COAL IMPORTATIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 May 1921, Page 4

COAL IMPORTATIONS.

The Buller Progress League at Westport is evidently devoid of a sense of humor. It passes a resolution —duly telegraphed all over the country —protesting against the policy of the Government in importing coal into the Dominion instead oi' developing its own resources, and mentions that at least two million sterling has been “unnecessarily” sent out of the country to pay for coal that could have 'been produced in the Dominion. Westport is the chief coal centre of New Zealand, and no one should know better than the Westport people that the cause of sending outside for coal is the action of their own miners, who have deliberately curtailed the output to further their own selfish ends, and are at this very moment asking for a further reduction in hours, an increase in wages, and conditions of employment the granting of which would make local coal prohibitive in price, necessitating larger importations of coal than ever. No one wants to import coal and send huge sums of our money to outside coalowners and ship-owners. Obviously it is an economic loss. Far better to have the use of our own coal, and keep the money in the country. But the action of the miners has left the Government no alternative. Let the Progress League air its eloquence and persuasion upon the miners at its own doors, and show them how they are, by their insensate action, cutting their own throats as well as the country’s. Restriction of output is a disastrous policy, in connection with the coal or any other industry. It leads to only one thing —disaster. We are suffering to-day from the effects of tins policy, and the position of the whole world will never be permanently improved until the various peoples put their backs into their work and give an adequate return for money received. The most glaring case of the fatuity of the policy in New Zealand is furnished by the miners, who are solely responsible for the conditions which the Buller Progress League affects to deplore and condemn.