COAL STRIKE CRISIS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19816, 2 January 1930, Page 11

COAL STRIKE CRISIS.

MINERS ORGANISING. RUMOURS OF INTENDED ARMED ACTION. (CNITEU P11153S ASSOCIATION —BY ELECTBIO TELEGRAPH—COPViUGHT.) NEWCASTLE, December 31. Grim reports that the miners are organising in secret for an armed return to Rothbury Colliery are again circulating in the coalfields. The "Newcastle Morning Herald" says: Some early morning in the near future will see the arrival of a band of picked men at the gates of the mine, according to reports from interested quarters. "1 have been sworn in to-day tor service if necessary." was the remarkable statement of one of the South Maitland lodae members, while discussing the position. The .same man declared that, despite the police search of the miners' homes, ho still had a gun. Others were similarly placed. "I am under a vow to be there when events begin," was another man's declaration. One miner declared, after warning Pressmen to avoid Rothbury as a dangerous locality for the next few weeks, that the public would know all about the Labour Defence Corps before the coalfields quietened down. NO DEVELOPMENTS REPORTED. (Received January Ist, 9.55 p.m.) SYDNEY, January 1. There are no developments in the coal situation beyond the report that fourteen voluntary workers at Rothburv Colliery have left the field owing to the prison-like life and the constant fear of attack by strikers.