MUDDLING IN BRITISH MINES IS ALLEGED

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 June 1948, Page 2

MUDDLING IN BRITISH MINES IS ALLEGED

(Recd. 9. a.m.) LONDON, June 5. Fourteen months after he left a well paid job as a journalist in London to go down the coalmines because he felt he could do more useful work there, Wilfred Brooks, a South African newspaperman, has left the pits and returned to South Africa. In an article in the News Chronicle, Brooks describes why he abandoned his gesture and left the coalmines. “My over-riding impression of one of the largest coalfields in Britain,” he states, “has been of almost unbelievable inefficiency, the product of past neglect and present muddling. I have seen neither drive nor leadership week after week the story was the same—in many pits. Extemporisation, usually hurried and slipshod, took the place of effective maintenance and then only after action became absolutely imperative. I seldom saw a maintenance job really well done. Lack Of Leadership Seen “The phrase ‘Don’t, you know equipment is short,’ was justified, but like its sister phrase ‘Don’t you know there’s a Avar on?’ it covered many sins.” , , Discussing the lack of leadership in the mines, Brooks states that many officials, under present conditions, cannot maintain disciplinary power. Some officials try to employ the ‘big stick,” but usually with disastrous results. As a result, the majority take the easy line, placate difficult men, authorise extra pay, whether justified or not, and shrug their shoulders.

“They are the victims of lack of opportunity and trends beyond their control,” states Brooks. He found that many miners have now little faith in the Coal Board and they overlook its achievements. On one hand there were deferences to the “Old Gang” still being in power and on the other, none tco polite references to former trades union officials with comfortable Coal Board posts. Stubborn Loyalty He found ideological fervour dead, but that the Government’s social measures had produced a stubborn loyalty to the Labour Party. Brooks concludes by paying a warm tribute to the commonsense, kindness and hospitality he encountered among the people of the coalfields. “f shall never forget the grand people living there,” he states, “but I was shocked to see in what conditions many thousands of decent British people are living and working even todayA