BRITISH LABOUR TROUBLES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 430, 13 January 1912, Page 5

BRITISH LABOUR TROUBLES.

COAL STRIKE FEARED. GREAT STRUGGLE PREDICTED. NATIONALISATION OF MINES. B.v TolcsrajtU.-l'res* Association.- -CowrlcW. London, January 10. Mr J. Haslam M.P. for the Chesterfield division of Derbyshire Miners' Association, in an interview, said that his Association was anxious to avoid a strike and had reduced its demandß to a considerable extent. Nevertheless the appearances threatened one of the biggest struggles known. The lirat million men out would to followed by another million. Mr Charles Fen wick, LiberalLabour member for Wansbeck, Northumberland, and an ex-miner, at a meeting of Northumberland miners, said that h>' feared that in the midst of the present unrest men were being carried away by mere phrases.

Mr Smillie, president of the Scottish Mines' Federation, at a mass meeting of Lanarkshire miners, .stated that he told Mr Churchill at the recent, conference that if a colliery strike wero declared the railways would stop in a fortnight and the Dreadnoughts would be scrap-iron in six weeks. Mr Churchill replied that the Government would pass a Bill to prevent, it. Mr Smillie continued that a general stoppage would force people to believe that the industry was too important for private ownership. GERMANS WILL JOIN IN. London, January 10. The Chronicle states that in the event of a British strike tha German colliers will strike simultaneously. ADMIRALTY PREPARING. 100,000 TONS A DAY. London, January 10. Admiralty orders will monopolize Cardiff shipping tonnage for month?. A hundred thousand tons of coal is being requisitioned daily. MINE LEADERS URGE PEACEFUL SOLUTION. Received January 13, fl.lo a.m. London, Yesterday. Several of the miners' leaders are urging the peaceful solution of the trouble and a round-table conference. Many employers are wililng to give the minimum wage in abnormal place?, but not a general minimum wage. Hundreds of men are working day and night constructing a coal depot at Chatham dock yard for storage of thirty thousand tons of coal.