The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1919. ALARMING COAL TROUBLE.

Taihape Daily Times, 28 June 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1919. ALARMING COAL TROUBLE.

With" wk-‘ch is incorporated “The Taihape Post. and Waimarino Nlews.”

The report ‘of the Board of Trade on “The Coal .Lll(lustl'y,” so long in Government hands, has been made public and distributed to the Press on the eve of a notification from the Minister of Railways Ithat the railway services are to be cut ‘down so drastically that it will be .a three days’ journey from Welling*'t'on to Aueklandi This may prove a _:good scheme by whic-h. ‘the Minister of Railways will be able to square up what he terms. his labour troubles. There are aspects about this coal fianiine that the Minister is going to -use as an excuse for cutting all railway services by one~half. During the recent past there has -been such repetition of the cry of coal shortage" that people unsuspectingly got to really believe that coal was not being mined as heretofore, but those people who like ‘to see evidence waited for statistics, and then it was discovered that more coal had been mined than in the previous year. We cannot help noting th-c indecent haste of the Minister to

lay fhe'blanlo of this railway service cul'tailment upon the miners, by seeking an intel'{'i.eW with a. newspaper re-

porter and cmphasing the fact that the M State mine was idle. It is :1 fact that this mine was idle for only ‘a few hours, not even’ days; meanwhile the whole of the railways at the coal ports kwerep congested with train upon train ,burdened with coal waiting to be shipped. Such'eii'orts to misplace blame must cause any just-minded person to look for thegulteriorpmotive. It is also a fact that ‘while the Minister for Railways is blaming ‘the few hours" idleness at the_ State Mine for the coal shortage, we receive a telegram from Greymouth stating: “The coalsidings are congested with ecal—laden waggoiis, but shipping is now avail~ able to remove all the coal above ground.” From this we learn the truth, which is that while the l‘llll\\'a_\' is congested with coal the Minister for Railways has been unable to procure :3. shipping company willing to take it to where it is required. The Minister knows that the miners have put the coal on his railw.'.lysV. and that he has no ships to relieve the trucks so that tliey nlay_' retu-rn to the mines to be refilled. _'\V‘-by is he Inisrepl'eSenting the $'.lll‘..“.:l’l0.ll to nev::~:;-:1pe“ r'epol't;*l'=,‘? .‘.Vliy does‘ he not howl at shipping companies. oi, more in rieeordanee with (-cninion sense, haVe.sh§ps eluirtered to do the work_ that Shipping companies will not. do, ifeven though the city of \Vell.ington be without fire or light? Vi/'hy are shipping companies allowed to leave wharvcs and rails congested with coal while there is no coal to run the ‘railway Vsci-vices that are uwgentlty needed to carry on the iudus-try and business of the country? The Mayor and Councillors of the City of VVcllington, While expressing the opinion that there was not sufficient labour to mine the requisite coal, unanimously carried a resolution to endeavour to charter :1 beat. to freight the city’s "cc-al rc:quirenlents. Is there "not something illogical, some great disagreement between the Couneil’s actions and its expressionsof opin-ion The resolution removes the illusion about there being no coal available. and it at the same time discovers the conviction that ample coal is there, or ‘why charter a boat t.o bring coal to Wellington? Are people to go without fires, and conduct the country’s industries without railway services, because for some Sinister motive shipping companies will not carry the coal‘! The thought is preposterous; if private shipping has utterly failed, why does not the ‘Government get possession of ships to bring the coal with which the port of Greymouth is congested, as the Wellington City Council is endeavouring to do? It seems from city newspaper reports, that a ship left New Zealand carrying 5000 tons -to Australia; why ‘are we literally “carrying coal to Newcastle” while our railway services are rendered idle and,use}ess for want of it? We hope this report is an error, because the Government that permitted a"s'hipping company to do anything of the kind would just about be fit to keep the company of ex-M.P. Webb. Statistics give rebuke to the canard about there being any shortage of coal mined last statistical year, but in -face of this rebuff, the same people are again yelling, “coal shortage.” We. have not yet read the report of the coal industry, but the Press criticisms are

Lnanimous in dubfiing it’ a glorious

compilation of nothing, ‘The word “nothing” is- ours, and used design‘ edly, because thereport in no Way helps to relieve the present terrible tension. In their evidence before the Board of Trade coalmine owners have proved to the overvvlh-elmingl -sat.i.sfaction of the Board that they are in capable of conducting the industry; that to make any profit out of their coalmines they would be compelled to enormously increase the price of coal, an increase that would render New Zealand coal useless, because prohibitive, and much above the price that coal can be got from AuStl'a»lia for. A coal—crisis here is nicely timed, wittingly or otherwise, with a great labour dispute in’ Australia, and it is notable that such troubles do usually synchronise. The Board has found that methods and management ‘Of, mines is bad, and it -unliesitatingly recommends nationalisation. I3)-:1 owners having proved to the satisfaction of the B‘oard that it is a profitlcss industry, will no doubt be anxious to sell to the State at a reasonable price (‘?)——tinle will tell. Photographs appended 'to the report clearly indicate that coal-owners have not wasted their profits in house accommodation for minors; that the men who are underground all day, spend their leisure in huts and tumble-down shaks that are scarcely fit to protect dogs from the elements. Criticisms of the Board’s report indicate that coal—short-age is not the mine-owners’ fault; not the miners’ fault; not the shipping comp:lny’s fault: then, in desperation, We ask whose fault is it? and where are the famished people to look for redress? One .critic says the report is valueless in present needs, and only provides material for endless controversy in the future. .The report is comforting in saying that coal prices will increase to beyond the people’s power to pay; and while his railways are .collgested with tcoal at Grcymouth, Mr Herries tells the people that railway services are to be so drastically cut down as to prove inadequate for carrying on the D'onli_nion’s industries. It.is, indeed, a nice moss this country has allowed thccoal industry to drift into‘;‘if a _litt_l_e tin—pot affair’ like this 'c':mnotlVb_e managed, what can be expected to happen in the man.a.gement of great national aft'air_s’:?. If, the Board of Trade’s prediction tl_iat.c'oal prices are to incl'oasingl_v go up, and there is no relief possible till the recommendation of nationalisation is brought into of'Focf. than it is linnvmi hnlr) the pomnn 4”“ Go<l’s Own Country. It is an old Fvf/'ill,<:‘ that God’ .<l'fiV9 us f’O'O(l. but the devil i":rrnis‘ll<‘d the nooksz, what shall he said about (‘«o;l’s Own (‘fountry and its administrators?