THE COAL POSITION

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10614, 12 June 1920, Page 7

THE COAL POSITION

SHORTAGE STiLL ACUTE INTERESTING 1 XFORAIATION FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. OUTLOOK MORE FAVOURABLE. From inquiries os to the local coal position, made yesterday by a ‘‘Times” representative, it wue ascertained that an additional IAO tons for household pnrpcacs was at the time of asking hcina unloaded by the Kmnara, and that the State Coal Depot was gettine -UVj to oOt) tons from the Kaiapoi, which will brine a further supply

next wecK. It uas pointed out, hoivever, that the State Depot lias some XO.OUO orders on hand unexecuted, fome of winch were booked six weeks to two months ago; and that, oven with regular and adequate supplies, it must ncen-sarily take seme considerable time to pull up this leeway. Tho local industries, it was staled, arc still living Iroiu .shipment to shipment, as they have had no chance for a long time past to build up any reserve to speak of. They were getting regular Biippiieii now r however, and the portion would he nuieh better but tor the bad wen they on the West Coast, whßh had delayed shipping very much. The Lars had been closed for two or three days on end. and all coal ships were working behind time. THE RAILWAYS. Mr IE W. McVilly, General Manager of Railways, on being approached ju regard to the coal position so far as the railways are concerned, elated that, as a matter of policy, in the best interests of the public, his department made it a principle never to .disclose information of that character. STATE DEPOT CATCHING UR WITH ORDERS.

Tlie manager of the State Coal Depot stated that the depot had sums 800 curds of firewood in hand, ami was landing about 400 turns of coal that afternoon, ex Kaiapol, while preapect-s for the future were good. The Goal Control Omco was releasing coal for tho depot aud keeping it going with regular supplies of 400 tons per week. ‘The only trouble was that weather delays on the West Coast sometimes upsec arrangements. Owing to this cause, the depot had been out of coat for tho last tow days. The depot also had a very large number of orders on hand to supply. They were, however, xatching' up with the orders all tha time that they- did not have these weather delays; and. given regular supplies, would overtake them before lung.

TRIBUTE TO COAL CONTROL. '"Ever v body knows that there is fiot sufficient coal available,'' stated a prominent coal dealer to a •'Times” representative yesterday. '“But,” he added, ‘'the Coal Control Committee 2s doing all it possibly can for householders and for everybody else. The position, of course, js accentuated by tho fact that nobody has any reserve supplies. Just lately we have been getting bigger supplies for household use, and that has been a groat help. The whole of the coal is distributed by 'the Coal Control_Committec; and we, knowing the situation, are only too grateful to them for their eiforts. INaturally, wc would all like to get more coal; but you can’t when the coal is not available. V. e olten have people coming to us, saying that they have iukl come to Wellington, have no dealer, and want to get coal; and this may in many cases bo so, but the difficulty is that dealers have thoir regular customers, and you naturally conserve their interests before you take on outsiders. It is common for us to be a week or a fortnight behind with orders, and if we were to take on fresh customers wo should never get these back orders cleared up. We would have no coal, for them. If we liked we could easily sell all out coal to people who would pay spot cash «nd tako tho coal away themselves. But, under ■ the circumstances,_ the card system of controlling the distribution' is the beet. With the card System, the coal control _ officers see every permit that goes in, aud can tell at once if any people arc getting more than they ought. Otherwise, one person might got a ton of coal and ethers be left without ajtogether. butler the circumstances, the petition at tho present time is very good, as we have got extra supplies of coal this past week. But,-'again, we may bo short before very long, M o are just endeavouring to make up deliveries that are behindhand, and can do so if the weather on the- V est Coast allows regular supplies to come to hand. But it is necessarily a very hand-to-mouth sort of business just "now, though the Coal Control Committee is doing all it can in the interest! of householders, consistently with tho requirements of industry.”