THE COAL CRISIS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 72, 25 March 1912, Page 6

THE COAL CRISIS.

Sir. Aequith'e hope that the Coal Mines Bill would have been put through all its stages in the House of Commons in time for consideration by the Lords on Friday last has not been realised. The House of Commons took the whole of Friday to deal with the measure in committee, and a further conference is to be held to-day before the debate is reoumed. It is, aa might hay© been expected, the question of the minimum wage that is giving the most trouble.* An amendment providing for a minimum wage of live shilling* for men and two shillings for boys was moved, not by a Labour member, but by Sir Ivor Herbert, who is a Liberal and a mineowner. Mr. Aequith opposed the amendment, not as proposing amounte essentially unreasonable, but as committing Parliament to a hard-and-fast decision on a matter that would be much better left to the discretion of the district boards. His argument that the insertion of a "minimum in the Bill would make it exceedingly difficult to persuade ,a board to adopt auy other basis is perfectly 6ound, and a board would, of course, be only free to increase the amount. Why should Parliament hamper in any way the discretion of tribunals which will obviounly possess an expert knowledge far beyond it& own? The fullest poseible enquiry into the citcuniEtancea of each case by a tribunal specially qualified to d«al with it should clearly precede the taking of so novel and momentous a step as the fixing of a minimum wage. It was also pointed out by Mr. Boiur Law that a minimum of 4s lid had actually been fixed by the miners' own schedule in certain districts. This is certainly pretty •trong evidence that in theee districts even the extra penny proposed by the amendment would be more than the owners could reasonably be asked to bear. On the other hand, Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald urged that without something definite in the Bill it would be difficult to get the men to resume work. The Surfacemen's Federation has resolved to block the resumption of work unless the 6» and 2s minimum, are included in the Bill, and the Miners' Federation, though apparently on less .'peremptory terms, is urging a similar demand. There is, nevertheless, reasonable ground for hoping that, whether yrith or without the Bill, the disastrous struggle may be on the fair way to settlement before the fourth week, on which it has now entered, has expired.' There have been several indications during the last few days that the miners are far readier for a settlement than the organisations that have a technical right to speak in their name. The North Wales, miners were expected to resume work to-day, and our cabled reports- have not stated that they hud received any concessions to induce them to do so. Even if there have" been concessions, a local resumption of work while the fight continues in other districts is contrary to the declared policy of the Miners' Federation. The probability of other defections from tho federation owing to 'the exhaustion of funds has also been reported. Two million workers are already idle j the loss in miners' wages alone is. £5,000,000; and the cry of starving women and children resounds from all the great industrial centres. With auch a record before them of the fruits of the first three weeks of the strike^ and with the knowledge that each succeeding week will more than proportionally intensify the suffering, one can well believe that both parties will be willing to com© down from "bluff" to bedrock and to make the most of th© chance of a settlement that is now offered. After what was practically the withdrawal by arrangement of Sir Ivor Herbert's amendment, the debate on the Coal Mines Bill was adjourned till today in order that masters and men might consider Sir Edward Grey'fe suggestion that if the miners were, prepared to waive their schedule and to accept the exclusion of the minimum from tho Bill, the' owners might agree to a settlement of the minimum question independently of the Bill/ A conference between representatives' of the Government, the owners, and the minors was accordingly to be held to-day. It is significant that the newspaper Labour Leader has advised the men to accept the measure as it stand*. If this is done, we can hardly suppose that the owners will insist upon leaving the minimum bo b« fixed in each case by th© district boards and upon refusing to reopen their mines in the meantime. A temporary truce can eurely be arranged on the terms proposed, even if freedom must be reserved for the reopening of tha question before the boards in exceptional cases. Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald's hope that Monday would find tho Bill unnecessary suggests the possibility of an eveu more satisfactory settlement.