GOOD NEWS !

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 June 1930, Page 6

GOOD NEWS !

OfINERS, mine-owners, and the whole community can be congratulated on the happy result of yesterday’s conference at Christchurch. Commendation is due to the representatives of employers and employed who arrived at. an amicable understanding, establishing peace and averting a wretched strike with all its attendant losses and distress. The terms of settlement have not been announced, but such details are of little consequence, compared with the fact that the miners are not to be rendered unnecessarily idle. Stoppages of work and wages are always serious affairs, and never more so than

at present, when the national financial situation is stringent, and when keen competition in the coal

industry may be expected from Australia. Had the Christchurch conference been unsuccessful, added difficulty would have been placed in the path of those who are urging the Government to protect the Dominion’s coal industry against unfair competition. Now that harmony is to be maintained, the Government can be requested to redeem the promise that adequate steps would be taken to safeguard New Zealand coal interests. A complete embargo against, the Australian product is impracticable, nor would such policy be wise, owing to its boomerang qualities. The issue is not only between the mine owners of both countries but between the respective unionists as well. It would be a reasonable thing for the N.Z. miners, who for so long subscribed to the relief of their Australian colleagues, to ask the latter to declare “black” any attempt at “dumping” of Australian coal on the New Zealand markets.