THE COAL DEADLOCK.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 135, 9 June 1926, Page 6

THE COAL DEADLOCK.

Mr. A. J. Cook, the general secretary of the Miners' Federation, still maintains the unyielding attitude which he has taken all along in regard to any proposals to reduce wages in the coalmining industry, or to sanction auy increase in hours. In ihis he shows a marked contrast to Mr. Frank Hodges, who has recognised that the best hope for the future of the coal industry lies in some form of compromise in which concessions would be made by both ■ides. It would seem that Mr. Cook still believes that' the only real solution of the coal difficulty lies in the nationalisation of the mines, and for this reason he is opposing anything which might lead to a settlement on the basis of the continuance of private ownership. The Coal Commission definitely rejected any scheme of nationalisation, and there does not seem to be the smallest chance of ita adoption in the near future. The experience of the industry during the period of Government control in the war years definitely killed any chance nationalisation might have had. When Lhe Government handed back the mines

they were in a ruinous state, due to the fact that coal bad been hewn wherever it was most easy to be £ot at, without any consideration for the disastrous effect it miglit have on the mines themselves. The Government recognised this, and handed back £7,000,000 of the excess profit tax to the owners as part compensation for the injury inflicted to their property. Nor lias the experience of State control of industry in other countries led people to take an optimistic view of nationalisation. Something akin to the nationalisation of coal was tried in Germany, but was soon rejected as wasteful and uneconomic. The truth is that very few of the coal mines in the United Kingdom are able to pay their way on the present basis of hours and wages. Mr. Hodges haa suggested an increase of half an hour in the miners' day, and if the owners would meet the miners by some similar concession on their part, some progress might be made in the negotiations. But a conference such as Mr. Cook recommends, at which the miners would concede nothing, is doomed to failure. No industry can pay more in wages than the value of the product justifies, and Mr. Cook"s attitude looks very much as if he were willing to sacrifice the industry itself to some discredited theory of nationalisation. He has shown little real concern for the miners themselves, and the present deadlock is likely to continue as long as he maintains a position which is stultified by the economic facts of the situation.

It is remarkable and regrettable that the miners permit their case to be handled by a man who so ruthlessly opposes any shred of compromise or cooperation, when it is so essential that some immediate basis of compromise be found and exploited.