPENING OF MINES. SYDNEY, June 10. Tiie New South Wales Coal Commission intends, (before hearing evidence, to inspect the pits. Counsel is urging that the whole evidence he taken in camera, and this (point is now under consideration. Air J. A. Browne, counsel for the miners, has appealed for the reopening of the mines on the old conditions before the investigation commences. {This aspect is to ho placed before the mine owners and the Government. ALL OUT POLICY LIKELY. POSSIBLE ON FRIDAY. (Received this day at 9.25 a.m.) SYDNEY, June 11. It is feared that a coal strike throughout the whole State will occui on Friday. The engine drivers and firemen need to give only twenty-four hours’ notice, and Atkins (State Secretary) is confident to-morrow’s meeting of the State Council will endorse the “ all-out ” policy. * A general strike will close down steel works at Newcastle within a very short period, throwing ten thousand men out of employment. AtJ|lie Coal Commission, Air Browne, K.C., representing Alining Unions, stated the miners were prepared to return to work under the conditions, prevailing previous to the cessation. . H pit wages costs are higher than claimed bv Unions', we will submit to wliatevei adjustment of wages is considered necessary, he said. It is improbable that the coal owners will agree to a resumption of work on pre-existing rates of pay. VAN BLACK CRASHES. OCCUPANTS UNINJURED. (Received this day at 8.30- a.m.) DELHI, June 10. Van Ler Black crashed when landing at Dumdum aerodrome, Calcutta, in a giant Fokker. The machine was partially wrecked and the flight to the Far East has been abandoned. The five occupants of the plane were not injured.