BRITISH COAL CRISIS.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 158, 5 July 1921, Page 2

BRITISH COAL CRISIS.

! THE ISSUES REVIEWED. }!_HE STRIKERS AXD THE STRUCKii '! BB.ITISH PRIME MINISTER AXD l NATIONALISATION. For ninety days Great Britain has now been in the grip of the worst coal ( strike in her history; and, so far from clearing, the darkness has seemed to grow deeper, and the gulf which separated the opposing sides has seemed to widen. From time to time there appeared a rift in the clouds, only, however, to be closed again with the clouds of mutually opposing interests; while the nation, her stiength being thus ("rained, had perforce to look on in I pathetic helplessness. At last, howjever, the welcome news has been cabled . that "the coaiminers and the mine- | owners have arrived at an agreement , on the wages question, thus enabling the I resumption of work immediately." i Even in Britain, and far more therefore, at this distance from the scene of j conflict, the issues and principles at | stake have been greatly beclouded; and I it has been exceedingly difficult, in the ' light of the confusing and contradictory stntements made, from opposite sides, to arrive at anything like certitude regarding the justice or otherwise of the miners' demands. | The dispute resolved itself (1) into jthe question of a national pool, and (2) into that of wages. Concerning the i first, it will be remembered that the jSankey Commission, which the Government appointed to look into, and to report upon; the coalmining industry, reported that in the cpinion of the commission, the mines should bo nationalised. We arc told that for this recommendation all the business men on tlie commission voted with the exception of the mineowners. Upon this finding the minors took their stand, and insisted that the (lovernment should carry out the finding of its own commission. By this means it has been contended that the poorer mines would he assisted by the richer; and, as the country requires the production of all the mines', the duty of the Government was to "pool"' them all. It was also contended that only in this way would all miners benefit I equally, whether they worked in "hard" i places or in "good." To these contentions the Prime Minister, Mr. Lloyd George, replied that "nationalising the mines may he gocd, or it may be bad: j'but as this is a political question, the I country, and not a section of the 'country, must decide it." He also said j that the Government were determined to refuse the national pool because, in their opinion, it would :iut a premium upon inefficiency. In the light of this Dominion's experience in the nationalisation of coalmines, the contention might also he made that it does nothing to prevent strikes; for disputes and stoppages are certainly as common at KuInanga, the State coalmine, or at, say. the Arthur's Pass tunnel, as at artworks privately owned and managed- In any ease, upon the issue of a national jpool the Homo Government was immovable; so that a settlement had to be found, if at all. on the question of wages. As the cable has informed us that the owners and miners have come to an agreement on the wages issue, and that work will recommence immediately, it is evident that the question of a national pool has been held over. * In other words, this has been waived by the miners. In the matter of wages thp issue has been clouded by the most cor.trad'ctorv statements made from both sides by equally trustworthy witnesses. For instance, -the popular novelist, Annie S. Swan, during a visit she made to one of the Welsh mining districts in the beginning of last month, said, "To put it crudely the miners want more wages, nnd the coal-owners say they can't get them because the industry is incapable of paying them." She speaks of "interminable groups of idle men, like an endless chain, scattered about the streets and roadways, or Wheeling barrows filled with the waste coal they have retrieved from the pit refuse. They wheel these little loads laboriously, with effort and i much stopping, suggestive of badlynourished men. You have but to look at the pale faces from which the pit-dust lias been cleanly washed, to see the I sharpening of the features born- of realj hunger," After saying that her information was gleaned "not from the col- ! hers or their wives, but from the j people who live among them—shopkeepers, professional people, and other elements who go to the making of a ! community," she adds, "I was assured that the average wage for the father of a family, on whose shoulders rests the whole responsibility for the maintenance of the home, works out, after all the outgoings are paid, at about 38/ per week." But what does she mean by these words, "After all the outgoings are paid?" Writing to the "British Weekly," a Welsh miner says that of his 50 years, he has worked 37 in the mines, that he neither drinks nor smokes; that he supports himself, his wife, and one child; and yet, after 37 years of toil, he has not earned sufficient money to clear his house, which cost £250. | Over against the statements of these facts, or alleged facts, are others in flat contradiction to them. A clergyman of the Church of England, writing j to the same paper says, "Not so long I ago I took a mission in one of the Welsh i mining-centres, and last year was living in a miner's house, and meeting almost j every day the miner himself. In several : houses where the men and lads were > down the pit, £15 to £20 went into ' the house every week. Lads got, at the lowest figure, from £2 to £3; the men from £4 to £5. In some miners were getting £S, £10 and £12 a week." ; Perhaps these contradictions may be reconciled by the fact that the earning capacity of the men must vary greatly according to the good or bad seam of coal they are given to work. It is probably in this way that the diversity in the figures quoted above, and by the miners' leaders on the one hand, and the owners on the other, is to be explained. In this way the question of wages merges into that of a national pool of the mines, or in other words their nationalisation: a question which for several reasons, Mr. Lloyd George and ; his Government refuse absolutely to j touch. The Government's position, as repre- ! senting the nation, has been one of great - difficulty. For some time it has been paying the mining industry a subsidy of' £10.000,000, which, while it is pre-] pared to continue longer, it has re-' , fused to continue indefinitely, protesting, with justice, that this industry has i no right to be subsidised out of other j branches of industry, but should, like , them, stand upon its own feet. From a national standpoint, Mr. Lloyd George, j with characteristic lucidity and cogency,' has put the case unanswerably. In a i speech delivered at Maidstone on May Z, he pointed out:— i ,

1". The mines are making no profits because oi' the sudden and drastic fall lin prices. In -December, British coal was j sold abroad at Si/2 a ton. in March it I had come down to 43/(5. One reason for j the decline is the almost complete -■ i stagnation in commerce and trade throughout the world. "A sort of shell- , I shock to this old world has happened, | and strikes do not help shell-snoek." i American competition is also affecting i British trade. Hefore the war there was * hardly any American coal coming into Europe. Last year ten million tons Q of American com arrived. The United 0 States are cutting us out in South America, because they are producing 0 more cheaply. I 2. Mr. Lloyd George gave also melani choly figures on the declining ouCput. 9 "They have," he said, "had shorter c hours, higher wages, impaired efficiency. 8 Before the war it cost in wages 6/11 to 1 produce a ton of coal. Last year it cost " 25/9 in wages to produce a ton. By February that had gone up to 27/. That " is, it costs four times as much in wages " to produce one ton as it did 'before the 2 | war." Added to this the output per man - I has gone down seriously. "Before the f war one man would turn out in a day t 21ewt. Last year one man turned out 1 loicwt. How can we compete in the s markets of the world with that going . on?" > When we consider that in her - industry the Home Country has the ! foundation of all her industries, it will | tie seen that tlie whole question has been >■ of the first importance; and it is a i matter for congratulation that the . miners and owners have at last come > to an agreement. The highest resources . of Imperial statesmanship have been de- > Voted to the discovery of a way out; and Mr. Lloyd George, whose unrivalled . gift for fastening upon essential and fundamental principles, and at the same . time conciliating opposing groups, has ! been fully extended. Carrying, as the ! Homeland does, a staggering war debt, - the slow paralysis, which, because of the [ strike was beginning to creep over Brit- , ish industry, must have compelled all parties—owners, miners, and Govern- ; ment—to extend their full powers, or, to use Mr. T.lovd Geor.e's expression, "to i explore all avenues for a solution," that ■ the disastrous strike might be ended, and the commerce of Great Britain once i more find its stalwart stride. The im- , mediate recommencement of work—of ' which the cable has brought the news— will see the spectre of want and hunger depart in Britain from the door of many a cottairc home which it threatened to ! enter, and the pulse of the nation's | mighty energies begin again its rhyth--1 mic heat.