COAL SUPPLIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 May 1917, Page 3

COAL SUPPLIES.

STOOICS EXTRAORDINARY LOW. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, May '25. The position in respect to coal supplies remains rather perplexing. The Jfcvr Zealand miners are working with a will at tlie present time and production is above expectations. The Hon. A. M. Myers, who in this matter does not) represent-the whole Ministry, quotes figures regarding the anticipated imports from Australia during the next twelve months with the -apparent object of showing that the crisis is past. But in commercial circles there is an undercurrent' of nervousness, and information that has reached your correspondent suggests that the Ministers themselves are not at one on the subject of coal.

If the miners remain at work and do not resume the go slow ■.■ policy, find if the imports of coal from Newcastle are as large as Mr. Myers expects tliem to be, all will be well. New Zealand will have sufficient coal. But the "its" demand attention. Stocks of coal in New Zealand are very low at the present time. The Railway Department has been eating into its reserves of lute and it does not hold the twelve weeks' sup-ply-which the officers of the Department demand as a safe margin. Municipalities and gas works throughout New Zealand are short of coal. They are living hand to mouth, and this is the position of most of the coal yards. These facts mean that the position will become critical very quickly if there is any furthpi' interference with supplies. That is why Mr. Myers is being blamed in some quarters for making reassuring statements based on expectations tint may prove to be over optimistic. V'our correspondent has no wish at all to plav the part of alarmist. But the facts are plain to see. Stocks of coal in New Zealand are extraordinarily low :it Hi ft present time. The Dominion is committed to provide large quantities of coal month by month for Imperial purposes. The troubles that led to the recent strike of coal miners have not been adjusted. And there, can be no certainty that bottoms will be available to bring 380,000 tons of Newcastle coal, the amount mentioned by Mr. Myers, to. New Zealand during the. next twelve months. The situation, on the face of it, demands economy and caution. Bumor has it that the members of the National Government are sharply divided in their attitude towards the'coal problem and that some of the Ministers are demanding drastic economies until depleted stocks have been restored to the safety level.