COAL CRISIS SETTLED.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 180, 1 August 1925, Page 9

COAL CRISIS SETTLED.

HISTORY OF NEGOTIATIONS. JIB. BALDWIN AND OWNERS. GOLD STANDARD ISSUE. (By Cable. - Tress Association.—Copyright.) • c (Received 11.30 a.m.) ; - LONDON, July 31. The coal crisis id settled. The negotiations between the parties io .tho. dispute and the Ministry developer! rapidly. Late last night the announcement was circulated that the mineowner.-.' notices to terminate tlie present -agreement to-day had already been suspended. This proved to be premature, but not without foundation. Lt appears that the owners, who were available alter Mr. Baldwin made his offer of assistance, were not able to give a guarantee of a suspension of the notices until ;i full meeting of their council was held this morning. At that meeting the owners consented to withdraw .their notices for a fortnight. The. explanation of the owners whom Mr. Baldwin was able to consult left no doubts, according to the "Daily Express," t),iat the notices would be withdrawn. • Tho suggestion for a new inquiry came from Mr. Baldwin in an earlier statement to the Miners' Federation. "I am prepared," lie said, "as the head of the Government, to do my utmost, by way of the establishment of an authoritative inquiry, to try to get to the bot,tom of the economic difficulties of the industry, and to see how far the allegations concerning the room existing for improvement in the industry are wellfounded." When the Prime Minister again met the' miners they expressed a desire to oe-cperate With him. Mr. Baldwin then made the offer to assist the industry temporarily. This offer came as a surprise after Mr. Baldwin's repeated declaration against a subsidy. Both the owners and the miners late yesterday afternoon had declared the situation to be hopeless. The executives of the rnihvaymen s unions had issued instructions to their members not to handle coal in the event of a stoppage in the mines. The Great Western Railway Company hqd warned the men in its employ of - their legal obligation to carry all the traffic offered to thenl. Government departments had circulated plan 3 for emergency measures. - Hbwever, after a lengthy meeting, the Cabinet assented to sbmeform of assistance being given to the industry Until the spring, and pending a new inquiry. The official Labour organ, the "Daily Herald," claims that the iron solidarity of the trades unions overcame the reluctance of some of the Ministers to use State funds to aid the industry. It is' stated in several quarters that Mrl Baldwin contemplates setting up a Royal Commission With a wider scope than the Sankey inquiry was given. The late-editions of the morning newspapers said they regarded the crisis as being over. Tlie "Times" said the Cabinet had led I the''way to a chance of a solution. Tlie special committee of the Trade Union Congress and the Railwaymen's and Transporters' Unions' executives ordered all handling.of coal to cease at midnight on Friday. All coal will then be ra.jded,find'.r,placed in the Tiearest siding 1 , irom which it may exclusively' be used for coaling .engines, but not passed, to other depots. No imports may lie handled. A meeting of the executives of all trade • unions held at . Westminster unanimously resolved to wholeheartedly assist, the miners, including financial help in the form of a financial levy in each district. The mining dispute induced an influential section of the Press to show an increasing disposition. to attack the decision, to restore the gold standard as an important, contributory cause of the .depression iri the coal and other exporting trades. The Federation of British industries has'issued a forecast for the third quarter of the year. This states that no alleviations cf,the depression can be expected until a fresh upward movement in prices, begins in the autumn. The costs of British exports, it says, are now _ 10 per cent dearer to foreigners than they were before the last quarter. The appreciation of pxchange did precipitate the return to the gold standard, . and unless the Bank of England abrogated tlie policy of credit restriction, the situation must become worse in the coining quarter. Mr. J. M. Keynes, editor of tjie "Economic Journal." has issued a pamphlet which is attracting widespread attention. In this he contends that a genera] movement to reduce wages-with tinaim of lessening the cost of production, is an inevitable consequence of the return to ihe gold standard. The miners intimated that it would be unfair to reduce ..Wages with the present cost of living before an attempt to secure a means of inquiry to secure, a contribution toward meeting the difficult situation with which the industry was confronted was made. • Mr. "Baldwin consequently announced that' the' Government was prepared to assist the industry until the spring,' when the inquiry would be completed. A statement issued hy the Ministry 1 of Labour says that following a meeting of the Cabinet, at -which full consideration was given to the whole circumstances of tlie coal dispute, the Prime Minister-had further conversations with the representatives of the miners and owners.—:(A. and N.Z. —Renter.)