COAL GOES UP.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 December 1920, Page 5

COAL GOES UP.

SHIPMENTS FROM AUSTRALIA UNCERTAIN. RISE OF 2s Od PER TON An application to increase the price of coal came before the Auckland Prices Investigation Tribunal at its last meeting for the year. The application was made on'behalf of the Auckland Coal Dealers' Association. The tribunal, taking ail the circumstances put before it into account, decided that an increase of 2s 9d per ton should be allowed. It would 'seem that New Zealand's allowance of steam coal from Australia is to be somewhat curtailed in the future.

Discussing the matter, a member of the firm of Messrs. J. J. Craig, Ltd., who has just- returned from Australia, said that the original arrangement made between the two Governments wus that New Zealand should get a monthly allowance of 50,000 tons of Maitland fuel. This baa now been varied to the extent that the monthly allowance must include a percentage of "borehole" coal. As a matter of fact, the prospects of getting any Maitlaml coal for New Zealand before'the cud of February next were remote. The increase in price, it was explained, is d»e largely to the increased wages bonus affecting so many wage-earners employed in the industry. Loss of weight in transit from the mine is another important factor.