WELSH GOAL STRIKE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15975, 21 July 1915, Page 7

WELSH GOAL STRIKE.

HOPEFUL DEVELOPMENT. MINISTERS VISIT MINERS. ENTER MR. LLOYD GEORGE. CONFLICT CANNOT CONTINUE j Received July JO. 11.55 p.m ) London. July 20. I The situation in regard to the South Wales coal strike is now more hopeful. Members of the miners' I executive were about to leave Car- i diff for London, it is believed, to! bring a new suggestion for settlement, when Mr. Walter Runciman. j President of the Board of Trade, stopped the deputation. j Subsequently, as an outcome of the i Cabinet decision, Mr. Lloyd George, j accompanied by Mr. Runciman and Mr. Arthur Henderson, the Labour] member of the Coalition Cabinet, ; left for Cardiff. Mr. Lloyd George pointed out the! extreme gravity of the situation, em- j phasising the effect of the strike i upon the Continent. No Govern- ; merit could possibly allow the con- I tinuanoc of an industrial conflict ! which imperilled the chances of vie- I toryat the front. The conference! did not. arrive at a decision, and • adjourned until ten o'clock to-day. , Mr. Lloyd George will meet the j owners at noon. Mr. Lloyd George had an enthusiastic welcome at Newport. Tho Cabinet Ministers immediately conferred with the Miners' Executive. ! i i LIMITATION OF Pi!ICES. I i BILL IN THE COMMONS. j i I i AGREEMENT WITH RETAILERS 'Received July 20. 11.55 p.m I London, July 20. Mr. Walter Runciman. President; of the Board of Trade, moved the \ second reading of the Coal Limita-' tion Prices Bill. He stated that \ the rise in the price of coal reprc- j sented about £20,000,000 for the*! year. The Bill would not preclude j the Chancellor of the Exchequer i laying his hands upon the war profits | of any industry. Owing to the enlistment of one out ' of every five miners, the output of ; coal in the period from January to ; June this year was 127.500.000 tons . as against 142,000.000 tons in the same period of 1914. The Bill was : a rough and ready method of pre- ' venting abnormal prices. The aver- I age extra cost in consequence of the ; granting of war bonuses was between 9d and Is per ton. He had not discovered the existence of a coal ring in London. The retailers had permitted him to examine their books, and they had agreed to the fixing of a maximum price for summer, and were prepared to make a similar arrangement for winter. It would therefore be unfair arbitrarily to fix a standard price. He hoped that the South Wales settlement would be stable and peaceful. Every other coalfield had agreed to the arrangements made for the war. ;

Sir J. Walton, Liberal member for Barnsley, moved that the Bill be rejected. He contended that the proposed Act penalised one industry, and allowed other huge profit-mak-ing industries to go free.

Sir Arthur Markham urged the fixing of maximum retail prices, otherwise, he said, th j middlemen would " fleece" the poor.

The motion for rejection was lost, and the Bill was read a second time.

SORRY, BUT OBSTINATE. LLOYD GEORGE'S MISSION. (Received July 20. 9.20 p.m.) Loxdox, July 20. The older men in South Wales regret the strike almost to a man. Many are dejected and shamefaced, feeling the odious position they are placed in, but they declare that unless they get their rights now, smaller demands after peace is declared will enable the employers to treat them worse than ever. Most of the men admit they were sorry they struck, but add that they will not give in now. The belief thai the companies are making fabulous fortunes is universal, though there is no evidence o the fact. The moving spirits are a little band of syndicalists, who are out to wreck society, but fear to put their views to the test of a general ballot. The general impression is that Mr. Lloyd George will find a way of making it easy for the miners to retreat from an impossible pos'on.