CANNOT GO ON

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 269, 8 July 1932, Page 6

CANNOT GO ON

owners' present losses. AUCKLAND, Wednesday. Sid Edwin Mitchelson, chairman of directors of the Hikurangi Coal Company, in a statement yesterday, contended that the coal companies had borne the brunt of the depression in the industry while the miners had enjoyed good wages, that costs must be reduced, that the owners of a mine must be master in their own house, and that pinpricking and capricious strikes must cease. The new terms might appear hard to the men, but the terms submitted were as fair as the owners could afford to offer, Sir Edward stated. The men apparently forgot that they had earned good wages for years, while a large proportion of the coal mining companies had been steadily losing money in the face of a huge decrease in the demand for coal owing to the greater use of electric power and oil fuel. While the earning power of the miners had not been reduced, the price of coal had suffered several reduetions, with a possibility of further reduetions in the near future. That was the reason any agreement to be made could not he extended beyond January 31 next. "The whole of the earnings of the Hikurangi Company's mine has, for the past seven years, been expended in wages, stores, and timber, without providing either dividend to the shareholders or any reserve," said Sir Edward. "As a matter of fact, the company lost last year £5000. Such a position is neither fair nor reasonable, and this state of things must be ended."