LABOUR GOVERNMENT FACES GRAVE CRISIS IN COAL BILL CLAUSE

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7170, 18 March 1930, Page 7

LABOUR GOVERNMENT FACES GRAVE CRISIS IN COAL BILL CLAUSE

ministry’s Dilemma APPEASE OPPONENTS OR ANTAGONISE MINERS? ' ■ 1 , " • NAVAL REDUCTION DEBATE. .United Press Association.—By Eicctria Telegraph.—Copyright. Received Monday, 10.0 p.m. LONDON, March 17.

An anxious week is before tho Government in tho House of Commons, now tn committee on the Coal Bill. The debate concludes on Thursday, which will bo the critical day. The Bill proposes that a district committee of owners should bo empowered to fix minimum prices. Tho Conservatives and Liberals both object to tho provision, threatening to combine against the Government and have tabled a joint amendment to delete the sub-section.

Tho trouble is, Ministerial circles state, that the adoption of the amendment- will inevitably cause the withdrawal of tho Bill, a course which the miners would bitterly oppose, as it would mean tho sacrifice of the prospect of a reduction of hours in the coming summer.

Obviously, it would be dangerous to antagonise such a strong body of Labour supporters, so the Government is faced with a most difficult decision. Tho other issue to be raised in the Coal Bill is the protection of public utility societies from an abnormal increase in the price of fuel. Still another interesting debate on Monday arises from Mr. A. V. Alexander’s justification of sweeping naval reductions, in which > the principal triti* will be Mr. Winston Churchill.