COAL TRADE IN BRITAIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 78, 3 April 1926, Page 9

COAL TRADE IN BRITAIN.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSION. THE HOURS AND "WAGES. LONDON, April 2. An official statement has been issued by the coalmine owners containing their proposals based on the report of the Royal Commission. Appended to the statement are replies to the Commission's recommendation ad seriatim. These replies to a large extent express agreement with or acquiescence in the recommendations, including willingness on the part of the owners to engage in national discussions as against district discussions, which they had strongly advocated. The owners say they are of opinion j that the recommendations for State ownership of the mineral is a question for Parliament. They agree that the methods of payment of men who are not employed at a face should be revised, so as to give those men a direct interest in the output. The owners say they recognise that the miners will not entertain a proposal for longer hours, and they therefore wish to discuss the recommendations that the definition of working time should be weekly instead of daily, and for a greater flexibility in working hours. Further, the owners consider that the most urgent matter is the settlement of the minimum percentage on basic rates, and the amount of subsistence wage in each district. The executive of the Miners' Federa- ; tion has also issued a statement concerning the two days' conference held with owners. This says the latter refused to intimate what they proposed to pay the men after May 1, except to say there would be heavy reductions. The executive describes the owners' views on the report of the Commission as indefinite. It says the owners' refusal to consider the fixation of a national minimum percentage and their insistence that all wages must be a district concern constitute almost insurmountable obstacles to amicable settlement. The men assume that in the absence of definite proposals for a minimum percentage the owners' position is the same as it was in July, 1925, and that the consequential reductions in wages will vary from one to five shillings a day. The executive unanimously decidednot to consent to a further lowering of wages nor to the abolition of the national minimum percentage. The National Delegates Council will consider the position on April 9, prior to which the executive of the federation will confer with the industrial committee of the Trades Union Congress (Reuter.)

MINEOWNERS' REPLY.

NECESSITIES OF THE CASE. \ (Received 2.30 p.m.) LONDON, April 2. A member of the miners' executive stated that the miners had given a reasoned reply to the owners' proposals, but he emphasised that they were not likely to be acceptable, and there was every prospect of a serious crisis arising. It is learned that Mr. Evan Williams, chairman of the Miners' Association, informed the miners' executive that the owners, for the sake of peace and settlement, were prepared to negotiate an agreement on national lines, but the industry must stand on its own foundation on an economic basis, and could not be continued by means of a Government subsidy. The owners were emphatically of the opinion that an extension of working hours was an essential condition to restoring the industry. He emphasised the necessity for increased output, and proposed that each district should fix its own minimum percentage. The National Board should settle the question of a national minimum over and above district minima. The present national minimum of 33 1-3 per cent need not necessarily be maintained. Owners are opposed to compulsory amalgamation, but are prepared to consider voluntary amalgamation and reorganisation of the industry. They are opposed to any change iv regard to by-products, and agreed that nationalisation is impracticticable. — (A. and N.Z.)