RUINOUS TO THE MEN AND THE COUNTRY

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 85, 10 April 1917, Page 6

RUINOUS TO THE MEN AND THE COUNTRY

" It seems to me to hp very late in tha <fay for the men tol have adopted conscription as a reason for going out on strike," said the Acting Prime Minister (Sir James AllenJ'Ho -a Post reporter to-day, "and I hope," he added, "that it is not true that they are coming .out. It looks to me as if the immediate causa was the arrest of some- of their leaders on account of the ' go-slow ' policy, which has, apparently, been (adopted." " I cannot conceive that the bulk of the men believe that .this is sound policy for them as coalminers, because, to my mind, in the long run 'it must be very damaging- to them and to itheir earning capacityT . ■ ■ „

"Apart; from that, it is a very serious thing to limit the output <at a time like this when we want every ounce of'pro-' duce that a man can give, especially in such an important item as coaL Hera we are, with a great war in progress, thousands of our men away. Many coalminers haye 1 enlisted afid gone to the front, and for. patriotic reasons, if for none otljer, it seems'to me that the men ought to remain in their work and to produce all they can reasonably be expectedl to. The Government cannot allow the go-slow policy to continue. It is ruinous both to the nien and the country. "