COAL PRICES RAISED 6d. AND 8d. TON
May Increase Cost of Gas And Electricity

Consumers of coal in Brisbane were notified by the West Moreton District Coal Board today that prices had been increased by 6d. and 8d. a ton for coal from the Ipswich and Rosewood districts respectively. The reason given for the increase was that it was to cover a provision in the new Federal award granting annual leave with pay to employees. When the award was made it was estimated that this provision would cost Queensland colliery owners £3,0,000 a year.

Appeals will be made against the increases to the Central Coal Board, and it will depend on the result of these whether the price of gas or electricity will be affected by the increase in coal costs.

The West Moreton Coal Board  advised consumers today that the price for coal from the Bundamba, Ipswich, and North Ipswich collieries had been, increased by 6d. a ton from August 1, while the price of coal from the Rosewood. Lanefield, Marburg, Amberley, Walloon, Mt. Elliott, and Moorefield collieries had been increased by 8d. a ton. The increase in coal prices will cost the Brisbane City Council and the City Electric Light Co. Ltd., which use about 150,000 tons of coal between them – an additional £3,800 a year. Added to the recent rise, in the basic wage, this amount means a substantial increase in production costs.

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MINER INJURED – Alfred Allan Edwardson, of 28 Ellenborough-street, strained the muscles of his back when he was lifting a waggon at the Mount Elliott Colliery, Amberley, yesterday. Ambulance bearers gave first aid and took him to the General Hospital, after which the was taken home.

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Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld.), Saturday 11 January 1947, page 3

The Mt. Elliott Coal Company asked if anything could be done to improve the road leading from the main Rosewood-road into the Mt. Elllott pit. Cr. Dick moved that the work be done, and the motion was carried.

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Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld.), Wednesday 29 October 1947, page 2

Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld.), Friday 11 June 1948, page 2

Letters to the Editor MT. ELLIOTT MINERS’ VIEWS
Sir, Having noted the expressions of opinion of Ipswich miners at branch meetings during the past fortnight, we, the miners of Mt. Elllott No. 1 Colliery, consider that many of these opinions are exactly the same as those which caused us to refuse to stop work from the very first day of the strike. The main concern of the Ipswich men is not to split the union by returning to work one branch at a time. Many feel that the Rosewood miners are blameworthy for having done so, but we feel that the ones to blame-if the union is split – are not the Rosewood miners, but those who called the strike in the first place.

Our argument has been, and still is, that this strike was never justified. It becomes more evident every day that the miners’ claims should have been, and eventually will have to be settled, in Arbitration Court, also, that these claims have become, perhaps always were, only a secondary consideration to the militant officers of the union. Their primary aim has been to cause political and economic chaos.

We are pleased to see that on the Ipswich field, men like Mr. Kupfer are at last speaking their minds. We would like them to know that they have our support, and, we imagine,. that of most other reasonable minded miners. MT. ELLIOTT NO. 1 MINERS .

INJURED BY CIRCULAR SAW – Ipswich Ambulance bearers treated a miner employed at the Mt. Elliott Colliery for injuries to the fingers of the left hand and left arm following an accident involving a circular saw at the colliery yesterday. The miner, W. George (married), of Roderick-street, Ipswich, was treated for severe lacerations of the left fingers and a large lacerated wound to the left arm before being taken to the Ipswlch General Hospital for further attention.

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Miner Injured – Alan Goss (married), Walker’s Lane. Booval, received a laceration over the right eye when he fell from a moving skip at Mt. Elliott Colliery about 11.15 a.m. yesterday. He was given first aid by Ipswich ambulance bearers. and taken to the General Hospital for further treatment

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MINERS STOP WORK – A Queensland Colliery Employees’ Union official yesterday said that Mt. Elliott Colliery, Amberley, miners had stopped work yesterday as a result of a domestic dispute.

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STOPS CAP COAL POLL – Because 14 men worked at the Mt. Elliott colliery at Amberley when the mass meetings were held in the pillar extraction question, the other employees, numbering 29, have refused to work with them. As a result the colliery today produced only a portion of its usual 90 tons output a day. The 40 employees of the New Amberfield colliery, at Amberley, went on strike today as a protest against the action of the manager in driving the haulage motor and having brushing work carried on when the mine was idle for the mass meeting.