THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 129, 27 November 1909, Page 5

THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY.

A FORETASTE OF A STATEMENT. Evidence was available this morning as an indication of the nature of the statement which the Premier has promised to submit to the House of Representatives. Facts and figures about the working ♦of the State fcine, from tho pit to the consumer, have been prepared, and it is understood that the purport of the statistics will be to demonstrate that the management cannot afford to accedt> to the men's demands in their present shape. As. already reported in The Post it is widely, and even officially, believed her© that the workers at Point Elizabeth have considered themselves entitled to a proportion (estimated at £4000) of the profit, £17,000, shown in the balancesheet, presented in the Budget, and one of the objects of the promised Ministerial statement will be to show that this claim is unreasonable, in view of the present average wage (14s per day of seven hours), and the demands on the State's funds for further development work in connection with the coal enterprise. ' Local orders for State coal have largely increased during the week. At the present rate of distribution it was estimated that the stocks would last a fortnight. In the meantime the management has no intention of "holding on" to supplies as a precaution against a prolongation of tho strike, and will not alter the scale of rates now in vogue.