THE COAL SHORTAGE.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 August 1919, Page 3

THE COAL SHORTAGE.

IP INCREASFS AWE iMADE. COAL MUST BE £! TEUTON DEARER By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Aug. -21. The Government, rcply'ng to the ami miners' deputation says that it is necessary to ascertain as accurately as possible the employers' protit in order to decide whether any increase in the cost of production should he legitimately passed on to the public or taken from excess profits. Th* Government sees no reason to doubt the aeairacy of .Professor Hight's report, and this showed that the owners were 0;;ly obtaining 5 per cent. In the Government's opinion the increase cannot fairly be borne by the owners.

The deputation's first point was the objection to tiie condition attached to the oiler by the cvners that increases in wages and contract prices should not app'-lo mines-wheifl anangem.ats were in force until those agreements had expired. In this the Government supports the deputation, but does not agree that the object of the condition was to prevent a national organisation of coal miners.

The Government is unable to find evidence supporting tiic deputation's statement tacit working conditions in the State mines are better than in other mines, as the State is charging less. This only applies L« household eoal, and on it a loss is mac;-' For all other purposes the charge is the same as that of private mines. The Government is in sympathy with the suggestion that hewers should not do trucking except where the coal cannot be extracted under other conditions. Mr. Hampton summarised the subjects to which Cabinet was desired to jiivo consideration as follows: 1. Ave the miners entitled to a wage equal to pre-war conditions? 2. Does the employers' offer bring t wages up to that standard? ' 3. If not, why not?

The Government reply to the first is that legislation of last session empowers the Arbitration Court to review and, if necessary, raise vages to the pre-war standard.

The reply to the second question is that the Government consider that official data prove that the recent increases and the present off 1 * do bring the wages up to the pre-war stancrrd. The answer to the third question is that there should be m- reason to provent full effect being given to the first question. The whole matter i 9, then, reduced to the question whether the official data can be fully accented by both parties to the original dispute, if not, whether both parties canr.ot i.gree to some method of testing the accurack of the data.

Dealing with the. efu-et of the demands upon the ci.'iism.'pr, the Government says that if i.ll tin demands were granted the effect would ho to increase the cost twenty s!"'!injr. per ton to the consumer. While Hie Government considers tliat an increase ti the consumers of two to Hire? per ton might be justified, or even a little more, it doe? not consider the elements, leaving the official data open t-i fair question, exist, and even if it couM be rhown a margin does exist not full*' covered by the employers' recent offer, such margin could not he large enough to be of practical imnoi'tanpc.

The Government emphatically con-

siders the official data as accurate, and that, the increase ofiered by the. owners would raise miners' earnings to at least the equivalent in. purchasing power to their pre-war earniigs. The reply, in conclusion, deals with the question of developing unopened mines, for which the present supply of labor is insufficient., and invites the deputation to state f;ankly the position of their organisation on tb s point.