STATE COLLIERIES

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 293, 6 September 1932, Page 8

STATE COLLIERIES

Agreement With Miners SETTLEMENT LIKELY A settlement is expected to be reached in the dispute between the Government and the State coal miners, as the result of a conference held in Wellington yesterday between tlie Minister of Mines, Hon. C, E. Macmillan, the Un-der-Secretary of Mines, Mr. A. H. Kimbell, the Superintendent of the State Mines, Mr. I. 0. James, the president of the State Miners’ Union, Mr. J. K. Connell, and the union’s general check inspector, Mr. J. Doherty. Ordinarily the Mines Department’s proposals would have become operative yesterday, but the Minister consented to a continuance of the old conditions in order to permit of the holding of the conference with a view to reaching a settlement of the outstanding points in dispute. The department’s proposals were not wholly acceptable to the miners, and representations were made by the union to have the new set or conditions discussed before they were applied. Yesterday’s conference was held in private, lasting for about two hours, and it was stated later that the Minister had promised to consider the union’s representations, and to give a reply as soon as he had reached a decision.