THE COAL INDUSTRY

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 21 August 1919, Page 7

THE COAL INDUSTRY

GOVERNMENT REPLY TO LABOR ALLIANCE.

CANNOT SUPPORT MINERS' DEMANDS.

<BY TELEGBAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION.) I WELLINGTON, Aug. 21. I 'The Government, in replying to the I coalmineis' deputation, says tnat it is necessary to ascertain as accurately as possible the employers' profit in older to decide whether any increase in the cost of production should be legitimately passed on to the public or taken from the excess profits. The Government sees no reason to doubt the accuracy of Professor Sight's report, and this showed that the owners were only I obtaining 5 per cent. In the Government's opinion an increase cannot fairI l3 r be borne by the owners. j The deputation's first point was an objection to the condition attached to the offer by the owners that increases ; in wages arid contract prices should not apply to mines where agreements were in force, till those agreements had hema explained. In this the Government j supports the deputation, but does not' agree with the j)pint that tho condition J was to prevent operations of the national organisation of c-oalminers^ Th» Government is unable to find evidence supporting the deputation's statement that the working conditions in the State mines are better than in other mines. As to the State charging less this only applies to household coal, and on it a loss is made. For all other purposes the charge Ts the same as the private mines. The 'Government is in sympathy with, the suggestion that hewers should not do trueiang, except where coal cannot be extracted under other conditions. Mr Hampton summarised the subjects on which Cabinet was desired to give consideration as follows: (1) Are miners entitled to a wage equal to pre-war conditions? (2) Does the employers' offer bring wages up to that standard? (3) If not, why not? The Government reply to the first is that the legislation of last session empowers the Arbitration Court to review and if necessary to raise wages to the pre-war standard. The reply ; to the second question is that the I Government considers that official data prove that recent increases and the present offer do bring wages up to the pre-war standard. The answer to the third question is that there should be no reason to prevent full effect being given to the first question. The whole matter, then, is reduced to a question as to whether the official data can be fully accepted by both parties to the dispute. If not, whether both parties cannot agree to some method of testing the accuracy of that data. Dealing with the effect of the demand upon the consumer, the Government says that if all the demands were granted the effect would be to increase the cost by 20s per ton to the consumer. While the Government considers that an increase to the consumer of 2s to 3s'per ton might be justified, or even a little more, it does not consider that elements leaving the official data open to fair question exist, and even if it could be shown that a margin does exist not fully covered by the employers' recent offer, such margin could not be large enough to be of practical importance. The Government emphatically considers the official data accurate, and that the increase offered by the owners would raise the miners' earnings, at least their equivalent in purchasing power, to the pre-war earnings.

The reply in conclusion deals with the question of developing unopened mines for which the present supply of labor is insufficient, and invites the deputation to state frankly the position of their organisation on this point.