McDonald Mine Lease

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1038, 31 July 1930, Page 8

McDonald Mine Lease

MINISTER DEFENDS ACTION “No Concession Granted” SWORDS CROSSED WITH MR. ENDEAN THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS, Wednesday. A DENIAL that the Glen Afton Collieries had been granted a concession in connection with the lease of the McDonald Mine and a claim that £25,000 was being saved the Auckland Power Board through the arrangement and that £BO,OOO was being saved through the board’s not having to buy coal from Australia, were made in the House today by the Minister of Railways, the Hon. W. A. Yeitch, during the course of his speech in the Budget debate.

Mr. Veitch said that in connection with the royalty, every mine in the Waikato was paying 6d royalty on every ton of coal, while the McDonald mine was paying Bd. The royalty would be reconsidered at the end of three years and would be readjusted if Arapuni were in service then.

The Leader of the Labour Party, Mr. H. E. Holland: Why charge 8d royalty when all new companies are charged Is? Mr. Veitch said that the charge of Is was made in the South Island because the coal there was hard bituminous of high quality as against the lignite in the Waikato. When supplies for the Auckland Power Board were being considered, Mr. Veitch said, the Associated Coal Mines in the Waikato wanted 17s 6d a ton for crushed coal and 10s a ton for slack, whereas the contract for Glen Afton coal was 2s a ton lower in each case. Then there was the agreement that* if neccesary, the McDonlald mine would supply the Public Works Department with 300 tons a day at the same price which. would be ©f benefit to the departmentThe Government was not bound to take the McDonald Mine coal, but the coal had to be sold at the prices stated. Under the other conditions the Auckland Power Board, which the Government had to compensate while Arapuni was out of action,- would have to pay £25,000 extra, amount had been saved by the contract. If the Auckland Board could not have got the coal at that price it would have had to import from Australia, which meant a loss of £BO,OOO, so that altogether the savings were considerable. MR. ENDEAN QUESTIONED Seeing the member for Parnell, Mr. W. P. Endean, resume his seat, Mr. Veitch said that that member had said he knew of a company which was willing to pay Is royalty and to supply coal to the Government, Would Mr. Endean give the name of that company? Mr. Endean: Didn’t you get an offer at 12.50 last Friday fortnight that a company was willing to pay one shilling a ton. royalty and supply coal at the same price as Glen Afton'2 Mr. Veitch: I am not here to be cross-examined. Will the honourable gentleman give the name? Mr. Endean: Ask the Minister ofMines? Mr. Veitch: I ask the honourable gentleman to give me the name of tho company. Mr. Endean: Did you not get an offer by telephone on that day? Mr. Veitch: Ah, the honourable gentleman does not give me the name of the company. CALLING FOR TENDERS Later in the evening, Mr. Veitch, who was formerly Minister of Mines,. said that there was more than one reason for not calling tenders. He said in reply to a question by Mr. Coates that the Auckland Power Board had been extremely anxious to cable for a power plant as soon as possible, if it could get a reasonable price for a supply of coal The whole of Auckland, seeing that Arapuni had broken down, required' power and the position was extremely urgent. Another reason for the necessity of not calling tenders was that Auckland consumers were under a risk of being cut off from supplies. Mr. Veitch had known only one firm in the Waikato that was not in combination with the coalmine owners and what was the use of calling tenders if only i one out of the combination was willing to quote less that ITs 6d and lOs a

ton for the supply? That firm was the Glen Afton. The members of the Auckland Power Board had left Wellington thoroughly satisfied with the arrangements and he invited his friend—he did not feel like calling him his friend—the member for Raglan to call on the Auckland Power Board authorities to satisfy himself that the deal was on a good -business footing.

Mr. W. Lee Martin (Labour—Raglan), who had accused the Minister of discourtesy in his correspondence: I’m not complaining of that bit of correspondence. Mr. Veitch said the member knew the correspondence was on file. There followed denials and affirmations by Mr. Lee Martin and Mr. Veitch until Mr. Speaker called for order.

Air. Veitch resumed that the Government would have been politically wiser if it had saved its skin by calling tenders and not worrying about the Auckland Power Board’s position and the price of coal. The Government had been politically wise to that extent, but had saved the Auckland Power Board extra expense. Earlier ho had asked the member for Parnell, Mr. W. P. Endean, to name the company willing to supply coal at the same price and royalty as Glen Afton, but the member for Parnell had denied this information. Mr. Veitch had reason to believe that the member for Parnell was not only a large shareholder, but also a director in the Renown Coal Company in the Waikato. Mr. D. Jones (Reform —Mid-Canter-bury): What is wrong with that? “NOT PLAYING GAME” Mr. Veitch said there was nothing wrong, but the fact that Air. Endean was a director and shareholder proved that he had something to do with the offer, which proved that he was not playing the game and was withholding information for political advantage He was not giving Mr. Veitch a change to defend himself. Mr. Veitch said he was assuming that the Renown Company, although one of the companies in the group in the Waikato, would have been able to extricate the Auckland Power Board from its difficulties, and apparently it had gone back on its friends and made the offer against the Glen Afton Company. Regarding a question by Mr. Coat 33 concerning the Mines Department approving the sale, Mr. Veitch said thav almost immediately he had taken over the portfolio of the Mines he had been recommended to dispose of the property almost at any cost. Until the present offer had been received, however, the highest price offered had been ‘one he could not accept. Later in the debate, Mr. Lee Martin rose to answer the remarks of Air. Veitch, and said that all he had complained of was not something sinister in tho actions of the Government, but discourteous treatment of the correspondence from him to the Minister. He had been led to believe that no negotiations were in progress. He denied that he was in league with the coalmine owners and suggested that the Alinister should withdraw that statement. „ Mr. R. Semple (Labour—Wellington East): He’s not decent enough to do that. Mr. Martin continued that the evidence showed the negotiations were going on all the time, and even if Arapuni had not broken down tho McDonald Mine would have been leased of sold. He had had every reason to complain of discourtesy in connection with the correspondence regarding the mine.