STRIKING MINERS IN SCOTLAND RETURN TO WORK

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 September 1947, Page 7

STRIKING MINERS IN SCOTLAND RETURN TO WORK

(Rec. 11.10 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 24

The workers at Blantyre, where the Scottish coal strike originated, unanimously decided to return to. work and called upon the other miners to follow them.

National Coal Board headquarters stated that 38 collieries were involved this morning in the strike, involving 12,623 men. The loss of coal since the dispute started amounted to 35,000 tons. A Ministry of Fuel spokesman said at a press conference today that the Government had decided that there would be no compulsory restrictions this winter on domestic consumers’ electricity and gas. The ban on electric and gas fires would disappear during the winter.

The announcement that the Birmingham Coal Board has placed orders for £9,000,000 worth of mining machinery as the first part of the board’s 15-year programme of mines modernisation was made by Mr Arthur Woodburn, Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Supply Ministry. “We are overcoming the shortage of materials and other difficulties,” he said. “The monthly output of belt conveyors will increase four-fold from the January, 1947, rate by the middle of 1948,. and coal cutters by 2j. The worst period of the steel shortage appears to be over. The position is., expected to improve considerably in the next three months. We intend to import only conveyor belts. There will still be some exports of mining machinery to stimulate coal production in certain Continental countries and enable manufacturing firms to keep their customers.”