RESPONSE BY MINERS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 190, 8 May 1937, Page 12

RESPONSE BY MINERS

Strike Notices Suspended CONFERENCE PROPOSED By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. London, May 6. In response to tlie appeal in tlie House of Commons by the Prime Minister, Mr. Stanley Baldwin, the executive of the Mineworkers’ Federation of Great Britain is willing to suspend the handing in of strike notices for a fortnight from May 8, if a conference can be arranged of the three parties concerned. The Parliamentary Secretary of Mines, Mr. H. F. C. Crookshank, accordingly has now invited the parties to meet under his chairmanship. A British official wireless message states that the optimism felt in Parliamentary circles after the Prime Minister’s moving speech that the threatened stoppage of work in the coalfields would be averted is shared by the newspapers, most of which comment on Mr. Baldwin’s striking utterance. Coronation Present. The speech created a profound impression among all parties and in the galleries of the House. His appeal to the mining industry to give Their Majesties the most acceptable of all Coronation presents—an assurance of continued peace in the coalfields —was met With a roll of cheering, and almost immediately the debate was called off by the Opposition five hours before the time at which it. would normally have ended. New moves to bring about a settlement of the dispute in Harwortb, Nottinghamshire, which is the cause of the present threat of a general strike, were set on foot soon after the debate concluded, and Mr. Crookshank is meeting the Mineworkers’ Federation executive to discuss a fresh proposal which it is said is aimed at ultimate fusion with the Federation of the Miners’ Industrial Union, the local organisation in conflct with the major miners’ union. “The Times” (Independent), referring to the ii’-ime Minister’s intervention in the debate, says it would be a fitting and welcome recompense if a career devoted to goodwill could be crowned by a triumph of goodwill. The “Manchester Guardian” (Liberal) says it can hardly he doubted that Mr. Baldwin’s words will prepare a way for the settlement of the dispute. Tribute lo Opposition. The "Morning Post” (Conservative) says that next to Mr. Baldwin the honours of the occasion were earned by the Opposition, which, with a fine perception of values, refrained from jarring the note of concord struck by Mr. Baldwin. England will hope and assuredly expect that the example of Parliament will be followed in all disputes that either threaten or have already come to a breach.' Tlie “Daily Telegraph” (Conservative) says that, if the spirit shown by the leaders in the House of Commons is carried into further parleys there should be little doubt that a national stoppage of the mines will be averted. The “Daily Herald” (Labour), while emphasising the gravity of the issues involved at Harwortb, says that the best hope now is that the owners will be sufficiently impressed by the earnestness of the men to agree to a peaceful and honourable solution, which the federation seeks.

The “News Chronicle” (Liberal) says Mr. Baldwin’s appeal is one which the whole country can echo.