Nationalising Coal

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24867, 6 May 1946, Page 4

Nationalising Coal

During one phase of the recurrent trouble on the Australian coalfields, a Minister of the Federal Government answered a demand for nationalisation by telling the men that when the Government had taken over one of the large pits, under its war-time powers, production had not increased, as had been promised, but declined. In response to the men’s wishes, at another stage, the Federal Government appointed a Commonwealth Board of Inquiry, under the chairmanship of Mr Justice Davidson, who was later made sole commissioner. The control of the industry was of course one of the issues explored; and nationalisation was rejected in favour of a Federal Coal Authority, with power to pay a bounty to owners who voluntarily submit to its jurisdiction and, generally, to advise and assist in reconstructing an industry now on the edge of disaster. Neither the Minister’s warning nor the Davidson report, however, has altered the miners’ view, as a message shows to-day. The Miners’ Federation will “still “ fight for nationalisation ” and, because the Government “ has not the " courage ” to nationalise, the federation will “ insist ” on its putting the question to the people among the* new referendum proposals. The mood in which the demand is stated is not unfamiliar. Contempt for the Government and its authority is written in chapter after chapter of the miners’ conduct of their relations with it. The truth, in this instance—whether the Government is weak or strong—is that it has no constitutional authority to nationalise; so that the referendum device is an essential one In the truculent sneer with which it is demanded the Australian people, who have suffered much from wanton stoppages, will See nothing t» recommend a vote for nationalisation, if the issue is put to them, and nothing to modify the impressions they derived from the Davidson report. I Ir Justice Davidson found that a complete lack of discipline in the industry had done most to raise costs and reduce output. He found that almost none of the war-time stoppages had been due to improper action of any kind by owners or managements. “ The “ contention is always vigorously “ urged ”, he said, “ that every “ trouble in the industry is due to “ the pin-pricking and irritation "tactics of the managements; but “no reasonable observer could ac- ‘ cept such a contention,. , . It is “ overwhelmingly clear that the “vastly major part of the irrita- “ tion 'comes from the workers ” The report, it is true, lays a heavy reproach on the Australian Governments concerned: the “ most para- “■ lysing defect” in the arbitration

system has been their want of support for the industrial tribunals they have set up. The Miners’ Federation, driving on for nationalisation as .the prime remedy for the troubles of the industry, does so against the weight of a tremendous body of evidence.