THE COAL MINES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3085, 16 May 1917, Page 6

THE COAL MINES

AND THE RECENT CONFERENCE

MINERS* REPLY TO OWNERS

The following statement signed by Messrs. John Jones (president), ri. Coppersmith (vice-president), and JArbuckle (secretary) has been issued by tho Minors' Federation in reply to the statement by tho employers regarding the conference held last week:— "Tho miners' delegates do not dispute the employers' .statcmeat in so far as it relates to what actually happened when the j meeting between tho employers and themselves took place; but tliey emphatically deny that any conference was lield. The employers positively refused to confer with the employees' representatives, and the meeting really took the form of a deputation, the employers merely contenting themselves with delivering an ultimatum, and then refusing to have anything further to say. The miners' delegates strained every point in erdeavouring to persuade the employers to discuss in detail the various grievances of the employees. "The employers' ultimatum took the form of an offer of an additional pei cent, for coal hewers, and' 10 per cent, for wages men, which the employers claimed was a more liberal offer than that made by them previously.-

Question of Conditions. "•Tho miners do not admit that the employers' present offer is more liberal than that previously made. The 'liberality' amounts to an advance of 2J per cent, on their former offer; but it is totally discounted by the fact that tho employers absolutely refused to consider or in any way discuss the changes that are imperative in the conditions of work in the mines. Now, to tho .miner working conditions—involving the safety or otherwise of hlo and limb—come before any consideration of increases; and, from the point of view of safety, some of tho mines of New Zealand are amongst the worst south of the line—as events -of quite recent date have amply and tragically demonstrated. If the public of New Zealand will read the coal owners statement carefully, they cannot help comin" to the conclusion that tho contentions put forward by the miners are fully justified. Right-through their own statement tho mine owners make it quite.clear that they firmly and consistentlv refused to discuss anything in the "nature of improved condition* for the miners, or anything else beyond what they could pass on to tlic public in the form of increased prices. The mine owners' spokesman, Mr. Alison, was unequivocal in his announcement concerning this matter. He said tho respective increases of i\ per cent, to the miners and 10 per cent tcrthe wages men would mean £100,000 a year extra-'which would be paid by the community of New Zealand.

Sale Price and Cost Price, "Some time back, when the miners received the 10 per cent, war bonus to which the employers refer, the price or coal was lifted by the mine owners by ss. per ton. Later on the price,was a-'aiu increased by the mine owners by 3s. per ton; but the miners got no further increase. So that while the wholesalS price of coal has been increased by at least Bs. a ton, the mine employees have received a wages increase of 10 per cent., representing approximately cightpence per ton. While the cost of production has increased to the coal owners by cightpence a ton, they have exacted a tribute of os. a ton'from the consumers. And we havo their own word for it that to make fcood the increase now offered, the price ot coal is to bo again increased. . "A "lance at the prices that arc paid by consumers alongside the cost of coal production is an education in itselt. In Wellington and Christchurch, for instance: the householder pays between 40s. to 555. per ton; and authorities on the mine owners' side have stated that the cost of producing coal at the p thcad is 10s. Hid. per toy#». of course, an exaggerated estimate (7s 6d or Bs. would probably be nearer the mark). But, taking the employersown statement,-the ' gulf between the cos" of production and the se ling price is wide and gaping enough to demonstrate that the projected exaction of still further tribute from the. con sumers,' to make good the mo ety to be paid to the miners by way of. increases, is hardly justifiable.

Criticism of the Government. 1 "In conclusion, the miners' delegates would direct the attention of the publio to the marked contrast in the attitude of the Government of New Zealand towards the miners, and other sections of the community. ''Hie employers, having refused to confer with the miners and an exceedingly ten so situation, full of. dangerous possibilities, having been created as a result, the Government merely says it can do nothing in the matter. This, in spite of the fact that it has taken the widest powers under its own War Regulations Act When the wool capitalists refused to sell their wool-an article necessary for the better clothing of the soldiers in the trenches-to the imperial authorities at an increase of 4o per cent, on pre-war rates, the New Zealand Government stepped in and secured the wool owners an increase of 55 per cent. Still, the wool owners had for all practical purposes declared a strike not against a section of their employers, but against the whole Mpire and particularly against the men in the trenches. When the policy of the British mine owners precipitated conflict and cessation of work on the coalfields of the Old Country, the Government, with all its faults, stepped in and intimated to both parties that they would have to come to terms. When conditions are generated such as we have now in New Zealand, where the action of a section of employers is oalculated to precipitate industrial conflict, it is surely the duty of a Government that exercises the powers our Government possesses to-day to see that before they are permitted to declare war they shall be compelled to discuss the items of dispute that are most vital. As matters now stand, the owners place their own material interests in the' scales agaShst the lives and well-being of the miners, as well as against the welfare of the whole community; and the Government s attitude appears to bo that or rebuke and austerity towards the miners, and that of toleration and support for the mine owners. "Finally, the situation that has now been reached is that the miners desire to settle all -the matters in dispute around the table and by method, while the owners adopt the instrument of the ultimatum and the way of the dictator.

"JOHN JONES, President. , "H COPPERSMITH, Vice-President. "J." ARBUCKLE, Secretary.