Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1920. MINERS AND OUTPUT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLI, Issue 9393, 15 December 1920, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1920. MINERS AND OUTPUT.

; The .New.. .Zealand. ikfine Owners' Association has decided not to arrant the demand made by the Miners' Federation for an immediate increase in wages of 25 per cent, on the!,>ground; that the national agreement stipulates that neither rates .of pay "'nor bonus shall ,be , alWed during the term of the-agreement,, which has not yet expired.- 'Itis to be hoped, flint another dislocation of industry will not, result,; because in such an event the consequences on the community 'generally would be ; . most serious .;■■ The conditions'." in the coal .mining industry in New Zealand have for some time been very acute, and the relations .between owners and men have , been yery strained. A. da-y or two ago some Suggestions were put * forward 'by the President .'of the Mine| ;/.ow^riers' Association for ; ■securing a better understanding between^ the parties, and he. Stated VtWt; ah increase in the 1 output of' cpat.woujd be facilitated'by improyed^ relations -with the men:'' -Mr Eeece made a number of Suggestions^ the •' :'-' I'-'':being'i'tne'; establishment in each mining district i —)vt of Whitley Council. -For the fixing of ' agreements «< for a( term Mr Recce" suggests "the appointment. of a tribunal haying the approval of owners, miners, and the public. It j.< is easy to agree that a tribunal ;so unique in its r composition.. ;w6uld have great moral authority, but how to constitute it is a problem of no small dimensions. Mr Eeece 's ideas are indefinite, but his prof posal that the public .should in some way be, represented is worthy of consideration. The outline of his scheme; is blurred, but it might be brought into sharper definition by; an industrial conference of the'land advo^ cated by organised 'labour and rejected by the employers on no ivery sound ground. Here at least ' is one idea for an industrial conjference, and if the ..conference did | no more than to bring real peace in the coal mines it would, not have met in vain. Few Zealand is greatly interested an the 1 matter of .increased production from the mines, and it is on this ,that practical efforts must be concentrated . Some attention should be given in this connection to the experiment recently inaugurated in Great Britain. The essential feature of the settlement, which followed, the* recent miners' •strike in the United Kingdom is the payment of a bonus in consideration of, and proportiohedto, increased output. The latest reported figures of output suggest that this arrangement is showing admirable results, and that already good progress is. being made towards re-establish-ing the pre-war rate of output. More time is needed for a con-j elusive' test, but available figures imply that the new principle inH troduced is effectively serving its in tended purpose in stimulating output. So far.as Few Zealand is concerned, wage earners in particular ought to realise that the present decline in the output of coal, as it continues, is auto-

'Tiuvtically cutting- down real wages in all industries. On the oilier hand, a substantial increase in the output of coal would lower workingl costs in many industries and the general cost of living, and would tend at once to raise real wages in all industries and t0...'- >TT"!rt had times and unemployment. . ■