GIGANTIC BLUNDER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue XLVII, 4 March 1912, Page 5

GIGANTIC BLUNDER.

MINERS ALIENATE PUBLIC SYMPATHY A STIFF AND UNCOMPROMISING ATTITUDE. (Press Association.—Copyright.) LONDON, Saturday. Mr Smilie. interviewed, said the Government asked the miners* representative to justify the schedule. He. will do this, but he c;iiiiii>( negotiate in view of the possible reduction. The executive of the I'efleratimi did not authorise him to agree to a reduction. and the owners must first signify their acceptance of the rates. They had already reduced the figures to the lowest point, and were not prepared to leave it to Government officials to say what was a reasonable minimum. The "Chronicle" says that the stiff and uncompromising attitude of the miners has grievously disappointed their friends. The prevalent impression is that the miners' committee has committed a gigantic blunder. Hitherto public opinion has been with them ; but their demand for nothing but tho schedule will alienate sympathy. ' The "Daily Telegraph" says the nation is confronted by the simple, straightforward threat that the Miners' Federation will break the country if it cannot bend it. The "Daily News" says the miners have not put themselves in the wrong ; but the Government cannot permit all the details of the settlement to be imposed on a national industry without examination. NEGOTIATIONS SUSPENDED. LEADERS LOSING INFLUENCE. LONDON, Saturday. The negotiations have been suspended to enable the delegates to obtain the views of their districts upon the guarantees for a fair day's work. The newspapers of both parties sharply criticise the miners for refusing to adopt the Premier's proposal. Mr Smilie, who is the brains of the present movement, has been the chief spokesman throughout. Messrs Edwards, Abraham, Ashton, Burt, and the older leaders have lost their influence.

The "Daily News" states that the decision of the Federation was reached without discussion. The schedule was obtained after a division in which a bare majority of extremists overbore the moderates.

Mr Winston Churchill, addressing the Eighty Club, warned the miners that injuries would be inflicted on the public. At South Shields, where seven million tons of coal is shipped annually, business is at a standstill, and many thousands of men are idle, and forges employing 45.000 will close on Monday. Armstrong, Whitworth, and Company announce that they are closing immediately if a settlement is delayed, as they hold practically no stock of coal. All Cardiff ironworks are closed, and within four days the Derbyshire ironworks will close. The Great Central Railway refuses to deliver coal in transit to Sheffield, asserting that it has the same statutory powers to seize coal for its own purpose's as it exercised during the strike of 1893, subsequently paying the market price for the coal taken. THE MINIMUM WAGE. THE GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSIBILITY. (Received -March 4. 8.5 a.m.) LONDON, Sunday. The Rt. Hon. Alexander Ure, speaking at Exeter, said the strike must be mutually settled, otherwise the Government will not shirk the responsibility to give legislative effect to the minimum wage. The real difficulty was the men fixing a certain amount and refusing to discuss the situation. He thought that on reflection they would not adhere ro the position lest they lose the country's support. SUFFERING IK OTHER PARTS. (Rec. March 4, 8.30 a.m.) CHRISTIANIA, Yesterday. Two thousand industrial workers at Sarpsborg have been rendered idle through the British coal strike. THE CARRIAGE OF COAL. (Rec. March 4, 8.30 a.m.) LONDON. Yesterday. The Great Central Railway Company has yielded to the Sheffield manufacturers' appeal, and has delivered coal to them. THE HOLIDAY ST. i?;IT. RAILWAY MEN ASKED NOT TO TRANSPORT TROOPS. (Hec. March 4, 8.30 a.m.) LONDON, Yesterday. Owing to the strike the steamer Orontes arranged to ship 1000 tons of coal at Plymouth. Coal porters demanded double pay, aiul the concession was granted. A feature of the strike in South Wales and elsewhere is the miners' determination to maintain order.

A holiday spirit prevails. There ar e 23,000 industrial workers idle at Swansea.

Yesterday the Newcastle branch of the Railway Servants asked the Society to decline to handle trains conveying trcop6 during the strike. The juration of the strike is estimated at from a week to a fortnight: Mr Williams, member for Swansea, said he expected that the strike would be mutually settled on Thursday. Mr Harvev. member for Derby, speaking at Clowne, said he would always fiirht against compulsory arbitration, which had absolutely failed in Australia. WHAT THE MIIN ARE ASKING. AN INTRICATE PROBLEM. The miners define the meaning of the minimum wage, for which they have decided to strike, as follows : 1. The descending of the pit and the remaining at the coal face to do a day's work shall establish the right of a. workman to receive the average wage of the district.

2. A committee, consisting of an equal number of representatives, chosen by the owner and the workmen, shall be appointed in evei-y district to consider and determine any disputes as to wages and working places. 3. The only exemptions from the payment of the average wages of a district shall be in the case of workmen -who, by reason of age or physical infirmity, are unable to do a full day's work. Tx>cal committees to be formed to deal with points raised by cither side regarding the working of a minimum wage scale. Exception from any minimum wage arrangement to extend not only men incapacitated by age or infirmity, but to habitual malingerers, and men who do not put in some agreed percentage of time ; the measure of a day's work to be engaged upon an agreed number of tubs covering normal and abnormal places. The coalowners in many parts, however, have asserted that the way out of

the difficulty is not by way of the minimum wage, but by an adequate scheme to deal with the hardship complained of by the men, and admitted by the employers—work in abnormal places. "Let the men," eay the colliery proprietors, "join with us in devising a method to deal jvith these exceptions." One great dilliculty in arranging a settlement will be in reconciling the varying demands of the separate districts. COAL FROM ABROAD. SOME INTERESTING FACTS. The Socialist section of the coal miners evidently think that they have the ball at their feet and that the coal consumers have got to surrender at discretion (wrote \V. R. Lawson in the "Daily Mail" last month). But in such cases there has been many a slip between the cup and the lip. Trade unionists when they go forth to war are liable to commit the mis. take which was bo fatal to Lord Randolph Churchill when "he forgot Goschen." What, they are now forgetting is the foreign coal which in the last extremity may be drawn upon in various ways and to an almost indefinite extent. If Great Britain were still, as it used to be. the chief coalfield of the world, the British collier might realise his sweet dream of working when he liked, playing when he liked, and getting paid when he liked. But, unfortunately for him and his Socialist leaders, it is no longer so. To-day Great Britain is only one among twenty coal-producing countries, and it is not even the largest. Ten years ago (that distinction was taken from it by the United States, and now it is only a rather indifferent second, while Germany is a very good third. Happily for consumers, coal is one of the most widely distributed of minerals. Every year new fields are being discovered and new seams are being opened up. There is no longer a country of any imEortance except perhaps Turkey, which as not a coal supply of its own. It may as yet be small and quite inadequate to its needs, but it is always growing. CHEAP SHIPMENT ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. The British coal consumer has no reason to fear a prolonged coal famine. During the interval in which stocks on hand were being used up foreign isupplies could be Tushing in as fast as steam could carry them across the Atlantic and the North Sea. The State of Pennsylvania alone could replace with very little difficulty one-half of our average domestic consumption. Its total output in 1909 was 200,000,000 tons, or three-fourths of the British 263.000,000 tons. Deduct from the latter the odd 63,000,000 tons which were, exported—exact quantity 63,076,799 tons —and we have a net 200,000,000 tons left for home consumption.

Thus Pennsylvania alone raises as much coal as is consumed in the United Kingdom, and on occasion it could easily increase its output by 50 million tons a year. Moreover, it has unrivalled facilities and the most up to date appliances for shipping coal. Every coalfield, of any consequence has direct communication by rail with tide water. At least half-a-dozen harbours on the Pennsylvania and New Jersey coasts have been specially constructed and equipped for handling coal. If a large trade developed it would cost little more to s end Pennsylvania coa to Liverpool or Southampton than it does to send it to Boston or Portland. It would cost actually less than sending it to Quebec or Montreal. In 1909 the to.tal output of British collieries was, as already stated. 263,774,000 tons, and it was officially 'valued at £106,274,888, or an average overhead of 8s a ton. Th the same year the aggregate output of the United' States was 407 milion tons. But they were short tons of 20001b., which are, roughly speaking seven-eighths of the English long ton (22401b.). 'in long tons they would be 356 millions, and their "spot value," or cost at the pit's mouth, according to official statements, would equal 6s as compared with our 8s a ton. •Startling as this comparison may seem—especially to the militant collier who thinks he has the ball at his feet—it favours the British producer. The American total includes a large proportion of anthracite coal—about a 'sixth—which is much more valuable than the ordinary soft or bituminous coal. If we limit the comparison to the latter it will come out still worse for the British collier. THE STRIKERS' LIMIT OF MISCHIEF. The total production of bituminous coa] in the United States in 1909 was 379,744,000 short tons, equal to 333 million long tons. The "spot value" or cost at the pit's mouth works out at 5s a ton, against our 8s a ton. If the railway freight from pit to tide water and ocean freight to an English port amounted to as much as the mining of the coal, say 5s a ton, the total cost to the British importer would still be only 10s a ton. His profit and the cost of distribution on this side might be reasonably covered by another 5s a ton, making 15s a ton in all.

These tentative figures are given a s a possible working basis. It is not suggested that Pennsylvania coal could be regularly suppled in the United Kingdom for 15s a ton. Of course a sudden increase in the demand for it would raise their coal if they had all their own way. By studying the American coal market we can obtain a general idea of the maximum penalty which the militant collier can inflict upon us. Apart from the temporary inconveniences of a national strike ho can only compel us to pay the current price of coal in the international coai market. The above comparisons seem to indicate that he is pretty near that point already. He cannot force us much nearer to it wihout flooding the United Kingdom with. American and 'German coal, and at the same time flooding our workhouses with destitute colliers. TROUBLES ELSEWHERE. THE MASSACHUSETTS DISPUTE. NEW YORK, Sunday. The niillowners at Lawrence have conceded a five per cent, increase in wages. It is believed there is a probability of this ending ; N e strike. THE L/iWHENCE STRIKERS. A WILD SCENE. (Received 10.20 a.m.) NEW YORK, Yesterday.

There was a scene in the debate in the House of Representative in Committee in connetcion with the Lawrence strike proposal made- by Mr Berg, of Wisconsin to adjourn the hearing of the citizens' side of the strike dispute. Mr Macartney, member for Lawrence, said the Citizens' Committee was opposed on the ground of expense to keeping witnesses in Washington. Mr Berg objected to the collection of funds, alleging that any assietance would be blou<d money. A furious ficenn followed, other members preventing Mesers Berg and Macartney fightinpe.

GERMAN TROUBLES. SHIPBUILDERS STRIKE. (Rec. March 4, 8.30 a.m.) BERLIN, Yesterday. Six thousand ■.shipbuilders at the Schichau Yards at Danzig and Elbing have struck. BRISBANE STRIKE. BRISBANE, Saturday. \ meeting of waterside unions declined to'remain oil strike. The Miners' Union will take a ballot as to whether to sign the employers' agreement, which pro- i vides for resumption on the old conch- ! tions, excepting that the men must give j a fortnight s notice before leaving work, j The Employers' Federation reports that plenty of labour is offering through j the tree labour bureau to supply all requirements. FURTHER TROUBLES. BRISBANE. This Day. The vote of the Amalgamated Engineers' Society favoured re-starting work to-day. The Carters' Union at Maryborough has struck because the mastei's declined to reinstate a number of men who were paid off. The Waterside workers decided not to handle the cargo because it would afterwards be worked by nonunion carters. THE BROKEN HILL STRIKE. SYDNEY, Saturday. Several of the Broken Hill hotel and boardinghouse keepers attempted to reduce their staffs., owing to the increased wages demanded. The Barrier Labour Federation ordered that all old hands should be taken back, the proprietors consulting. INTER-STATE SHIPPING DISPUTE. SYDNEY, Sunday. The Commonwealth steamship owners have represented to the Arbitration Court that a dispute has occurred in Queensland and at Sydney in connection with inter-State shipping, and there is grave danger of it spreading to other parts of the Commonwealth. The Court has summoned a conference of Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne steamship owners and waterside workers for Friday, to consider the situation.BRICK CARTERS' DEMANDS. SYDNEY', Sunday. The brick carters struck for an in crease of sixpence a thousand in the cartage rates. The advance in the price of horse feed and the d earn ess of living are the cause. THE LITHGOvT STRIKE. (Received 9 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. Another futile conference was held in connection with the Lithgow strike. INCREASE IN WAGES. CAUSES RETRENCHMENT. (Received 9 a.m.) - PERTH, This Day. The Government is rigidly retrenching in the- Civil Service in order to make up a portion of the increased expenditure incurred in the advances granted to the railway and other workers. THE AUCKLAND LABOURERS. A MASS MEETING. AUCKLAND, This Day. The Auckland Opera House was crowded yesterday when a meeting of the General Labourers' Union was held to consider the refusal of the local bodies and employers to confer with the executive. ./

Mr. Fraser, President of the Union, said that the employers made tip their minds to deliberately reject all the overtures. He said that the Auckland labourers were the -worst paid in the dominion. The City Council was offereing men 8d a day oil condition that thoy withdrew from the Union; thus local bodies were trying to buy the bodies and souls of the men for 8d a da>-

Mr. Parry, dealing with the trouble between himself and the Mayor, said to Hade's with "the dignity of the Mayor. He also challenged the Mayor to deny .that he knew of the report of the organiser that he had secured •—■ farmers from the-King County to come as special constables to Auckland. If required, Mr. Webb, President of the Federation of Labour, said that the strik e was the last resource, but if the gloves were taken off no mercy would be shown or asked. The meeting passed a resolution protesting against th 6 coercive tactics of the City •Council, and other public bodies in refusing to discuss conditions with the men and condemning the action of the Mayor and Councillors in allying themselves with the employers against organised labour, and calling' oh them to place the public interest in the paramount position and help to avoid industrial trouble