BRITISH COAL SITUATION

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 29, 3 January 1927, Page 5

BRITISH COAL SITUATION

REMARKS BY MR. AMERY. LONDON, Nov. 20. In a_ recent speech Mr. L. S. Amery, Dominions Secretary, said that now the coal strike was at an end we should take a lesson from the tremendous prosperity of the United States, and seek to bring about an even greater period of prosperity than is enjoyed in America at the present time. “The United States,” said Mr. Amery, “have only a quarter of the resources of the British Empire, but in spite of this their people live in a greater degree of comfort, and their wages are higher. Our resources are not only greater, but are also more vlried, and if only we had a common policy we could outstrip the United States. I ask you 1 Let us take our eyes off the ground and look upwards.” Speaking of • the coal strike, Mr. Amery said : “During the whole of the conflict the miners’ leadors have been trying to farce the State into nationalisation, and the men would long ago have been willing to nccept reasonable terms had it not been for tnis. • By reasonable terms I mean terms that did not involve tho standard of wages and conditions of living compatible with the conscience of the country. Even before the strike the owners were already giving more than the industry could afford. The men therefore did not strike to get more money out of the mines, but in an attempt to make the Government tax the community for a subsidy, or to make tho Government take over the industry. This would have come to the same thing, as the mines would have had to be carried on at the taxpayers’ expense.”