A DIRTY SMOKY BUSINESS.

Taihape Daily Times, 15 August 1918, Page 4

A DIRTY SMOKY BUSINESS.

Another ray of light is thown on the New Zealand coal situation by the Minister for Mines, the Hon. W. D. S. McDonald. To a deputation from the National Executives of the Federation of Labour he said, the Government intended to see that there was no exploitation by the owners of mines. He admitted that consumers were being charged a high price for coal, but ho was not able to say if the middleman **as making 'excessive (profits. He tendered his sympathy to the deputation, and said he was hopeful that something would be done to avert a dislocation of the industry. In connection with this coal trouble, which seems a permanent adjunct to every winter as,it comes round, meetings of labour are being held in the four chief cities and in various other centres. We have pointed out that an agreement was arrived at over a year agoj while coal was selling at a certain price, the remuneration of miners, was adjusted thereto to the full satisfaction of the, men. : Since then the great patriots who control our coalmines have sought by every means to go on' increasing their charges for coal to'the consumer until their ,; .acts have- become an undeniable scandal. -The middle and poorer classes, who constitute the bulk of Wellington,' have been compelled to buy a mixture of dirt and coal dust or go without ; altogether. For that muck they have had to pay full price of best screened coal, and in some instances they have had to pay for delivery. This dirt and dust costs five shillings a ton-at the mine but to the consumer the price is anything from thirty-two to forty shillings a ton; stuff that falls through the grate as fast as it is shovelled on to the fire. Arguments and explanations tendered by the mine-owners appeal to one as the acme of speciousness; they say that six hundredweight of every ton railed is lost in transit; it is so fine that it.gets a^ay/through crevices or is blown away by the.. .wind. Even with such, a lop the retailer would be able to net a profit of from twelve to sixteen shillings a ton for delivering it. Of course, this is all too absurd; it is well known what retailers have to pay for their supplies at the mine. We have had a little experience of the dirt and dust in Taihape, but not much; in Wellington no other coal is obtainable by the ordinary householder. The miners and labour organisations cannot take any steps to prevent mine-owners throwing dust at people, but miners can refuse to be bound to old agreements while owners are breaking it in.spirit at every point. The stand the owners take is that an agreement was made to pay a certain rate of wages last year, and whether they treble the price of coal or sell dirt and dust, refuse that has been accumulating, at coal prices, the miners and public have no right or cause to squeal. We wonder what these coal patriots would do if the men wero demanding higher wages while coal values were receding. Government sympathy is rightly with the men.