NATIONALISATION.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 208, 2 September 1919, Page 5

NATIONALISATION.

THE COAb ISSUE.

QUESTION OF DIRECT ACTION. (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.) LONDON, September 1. Important Labour conferences will be held during the next few days. The executive of the Miners' Federation is to meet to-morrow. The principal subject for consideration is the Government's refusal to nationalise the mines. The federation itself will meet on Wednesday to receive the recommendation of the executive. There is no considerable diversity of opinion in the federation as regards nationalisation. The crucial question will be the method of achieving a reversal of the Government's policy. Advocates of direct action at present arc somewhat discredited. A number of responsible leaders, with a strong following, oppose direct action in any shape or form. Responsibility may be transferred to the conference of the Triple Labour Alliance, which will' meet on Thursday. At this conference nationalisation and direct action will be the principal topics, but all decisions of either the Miners' Federation or the Triple Alliance will be overclouded by the imminence of the annual Trades Union Congress at Glasgow on September 8. — (A. and N.Z.)

For nearly twenty years proposals to nationalise the railways and the coal mines have appeared annually on the agenda paper of the Trades Union Congress. Resolutions in favour of nationalisation were always carried by the congress, but the trades unions were powerless to enforce their wishes. They were so powerless that their demands for nationalisation did not disturb the equanimity of business men. But the war, which brought about State control of the railways and the mines, has given the trades unions an opportunity to carry their nationalisation proposals to

victory. Since the armistice was signed ten months ago the railway men and the coal miners have been able to obtain from the Government substantial concessions in the way of increased wages and shorter hours. These substantial additions to the working expenses help along the cause of nationalisation, because the profitable these industries have become, the less anxious will the original owners be to resume possession. At the present time the railways of Great Britain, which paid the shareholders of the railway companies £40,000.000 annually in dividends, are being worked by the State at a loss estimated at £00,000,000 a year.

Tho Coal Commission which was appointed by the Government, virtually for the purpose of arbitrating on the demands of the miners, recommended substantial concessions to the miners in the form of increased wages and reduced working hours. These recommendations were acted upon by the Government, but they cannot be continued if the coal mines are hjinded back to the former owners, unless the price of coal, which is now nearly twice the pre-war price, is further increased in order to abolish loss nnd give the owners a profit. The Coal Commission, after making these recommendations, was commissioned to inquire and report on the question of the nationalisation of the coal industry. In presenting its report on this question the commission, which consisted of thirteen members, split up into four groups. All of the groups agreed that the coal resources of the country should tie nationalised, i.e., that the coal lands should be taken out of the possession of the large land owners, who levy a toll of nearly .CG,000,000 annually on the coal industry in the form of royalties for permission to mine the coal on their lands. Three of the other groups were in favour of the nationalisation of the production and distribution of coal. The fourth group, representing the mine owners, opposed the nationalisation of the mines. The Coal Commission has not settle;! the question of the nationalisation .of the mines. That question has still to lie fought out in the country and in Parliament. But the reports of the commission have alarmed not only the business men who own the mines, but also the business men connected with other industries, because they have awakened to the fact that there is a danger of a rapid cxteni tion of the principle of nationalisation to other industries. On the part of the most influential business men in Ensland opposition to nationalisation is bein" organised both inside and outside Parliament.