ALL OR NOTHING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14934, 6 March 1912, Page 7

ALL OR NOTHING.

THE MEN'S DEMANDS. PRIME MINISTER'S ADVICEMINERS MAY GO TOO FAR, OTHER OPERATIVES IDLE. RAILWAYMEN RESTLESSBy Telegraph.— Press Association.—Copy (Received March 6. 1.15 a.m.) London, March 5. As a result of the strike of the colliers- a million in —350,000 workers in various industries have been rendered idle. These include: North of England ... 108,000 Midlands ... ..! 60,000 Wales 70,000 Eastern counties ... 0,000 South of England ... 20,000 Scotland ... ... 70,000 The Industrial Council (set up some months ago by the Government) discussed the miners' crisis for two hours, and then adjourned. Seven hundred trains were suspended to-day. The railwa.vmen at Doncaster resolved to strike if the Government threatens to coerce the miners. Similar resolutions will be moved at other railway centres. The railwaymen of Ncasden have appealed to the National Railwaymen's executive to strike in support of the miners.. WALES WANTS STILL MORE. Some of the Derbyshire miners are wearying of the strike. The miners of North Wales are dissatisfied with the minimum of 6s a day fixed by the Miners' Federation. They prefer 7s and threaten to resume work. Contrary to the Federation's recommendation, the miners refused to allow several collieries in Northumberland to be kept in order. The miners at Whitburn, Durham, refused to permit ventilation, the pumping of water from the pits, or the feeding of 400 ponies.

In the House of Commons yesterday the Prime Minister, Mr. Asquith, made an important • statement on the complete deadlock which has arisen over the refusal of the miners' delegates to discuss any terms which are less than the minimum they have proposed. NOT FLIRTING WITH SOCIALISM. Replying to Mr. Bonar Law (Unionist leader), he gave an emphatic denial to a . statement made in a speech at Ebbw Valo by Mr. j Davis, one o? the miners' delegates I to the London conference, that the Prime Minister, in his speech to the miners on February '29, declared that the day was not distant when the Government would make itself responsible for payment of a minimum wage to all the workers in the country. Following up his denial, Mr. Asquith said he was not in the habit of having sly flirtations with Socialism. An obstacle to settlement, he continued, was the amount of the minimum. The owners had raised a i number of formidable objections to the men's schedule, and urged that under it many pits would have to close. It was impossible for the Government to ask Parliament to coerce the owners into accepting the men's figures as a minimum. He warned the miners of their enor ! mous responsibility in entering on the course on which they had determined. The Government felt compelled to pursue a rigorous examination of the figures which both parties had given. Mr. G. Roberts, the Labour party's Whip, declares that the miners are justified in demanding Ihe incorporation in a Minimum Wage Bill of rates representing the basis of what they believed to be right. He appealed to the workers to avoid violence. TROOPS READY TO START. Trains sufficient to carry 20,000 troops are ready at Aldershot for an immediate start. Seven thousand engine builders and others at Swindon, 5000 founders at Leeds, 2000 shipyard hands at Jarrow, and thousands of potters in the Midlands have been thrown ,idle. The miners spent the week-end at football matches, picture theatres, music-halls, and coursing matches. Many Derbyshire miners are visiting the seaside. Six hundred ponies in Yorkshire and Derbyshire have been brought to the surface, some for the first time in 20 years. The number of daily trains that have been withdrawn is 2500. There is ' a vast accumulation of provisions in London warehouses. People are ordering heavy supplies of tinned meats, fruit and flour. BELGIAN MINERS' DEMANDS Brussels, March 5. The Belgian Miners' Federation has made demands for an all-round advance in wages.

LOCAL trade outlook. A cablegram from Sydney, published yesterday, stated that the strike of coalminors in England was causing nervousness in commercial circles, and that, values have finned in anticipation of advances As a result of inquiries made in mercantile circle? in Auckland yesterday, it would seem that a similar state of affairs is notlikely to exist here, unless tho strike is protracted. Just at this time, however, prices for the majority of lines are considerably higher than they were during the corresponding period of last year, so that the stoppage would have to be serious before rates of staple lines further advance. A lengthy trouble is not anticipated, and according to the opinion of a 'large importer of general lines, a temporary curtailing of supplies might not. prove an unmixed blessing, 'as the trouble throughout New Zealand of late haa been overimportation.