"INQUEST" ON STRIKE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 159, 7 July 1926, Page 7

"INQUEST" ON STRIKE.

UNPLEASANT DISCLOSURES. METHOD OF THE LEADERS. MR. MacDONALD IN DEFENCE. (LSj , Cable. —Press Association. — Copyright.l LONDON, July 6. When the Trades Uniou Congress postponed its "inquestr"' on the recent general strike, which was to have been held on June 20, it was thought that the unpleasant business had been brushed aside for the sake of solidarity and in order not to impair the cause of the miners. But the truth is now creeping out. The ''Daily Express" save the disclosures which have been made justify Mr, J. 11. Thomas, M.P., secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen, in his conduct of the negotiations. The paper reveals the fact that Mr. Thomas took Mr. Herbert Smith and Mr. A. J. Cook, president and secretary respectively of the- Miners' Federation, to the house of Sir Abe Bailey, which was lent for the occasion. There with Sir Herbert Samuel, chairman of the Coal Commission, they discussed the whole mining position for several hours. As a result of the conference, Messrs. Smith and Cook modified their attitude on the wages question. They agreed that it would lie sufficient if the miners were ..guaranteed a minimum wage, not the wage previously ruling. Another surprising disclosure is that there would not have been a general strike but for the men stopping the issue of ihc "Daily Mail" on May 2. CRUX OF WAGES. The Labour paper, the "Daily Herald," devotes a column to extracts from the report of the Trades Union Congress which should have been presented at the "iuquest." The most outstanding fact is that the congress did not go as far as the miners with their three-points slogan, but felt that the report of the Coal Commission and the Government's acceptance of it made, the reconstruction of the industry possible. Therefore, it would have been silly to continue with mere slogans. The Trades Union Congress was with the miners against any loss in wages until other possibilities in the report of the Commission had been discussed, but at the same time it cousidered it would have been unwise for the miners to demand certain things on their side. The report further states that the leaders of the miners knew the industry must be reorganised before it could combine to pay reasonable wages. NON-PAYING PITS. The report says the miners' slogan, on their leaders' own admission, would have meant immediately rendering idle 300,000 miners by the closing of the uneconomic pits. This was too awful for the union leaders to contemplate. The latter considered it would be more sane that some of the higher paid men should be temporarily paid less than that so many men with families should be plunged into destitution, while men earning from £5 to £13 a week retained every penny. The congress asserts that the general strike began, not on the formula of the miner?, which the Industrial Committee had definitely rejected, but on the decision of the executive of the conference to support the miners against any reduction in wages prior to negotiations on the remainder of the report of the Commission or arising out of it. SACRIFICE OF ADVANTAGE. Then came Sir Herbert Samuel's negotiations. The latter had been brought back specially from Italy for that reason by influential citizens. The upshot was a sensational improvement in the negotiating position, yet the leaders of the miners threw it all away. Now, most likely, after weeks of starvation, the temporary smashing of trade unionism and the victimisation of thousands of miners, the latter would not get anything like what the general council of the Trades Union Congress had obtained for them. The council could not disregard the responsibility imposed on it by the conference on May 1 and follow the miners' policy of merc negation, says the report. It felt it could not permit the unions to continue making sacrifices a day longer. POSTPONING THE " INQUEST." Whether the Government ever contemplated repealing the Trades Disputes Act, sequestrating uniou funds and arresting the members of the general council never entered the consideration of the members of the latter. The strike had terminated for one reason only, because in view of the attitude of the miners its continuance would have rendered its purposes futile. "We have no excuses to offer and no apologies to make," concludes the report. "Our course was justified by our knowledge of the facts and by our responsibility to the trades union movement." Commenting on the statement of the Trades Union Congress the "Daily Express" says two of the miners' oldest leaders were instrumental in postponing the "inquest" because if this statement had been published the miners could not have lasted another week in their resistance. MR. RAMSAY MacDONALD. The leader of the Labour party, >Ir. Ramsay Mac Donald, makes a vigorous reply to critics in the course of a lengthy article in the "Socialist Review.' , He discusses the events before and after the general strike. Referring to the postponement of the Trades Union Congress meeting he says: "I hope this conference will be held without delay. The members have a right to be told the story as soon as they can be told without damasre to the miners or their wives and children." Analysing the position of the trades unions Mr. Mar Donald says every union found itself involved in troubles in their own trade. The money they had in reserve had gone, the fortifications they had been building up for years had been thrown down, and their positions were weak and precarious. As regards the railways, there seemed to bp nothing but disaster ahead. Though the spirit of the railwaymen was magnificent their resources were unequal to a long fiffht, even had other tlunss been favourable. Mr. Mac Donald proceeds to make a vicious attack on magistrates. He says: "They are men with constitutional 'bees in their bonnets,' and partisan prejudice in their hearts. They sat on the Hench, not for the purpose of administering justice, but to take revenge.

I'liu railway cuiupuuius, Uio Government and tiic I'riuie -Uiniatcr, Air. Stanley Baldwin, weru bitterly attacked by Alderman, \\. Double, pivsiU.su t. ol tliu -National Union oi l\uuwaynien, in his speech at the auuuui cuuicraice oi tiiu uiiiuu at Weynioulh. Dubbiu said the recent general strike had roused the. class consciousness of Uie workers, ■whose spirit ou ihe ninth day ol the great light was better than ou the lirst day. Xhe railway eonipauies were determined to luuke the railwaynien jjay the penalty for their losses', but, belore long, the men would demonstrate that the temporary victory of the employing class was only a prelude to a great working-class triumph. The speaker denounced Mr. Baldwin a≤ "a dangerous hypocrite." He said the Prime Minister talked of his rural contemplation of the yig, but appeared to have learned more from the iox. lie gained his ends by posing as a friendlydisposed opponent. MR. DOBBIES OUTBURST. Mr. Dobbie's fierce outburst against Air. Baldwin has caused some surprise in view of the revelations concerning the postponed "inquest" on the general strike. These give point to Mr. Dobbie's closing statement that when the railway workers were strong enough, to demand the restoration of their lost privileges there would be no room in the movement for men with their feet iv botli camps. The conference adopted a resolution to the effect that only representatives of trades union papers should be eligible to report the proceedings. This was in spite of a speech by Mr. J. H. Thomas, M.P., tile secretary, who said such a resolution would only make the conference ridiculous. Mr. Thomas said the representatives of the Press were as good trades unionists as the mover and seconder of the motion. Every journalist left the room after the adoption of the resolution by a show of hands. The Treasury lias issued a Civil Service supplementary estimate for £3,433,----000. Of this sum £3,000,000 is for the purpose of buying foreign coal for the maintenance of the essential services. The balance represents the cost of the organisation for the maintenance of supplies at tho time of the strike. It includes £110,000 for food, £100,000 for •rrants to the police services. £(!0.000 for the civil constabulary, and £10,000 for the ''British Gazette." A STATE OF EMERGENCY. The Home Secretary, Sir William Joynson-Hicks. moved in the House of Commons last evening that the emergency regulations which were introduced at the time of the general strike should continue in force. Sir 11. Slesser, Labour member for Leeds, led an attack on tlie motion on behalf of his party. lie urged that it was an insult to sugpest that these interferences uith common law were now necessary. They practically amounted to martial law. The Home Secretary pointed out that the regulations were used much less last month, but he said there were still people who were trying to stir up trouble. A recent speech made by the miners' secretary, Mr. A. J. Cook, in which he threatened that not a single man should go down the pits, was one reason why the Government wanted tho regulations to continue. The debate was continued all night though a quorum was maintained with difficulty. The motion was finally carried by ISI votes to 64 after the closure had been applied. THE LONGER DAY. In the House of Lords Viscount Cecil moved the Miners' Ei>rht Hours Day Bill. He said it would not shut the door in any way. There would still be an opportunity for discussion in the matchless power of mediation and sympathy. Viscount Haldanc moved the rejection of the bill. He said the fatal obj/ction to it was that it would make impossible further conciliation or co-operation. Actually it was a total surrender to the policy nf the r-oalmilie owners. The debate was adjourned. In the expectation that the measure will receive the Royal assent by Wednesday, several coalmine owners have announced new terms to the miners. These affect ]S!).000 men in Yorkshire. 12.">,000 in Scotland, f>7.000 in the Forest of Dean and 20.000 in Warwickshire. The Coal Committee of the Cabinet met yesterday. It is understood the Government is awaiting reports from the districts regarding the response of the men to the new terms offered to them. (A. and N.Z.-Reut«r-"Times.") LIVELY FOR MR. THOMAS. EIGHTY ASK QUESTIONS. (Received 12 noon.) LONDON, July 6. According to the '"'Daily Herald" Mr. J. 11. Thomas had a lively two hours' session at the conference of railwaymen. The trouble arose out of Mr. Thomas' report as general secretary of the union on the effects of the strike. No fewer than eighty delegates asked questions about the inner history of the strike. Mr. Thomas emphatically denied that he attended a conference in Abe Bailey's house. After the questions a general debate took place on a motion endorsing the action of the National Union of "Railwayman delegates to (lie Trades Union C'ongre-s. which was virtually a mot inn of confidence in Mr. Thoinn*. There was also an amendment deferring any decision until the miner-; resume. The clTivt of the motion was <•> siiletrailc tin branch motions demanding Mr. Thomas' dismissal. In the latp afternoon it was obvious that Mr. Thomas had carried the conference, and there was no surprise when the motion of confidence was ajrreed to with only six dissentients.— (A. and N.Z.) PROTEST BY REPORTERS. (Received 12 noon.) LONDON, July G. The pressmen refused to attend the resumption of the raihvaymen's conference to-day until the resolution concerning Press representatives was rescinded. The union replied that the conference would sit privately to-day, public business being resumed to-morrow, but the conference has not withdrawn or rescinded the resolution. — (A. and N.Z.-