The Chronicle

BULAWAYO, Thursday, August 10, 1967 — Wankie Collieries agreement was criticised today by Mr D Fawcett Phillips (RF, Hillside). After reading a clause of the agreement in Parliament, he said: “Anything the Wankie Collieries may do, may be charged to the cost of production of coal.

“If they have an agricultural show at Wankie, they charge it to the cost of production of coal. I should be delighted to engage in business on those terms,” he said.

He was moving a private member’s motion urging the Government to consider the establishment of a Rhodesian fuel research institute and the appointment of a committee of professional experts to advise on correlation of all information and methods to be applied in the operation of such an institute, in particular extraction of oil and its by-products from coal.

Mr Fawcett Phillips who was heckled by members of his own party, was asked by one interjector: “Why doesn’t the colliery do the research?”

He replied: “The colliery is a matter of private enterprise, and I think it will be accepted that if a firm indulges in research programmes it does so with the object of making a profit for its shareholders.

“The information it acquires is not for the benefit of the national economy but of its own particular economy. And that applies to Wankie too.”

Mr Fawcett Phillips said he visualised the proposed fuel research institute as part of a national council of research to deal with all aspects of the country’s industry.

Mr RTR Hawkins (RF, Charter) seconding, said geological indications showed there were no oil deposits in Rhodesia.

“Therefore, this research must be investigated,” he said. He added that he supported the suggestion of a proper survey of various coal potentials in the country.