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'? BEWILDERED. g JL?&? Vv ij6L<&?3-?&.?H?E?« Licai Coal Interest and! the "Drop." i ) Opinion of Chamber of! Commerce President. I Auckland Geddes'g momentous an- I ;i-- iiiceiueiit in the House of Commons 010 Monday regarding the reduction of t lie price of cual by His. per ton. has '*« a used extraordinary surprise in bwan- 'bL, and effect upon gus, electricity and .ivUiootic coal supplies cannot yet be auyed. It certainly comes as a wel- tu tne consumers, who iiail the reduction as a forerunner ui a enes of reductions m the prices of those comodities to which coal is a ne- cessary adj unct of production. LOCAL COAL DEALERS' VI EWS. iocal coal dealers and merchants, nowcver, view uie announcement with lIlíed fotthuys,*cu» they contend that the immediate enforcement of the reduction must, of a necessity, t'ntail considerable toss on present stocks. The Swansea Fuel Overseer tIr. J. R. .Ileath/, and his deputy tMr. Wooles), are away from Swansea to-day, and eonse- ijueutly no opinion could he expressed as tiiow the reduction would affect the latioumg of supplies. Xo othciai intima- tion had been received irom the Cual ii>at.roiiei\ oui advice on tiie mailer is expected t;rilc. THE GAS UU EST I ON. In view oi the current -statement that there would be a reduction to gas. eOB)- panics of tiie cost of such coal used by tntjao j-as works as will represent coke used tor domes! ic purposes, and that the eame would apply to electricity, i.e., there would be a reduction for (such of the current its goes to domestic use, the Loader approached the Swansea Gas Co. ou the point. They declined to ex- press any opinion whatsoever, stating that tiie oc-crtsicn was premature. Conse- quently it is impossible to state whether the gas consumers will ^c&perience any great benefit from the concession to gas com iian ies. THE INCREASE ON ELECTRICITY. I Mr. J. W. 13urr, the borough electrical engineer, stated mat lie thought it pro- bable that the projected increase of elec- tricity to consumer, which was about; to be put info operation, based on the recent; 65. per ton increase of coal, could now be abandoned. Whether or not, within a year or a further reduction would be ioumi possible, lie cuuld not say. The cast ol electricity locally had )Ply been increased 25 per cent, on pre war cost, as against, a substantial percentage in the cost of gas. Moreover, the cost of elec- tricity in other towns had gone up as much as 110 per cent. t- P to now they 3iad been able to avoid a big increase by maintaining an increased output. Coal at present cost tiie department Ifos. lOd. i)cr tor. a»s against 12s. Id. pre-war, so the ad- ditional burden could be well realised. INCREASED COST OF LABOUR. The cost of labour during the prst 12 j months had-jumped up to due to I the introduction ot the L-hour week. These factor,s combined to make another increase in the cott of electricity to the consumer inevitable: but now that there- was a possibility of coai ■being secured at considerably lets per ton. he hoped that it would not IK* necessary to make the in- tricate. A STAGGERER." Mr. J. LI van Row lands,, the sectary of tiie South Wales Coal Merchants' Federa- i -fion. said Hie news of the sudden reduc- I tion had come as a staggerer to him. Hut. of course, tiie newe w9-6- so fresh, that ho could not express au opinion upon it; as yet. Of course, lie said, such a redu dion iiecided upon by the Cabinet would have to be accompanied by some sort of ex- fj pl&mition, which, perhaps, would eluci- ti-ato the proldcJIl ot where the 10s. had Leen going to! A prominent coal merchant in the town also expressed surprise at the news, but was most undecided in his opinion of its consequences. At tuosent. I have no coal at all, except on the railway," he ei id. 1 DIFFICULTY ON RAILWAY. I 'file dithetiltv is to get it along the railwav. If I do not s/et it veiy eoon I shall be faced with a serious loss if the reduction comes into force in the mean- < time." 1 N'earlv all of the merchants approached concurred in their absolute surprise, al- though many felt assured that the re- arrangement or prices consequent upon the great reduction, would lead to con- fusion. OPINIONS AT THE DOCKS. I j The .statement in the House of Com- mons on Monday evening by Sir Auck- land Geddes respecting coastwise bunker coal being reduced to the industrial level, lias Lwti-ii received with mixed feelings at the Swansea Docks, and a spedftl meeting t)t the (.oul exporters' section of the Swan- I sea Chamber of Comeree, at which the president of the Association (Mr. Arthur 1 Andrews) w ill preside," will he held on Wednesday, when the question will be rullv gone into. Asked as to the position of local ex- porters under the new prices. a wall- kftown shipper said:- I TO- GO ON EXPORTS? I The assumption is that it will havp to I go on the export prices, because the monev to balance the cost of production must bo found from come quarter. Coal cannot be sold at a continued loss. Ilow- over in the absence of statistics it is quite 'I impossible to ay., what the present posi- tion of collieries. Another gentleman, who carries on a larire export f ade with France and Italy, observed:—" If the coal industry is to 'j pay its way, ten eh tilings takeu oil in One direction means that many more shillings will have lo be put up in others. i PI IFIHT OF FRANCE AND ITALY. I At it tiale when France and Italy ee- p;><ial!v find it very difficult to restart their i'ndust ries, on account both of the scarcity and of the high figure they have h) pay for whatever cual they get, the prospects of their having to pay still more not very encouraging for them, and ) it is not. after all, in the interests of this country that our Allies should unduly tuffer." THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. Seen bv our representative, Mr. Arthur Andrews! president of the Swansea Cham- ber of Commerce, said:—-Hie announce- ment made by Sir A. Geddes in the House of Commons yesterday has come as ¡ a ?ouph?p gurpriw. t? everyone nit?r- eitwl in the coal trade, and ? only a f Govern- j further erid cc of the effect of only a | j mcnt ocntror on'r a staple industry as ? showing Hint ?0 one man, or small group of men can possibly appreciate or under- stand the ramification of 60 huge an in- dustry like the coal trade, and are there- fore hsfcbte to make the most serious and most ill-advised decisions. A5 an ex- ample of this, only n few days ago Sir Auckland stated that the 6s. could not be reduced- That wM -in iU-advi::?! <>nfl ill-considered decision. Within a '??' days Sir Auckland announces a reriv.C.ion of IDs. per ton; that as-nin is i!u!viv>d and ill-considered. A STATE OF NERVES. I H ')g m, wonder. therefore that every- j j Ofte eiiga^< • r.'d'- n o -tare J Ji;0--t C4)1 U?lin.) j ,■? I

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