The Stone Cradle

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 289, 6 December 1928, Page 26

The Stone Cradle

= I By ERIC LEACROFT. § | S s .. _...s-.....5g

CHAPTER XI, Arendel was hard pat to it-te find a starting-point for hei, inquiry into the present position of the coal industry and the better performance of her duties in connection therewith. On the second point-Mr. Coverack, to wboin she went first, was admirably clear. She had no duties at a 11..:. "I'm speaking .as a lawyer," he explained. "Any statutory obligations that you have —and they aren't many— are- being properly performed now. 11l go into details, if you like " "Please," said Arendel. But she was not greatly enlightened when he had finished. Hβ felt her disappointment and was sympathetic. "You hati< to feel that you're doing nothing for the place? Oh, I can quite imderstand that. But I wonder if you really understand how extremely complex and nicelyjialanced thi 3 coal busings is." He sucked his teeth despondently. "Any attempt to interfere in one, part of it is liable to upset some other part that isn't so securely balanced. I'm not in coal myself, but *I Beo a great deal of those who are. I can honeatly assure you that the only hope of keeping things going is to leave well alone. Since the- strike we've reached a kind of balance. It's a compromise, it isn't particularly logical, and it doesn't really satisfy anybody. But it keeps the wheels going round, and we ought to be thankful that it doee. You see, this isn't a local problem, or even a national. It's international. The whole thing hinges on the export trade. To alter it, radically, you've got to direct the affairs of Europe, to say nothing of the United States and the Far East. I'm afraid that even Miss Imber, of Scaire, has a limited authority in those regions." Arendel took the gibe graciously. "But what's all this talk," she asked, "about co-operation between employers and employed?" "Mostly cant, I'm* afraid. .Not all, though. Frankly, the only contribution that the miners can make is to put their backs into it and hew more coal than they're hewing now. Also to stop howling for higher wages and shorter hour?. That'e their share in the salvation of coal, Thfje's only one kind of coToperation think will do rny good, and that'e c-a-operatfru be;;..-«« masters and master*" "A tn»t?" 4, eolicitor hesitated, "we gont much like that word over here."

"We don't like it over there," laid Arendel. How will that help the miners." "Anything that makes for the prosperity? of the industry will help the miners." "Sure." Arendel frowned thoughtfully. "Say, is an Earl a Lord?" "He's a peer of the realm," said Mr. Coverack, not without unction. "Then my cousin sat in the House of Lords ?" "As a matter of fact, he rarely went there. He was entitled to sit, certainly." "Then I guess I can do the name.' Mr. Coverack smiled gravely. "I'm afraid we haven't reached the point of democratic enlightenment of allowing ladies to sit in the House of Lords —even peeresses don't, No, the peerage is extinct. I'm afraid your share in the government of the country. is that of the rest of us. You're represented by your member of Parliament — in your case, your excellent neighbour, Sir Frank Forrester-Spicer." "I'm going to see him," said Arendel. The lawyer greeted this with concealed relief, as an excellent idea. "Sir Frank knows all the ins and outs of coal," he assured her. "He'll be able to tell you far more than I can. He'll be delighted to see you." i v h tx^ ent- Sir Fran k was not only delighted, but even seemed to murmur that he was honoured. She found an urbane, wlnte-spatted little man with horn-nmmed glasses and a pique lining showing beneath his waistcoat! A «rev top hat hung on his office peg. HeVd the frank bluntness of a country gentleman and wary blue eyes. He complimented her on her courage in consenting to exile at Scaire. Nothing waa less helpful to English life than an absentee landlord. "The personal touch," he declared, "counts for so much." "Why, that's the very thing I've come to see you about," said Arendel, delighted. But Sir Frank's vision of the personal touch, when he came to unfold it, was no more comforting than Mr. Coverack's dry summary had been, There was a wealth of opportunity, he declared, for the owner of Scaire to make her influence felt. She could open bazaars, ehe eould lay a foundation atone here and there —though there wasn't much building going on at the moment—-she could head the subscription lists of loeal charities. By these avenues would she

approach the heart of the people and cultivate that mutual understanding between employers and"But that'e all bunk," cried Arendel despairingly. "I beg your pardon?" eaid the county member. Arendel relented. "Oh, I beg yours, Sir Prank ForresterSpicer ("Granted," murmured Sir Frank). What I meant to eay was that that kind of thing doeen't go very deep, does it? I was thinking of my part as a coal-owner rather than a—a. lady bountiful." Sir Frank looked at her shrewdly for a moment, and relaxed into an indulgent emile. "Aha! You wan* to talk business." "Sure." "Sure," repeated the magnate reflectively "Sure. Sure. Naturally. I had forgotten that hi* lordship's successor was an American. Mutual understanding is an excellent thing, but, as you hinted, there's an element of — what was your expressive term? —of bunk in it. Of claptrap, as we prefer to say. You* naturally want to look at your new responsibilities in terms of £ s d—or shall I say of dollars and cents? You want to come down"—Sir Frank rose to a sympathetic inspiration —"to brass tackf."

"I do," said ArendeJ Imber. "That's very natural and praiseworthy. "I wish all our great owners of property showed the eame practical spirit. Well, the brae« tacks of it is, Mis 3 Imber, that the coal industry as such—mark the word* as euch is in a bad way. Why? Mainly for three reasons. One" —he marked them off on his stubby, carefully-tended fingers. "One, that its methods are uneconomic, out of date and naphawd. Two, that the overseas market hat fallen to pieces. Three, that the men, aren't putting their backs into it." He expounded the three points with admirable clearness, his blue eyes fixed on a far corner of the ceiling. Possibly there are young ladies who would have found the discourse dry, but Arendel followed it with eager attention. At last she had found someone who knew the facts and was not talking at random. She began to detect at last some of the lineaments of that vague and gloomy coloseue, that King Coal, whom~ niaetenths of the people in Pondelby and the vast stretch of Blaek Country served— a rtffl potent giant that suffered at once from fatty degeneration, |rom malnutrition, from ancient, ill-formed habits, from sloth among his elavee and hangew-on, from a lack of bold and well-informed counsellors. Dimly she saw the giant refreshed and reviVified, ruling a busy and contented kingdom She saw science brought into the ordering of hw household, and the dispersing of his mighty strength. She saw a gleam of hope. "Of count, none ol 'Jim* thing, can be done in a hurry," said Sir Prank comfortably. "There are too many..

forgive me, my dear young lady—too many vested interests, and too little free capital. And there's competition abroad —in , your own country, for instance— that we have to meet with ape hand tied behind our back.' , She had to thank him, at any rate, for a wider view of thi business than anybody else had given her. She learned that he was specially engaged in treating coal for by-product* at a factory established near the pit-head at one of her own mines, and that she herself largely profited by this enterprise. '•And my.miners, too," she supposed. "Well, as a matter of fact"—Sir Frank shrugged his shoulders, *Your miners don't really come into it. Their wages are based on* the operations of the colliery itself. Thi« is a subsidiary company in which his late loflsHip was largely interested, and of courao his interests devolved upon you. You need have no qualms, my dear Miss Imber. This is really a very satisfactory enterprise from your point of view. Goodbye, my dear lady," He ceased to bo the alert business man, whom she was beginning to respect, and became the too fulsome little epeial entity. "Lady Forrester-Spicer will take the earliest opportunity of calling on you now that you are comfortably settled (I hope) at jßcaire. She was saying only this morning that she reproached herself for her remissness, but I daresay you know that she's a tremendous woman of affairs. Always up to her eyes in work for the betterment of social conditions, is Lady Forrester-Spicer. If you're interested in that sort o< thing-i-eerviee and welfare and that—^—" "I'm beginning to be," said ArendeL "Ha, ha! Splendid! You and Gladys, Lady Forrester-Spicer, will be tremendous friends. There are so few of us," added the county member obscurely. "And so many of the others," Arendel ventured. "Quite," said Sir Frank ForresterSpieer. Phyllis Breck, on her afternoon off, went home to tea. Her father and her brother were both working on late shifts, and had not yet gone to the pit. Tea, for them, had to incorporate breakfast and dinner. There was boiled bacon and beans, followed by suet pudding and treacle. The pampered Phyllis refused these delicacies, but did more than her share of the talking. She had pursued to its ultimate depths the mystery of her grandmother's ahawl, and was filled with indignation against he* brother. "Not that I care about Miss Imber having the shawl," she proclaimed. "It's as old as the hills, anyway. What I object to is this young limb of a David trying to hobnob with the quality." "She's no more quality than I am," eaJd David with his mouth full. Phvllis stared. "You'll be saying next that she isn't tofWKW lordship , - second cmwin." ™w ? we DaV T -wouldn't eay that* put ia Joe meekly. "Unknown. , ?

"Of eouree it's known,' agreed David. "What I mean is that were all quality, one as much as another. Dad's quality, and I'm quality, apd mother—well, I reckon mother's extra quality. ,, "Hear, hear!" said Joe. "Now get on with your teas and stop bickering. Phyllis, where's your appetite, my love?" "Lost it after luncheon," said the maid. "Dad, you don't know whatV been going on at your very door. Here's David been trying to turn Miss Imber into a Socialist, and her owning the very pit he works in, and the very ground he walks on. Toe impudence 1" "Sounds more like innocence to me," said the old miner. "What's the game, Pavy boyt" "I don't mind telling dad," said David, and turned his shoulder on his. pretty sister. "It's like this, Joe. When this woman came down to Noble Street I thought it was a pretty cool example of the hypocrisy of her class. I thought it was part of that pretty little game of brotherhood that some of them are sp f<md of playing—-in public," 'Td rather not think that," said his father earnestly. "Well, you needn't, Joe," said David. "I was wrong, and I admitted it.- , "Sauce!" eaid Phyllis. "No thanks. I found out, Joe, that she was really interested in social problems, but, of course, totally ignorant, like all her class." "And, everybody else," said Phyllis, "except Mr. David Breck and Mr. A. J. Cook.* , "Oh, shut up. But I found her," went on David, "surprisingly openminded. She's an Americas,* apd she seems to have escaped the prejudice and the bloodthirsty hypocrisy of her classShe's willing to learn." "And, of course, little Davy's the boy to teach her." "And why notf Be turned on her with a furious gesture. "Why in the jiame of common eenae shouldn't It" "And it's my plain duty to her claw," said hi* sister, "to warn her against you. Equality ! I don't trust you, or any man. You'll be making love to her next,' . There was s> shocked silence at this enormity. Mrs, Breck threw her daughter an entreating glance and dropped her eyes. Her husband shook his head gravely. David flushed, but spoke up, «Jf I wanted t0, ,, he paid quietly, "I should. There's no reason in heaven or earth why I shouldn't." He laughed briefly, "Only, as it happens I don't want to. A bit more of the fat, mother." "I'm not an utter fool," said Phyllis. (To be continued daily.)