H.—44a

16

It was not, however, till the early " eighties " that ooal-mining became of any importance. Up to that time the Maori troubles in tho North, and the lack of communication facilities on the West Coast, as well as tho small and sparsely distributed population, retarded its development. By the early " seventies " most of the important fields had been discovered, and at the middle of the " eighties " the making of the harbours at Greymouth and Westport cheapened the production and marketing of West Coast coal. The Homebush Colliery, in Canterbury, was opened, in 1873 ; the Nightcaps Company, Southland, was formed in 1880, and the present Westport Company in 1881. The latter's newer mine at Millerton first produced coal in 1896. Towards the end of the " nineties " there was a tendency towards amalgamation of collieries ; the present Taupiri Company was so formed in 1899, and the New Zealand Oil and Coal Company (Kaitangata) in 1898. In 1901 the State Coal-mines Act provided for the acquisition and working of State coal-mines under the direct control of the Minister of Mines ; and two mines, the Point Elizabeth Mine, near Greymouth, and the Seddonville Mine, near Westport, were opened, the output stage being reached in 1904 and. 1903 respectively. The Blackball Company had begun operations near Greymouth in 1893, and in 1905 the Paparoa Company was formed. In the latter year the Westport-Stoekton Company began operations, and reached the output stage in 1908. Still newer collieries are those of the Pukemiro and Mount Torlesse Companies, which began to produce in 1915 and 1918 respectively. The growth in the production, import, and consumption of coal has already been indicated by the statistics quoted in section 1 (vi) and (vii) above. 3. [CAPITALJTN &THE COAL [INDUSTRY. Prom the earliest days the coal industry has drawn a considerable part of the capital used in its development from sources within the Dominion. The necessary investments were made largely by men on the spot more or less familiar with local conditions. Even with the increasing scale of production the proportion of capital drawn directly from abroad is not large. Of the large mining companies whose affairs we investigated, all of which are of the joint-stock limited-liability type, only three have their headquarters situated outside the Dominion, and of these a considerable part of the capital is owned by local residents.

Table 12. —Capital and Location of the Chief Coal-mining Companies operating in New Zealand.

A large part of the capital employed in coal-mining is fixed in form and specialized to particular uses. This fact, as well as the large amount of total capital required to open up and maintain a mine, makes it advisable, in order to minimize the cost of production per ton, to reduce the amount of time the mine is idle to the lowest possible extent. Every day of lost time piles up the standing or overhead charges connected with the capital cost, which must be borne by the output. The interests common to the owners of capital invested in coal-mining are guarded by the New Zealand Coal-mine Owners' Association. This is a body consisting at present of eighteen members, all limited-liability joint-stock companies engaged in coal-production. Its activities are confined in

( Situation of Amomt ()[ Authorized Mead Office. Minos. Capital. Residence of the Holders of the Majority of Shares. i Name of Company. Head Office. Amount of Paid-up Capital. Blackball Coal Company (Limited) .. London £ jondon .. , Blackball, near Grey- 35,000 mouth Auckland .. Hikurangi, near 22,500 Whangarei Christehureh Homebush, Malvern 17,000 Hills iOndon . . Canterbury, inland 100,000 .. Kaitangata .. 192,694 £ 28,330 New Zealand. Hikurangi Coal Company (Limited) .. Auckland .. 16,224 $ Homebush Brick and Coal Company Christehureh (Limited) Mount Torlesse Collieries (Limited) .. London Now Zealand Coal and Oil Company (Li- I „ mited) Nightcaps Coal Company (Limited) .. ' Invereargill Northern Coal Company (Limited) .. Auckland . . 17,000 100,000 192,694 England. nvorcargill Nightcaps .. 40,000 Vuokland . . K i r i p a k a, [near 49,500 Whangarei Wellington Roa, near Greymouth Auckland .. Pukemiro, near ] 60,000 Huntly Junedin .. Kaitangata .. j Uckland.. Huntly .. .. 1150,000 Wellington Brunnerton, near I Greymouth Glen Massey, near 80,000 Ngaruawahia lunedin .. Denniston and Miller- 500,000 ton, near Westport Christehureh Stockton, near West- 200,000 port Wellington Dunollic and Rcwanui, near Greymouth 42^797^ New Zealand Paparoa Coal-mining Company (Limited)* Wellington Pukemiro Collieries (Limited) .. .. Auckland.. 50,000 New Zealand. Taratu Coal-mines (Limited) .. .. Dunedin .. Taupiri Coal-mines (Limited) .. .. I Auckland .. Tyneside Proprietary (Limited) .. Wellington 141,000 33 Waipa Railway and Collieries (Limited) ,, 79,905 Westport Coal Company (Limited) .. , Dunedin .. 450,000 33 Westport-Stockton Coal Company (Li- : Christehureh mited) Government of New Zealand .. .. Wellington 179,19l| * In liquidation.