The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1920. RUMINATIONS ABOUT COAL.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3562, 26 August 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1920. RUMINATIONS ABOUT COAL.

With which is incorporated "The Taihape Post and Waimarino News,"

; This Dominion's Coal problem is, to ; say the least, most vexatious and -irritating, here is within New Zealand shores all the coal that is sufficient to meet the national demands i and .yet a fleet of exceeding/ expensive Coal ships is kept busy bri aging coal from Australia. Nov Zealand mines are not worked to the;: full capacity, and there are nearly discovered coal-bearing areas which are not being tapped, and probably will not tie :thoroughly exported untii the coal using era has just aboi: petered lout, and then it may remain where it now lies, in its natural bed, because there ' will be insufficient demand to warrant '■its being worked. The day, even, ' when, a coal mine was regarded as a goldmine seems to have departed, •notwithstanding the fact that what coal is mined is on sale in virtually paper parcel, lots, and at prices trebling those of a few years ago. In Wellington the coal shortage is of the most extreme character. A widower: lady a few days ago was congratulating herself on having secured three bags, the first time she had been able to buy such a huge quantity for many months past, probably years. The price of those three bags was a little staggering to a woman who has to work to keep her home going, but, turning round to engage a oarrelr to take her prize to her home she found that the lowest sum any of the carriers there would take was ten shillings. Now, most people will realise that the cost of cartage alone should have been sufficient to pay for the coal and also its delivery, and yet a conscienceless Government Department tells the people that the cost of living has gone up only 62 per cent., and that prices are actually falling. There is coal in abundance waiting to "be mined, and as it is not mined it can only be conjectured that it is to some people's advantage to let it remain where it is". It is rather bewildering to ordinary reasoners to know why ships cannot be found to take away the immense accumulations of coal on the West Coast of the South Island, and yet are available in plenty to bring coal from Australia. ' Why should stoppage of coal from Australia be cause for calamity? We know there are plausible pretexts in bushel baskets full; there, is no shortage of plausible pretexts why Australian mines should be exploited for the benefit of shipping rings, who are impoverishing everybody, increasing cost of living and causing widespread industrial unrest* with an unparalleled and unprecedented extortion; and also why New Zealand mines should be kept from coming into serious competition so that the exploitation may continue. There are men of every shade of political opinion in Parliament, even, who do not hesitate to declaim the system that prevents the country's natural resources l being utilised to the utmost. The land is sold by the State, and the purchaser claims ownship right down, through hades, to the core of the globe, if no further; and it seems a pity New Zealand owners* do not get in far enough to meet the fellows from the other side, and there settle between themselves who is entitled to go on right through. Rider Haggard need have no fear about New Zealand mine-owners ever taking enough out of this side to throw the old sphere off its balance, and cause it to roll over so that' the surface land in one hemisphere becomes ocean, while ocean in the other rolls up high and dry. We do not say it would not be an excellent Idea if

something of the kind could be made to happen, for then there would, at least, be a chance that from the few humans succumbing the rolling over process there might arise a more intelligent race of people; humans with reasoning faculties not- sloughed in greed; a race that would not keep coal and other natural good things from being rescued from the earth simply because their fellows were likely to get a share of the henetfis accruing therefrom. If this earth is ever thrown off its balance, and does roll over on its axis, or the poles become the equator and the equator the poles, as Sir Rider Haggard suggests it may do, we know that New Zea- j land mine-owners will not have been i the cause; that they will be clearly ' above suspicion of guilt. The holes they have made from taking out coal —State included—will scarcely furnish burial for the unfortunate Parliament and people who may lose their balance In the toppling process. This side will, however, be the heaviest, . and naturally, 'i n accordance with law of gravity it will go down and become submerged in ocean, probably a repetition of the Atlanta business; and this all makes it understandable why the coal-fellows on. the other side of the earth are working so desperately hard to get all the coal out they can; they intend to be on lop when the roll oyer eventuates. This is all humbug, of course, but it is just as intelligent ,an explanation of the coal situation as that which is seriously being advanced by interested people. The obvious fact is, there is ample coal in New Zealand for all Dominion needs, and it could be mined and sold at a price people could manage, if not afford, to pay fur it, but it does not suit those, who are said to own it, to allow. *t to be mined. All the protested desire to evolve better producing relationship by workers and employers is, when ex-rayed, proved to be nothing more than camouflage, and until th* scheme, whatever it is, matures people will get no more coal than they are now receiving. The State Is a coal-owner but citizens of the State go just as coalless as if. the State had no mines. Perhaps this constitutes an unanswerable argument against nationalisation o£,anything; but while human flesh and blood is nationalised we cannot ,quite understand why coal should be unobtainable if nationalisation is capable of solving the problem. ..;