THE GREAT COAL CRISIS.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 111, 10 May 1919, Page 8

THE GREAT COAL CRISIS.

THE MINERS' CHARTER, SUBSTANTIAL CONCESSIONS OFFERED. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, March 21. Tlie Old Country is standing, at the j time of writing, on the brink of the 'gravest industrial crisis in her long bisjtory. Everybody who docs not "put j out their thinking as rich people put out .their washing" (to use a Labour leadI er's apt phrasing) must be full of apprehension as to what the next 2i hours ; may bring forth in the way of strikes. | For the moment the great question is: j "What will the miners do?" If they strike, the question of what the trans- | port workers and rail way men may do idoe 3 not seem to matter much, for the j stopping of the output of the coal mines lof the kingdom must inevitably produce I almost complete paralysis in the nation's : industrial activities, and all that depends ! upon them, in the course of a very few I days, for the country's supplies of" coal, already won and available for use, arc so small that oven to-day the users of ■ Coal for domestic purposes are, so to speak, "living from hnnd to mouth " so ,fnr as coals are concerned, and very few i indeed of the great consumers are' in a position to "carry on " for more than I a week or two. j The question whether the minors "down tools" or not depend entirely upon the view they take of the Covern- ; nient's attitude towards the findings of! the Coal Commission, and that Commission has unfortunately failed to submit a unanimous report." It has instead produced three reports; one by the miners' representatives, one by those of the coal owners, and one by the chairman. Mr. Justice Sankey, in association with the other three members of the Commission, who are representative employers of labour in the steel, the engineering, and the shipping industries respectively. It is important to note this distribution of the personnel of the Commission. The miners remain solid. The owners remain solid. The chairman in a report which tends very markedly to uphold the claims of the miners, i s supported i by the three employers who are not coal owners, hut whoso industries are entirely dependent upon coal-mining for their existence. Those who know the ground never anticipated anything approaching unanimity, for the Commission was, in its essence, a meeting of avowed partisans, and it was clear to all who gave the matter any thought that the fiovernment would most probably have to make a choice between taking its stand upon one of two esentially partisan reports, or upon tho opinion expressed by tho chairman, Mr. Justice Sankey (who is at once an impartial judge, and a mm I also with very considerable experience of the mining community and the ramifications of tho coal industry) and those members of the commission who might agree with him. The chairman's report- as it mny be called for convenience sake— nppoars to tho average man to be eminently favour- j able to the miners. It does not give them all they demand, but it is in favour of very large concessions to their claims, nnd the (lovernment has accepted it "in the spirit and the letter." In other words, the Government undertake to see put in operation an immense and far-reaching change in the conditions of the miner's employment as regards pay and hours of work. Tho chairman's report suggests a compromise on nil throe of the main points about yvhieh the others diverge. It recommends a seven hour day I the employers' concession) from July 10 next, and a six-hour day! (the men's demand) as from July 13, 1921, by which time the industry should have effected recoveries and readjustments. It offers flat increases of 2/ and 1/ instead of the coalownors' 1/0 and !>d, thus conceding (at a coHt of £30,000,000 a year) about two-thirds of the increase for which the men nsked. Nor is that all. The report declares in emphatic terms that "it is in the interests of the country that tho colliery worker shall have in the future an effective voice in the direction of the mine." It reports thnt the economics which can be carried out "should result in the industry yielding even better terms for the colliery workers than those which we are at present able to recommend." It draws attention in the strongest terms to the disclosures hb to bousing conditions made in the course of the inquiry, and makes tho suggestion that one penny per ton might at once be called on all coal raised for improving the housing and amenities of each district, which would, on the basis of the present output, provide a million a year. The report also recommends that tho commission should continue to make interim reports, at short intervals, upon possible economies and improvements, | which reports should immediately be I acted upon. Lastly, it makes the very I important declaration, that "even upon the evidence already given the presrnt lystem of ownership and working in the •oal industry stands condemned, and iomc other system must be substituted 'or it, either nationalisation, or a method if unification by national purchase or by joint control." In reference to this Mr. Bonar Law told Parliament thnt Mr Justice Sankey is prepared to promise . x full report on nationalisation by May .O. Tlie Government's attitude was nn-l

Tlie Government's attitude was announced in Parliament last night. They nre prepared to adopt Sir John Sankev's report "in the spirit and in the letter." They consider it—as, indeed, most men must when they examine it fairly- to embody a most valuable charter for the miners; nnd they appeal to them to accept it as such without exposing the nation and its allies to the incalculable hardships and perils which must result from a national coal miners' strike. By accepting the Sankey report nt the Ciovernment's instance, the miners would be assured of a substantial wage-in-crease, of a reduction in hours, which by two Rtages would reach their demand, nnd of the principle of nationalisation or something very like it. When so much can be obtained without a strike, how can the miners justify themselves in bringing ilpon the nation and upon our allies the catastrophic results which must inevitably follow anything like a prolonged strike?