THE COAL DEADLOCK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17277, 29 September 1919, Page 6

THE COAL DEADLOCK

The Prime Minister's effort to j bring the parties to the coal mining dispute together again has had one i tangible result. The mine owners have announced that they are prepared to waive any technical objections in regard to the existing industrial agreements so as to secure a conference at each mine by means of Conciliation Councils. This reopens an important phase of the dispute which has frequently been emphasised in the Herald. The miners have never been consulted on the judicial finding on the case which the Government delivered on August 21. They have not been asked whether they would accept a settlement in terms of that finding. So far as is known, no ballot taken at any miners* meeting amounts to a rejection of the terms which the Government considered fair and reasonable. These terms extended the mine owners' last offer in directions favourable to the miners. In particular, the Government < 'pressed the opinion that the increased wages and contract prices offered by the mine owners should apply to all mines, including those working under unexpired agreements. The mine owners, by their letter to the Prime Minister published to-day, indicate a willingness to accept this view. What have the miners to say? There has always been a strong belief, in the North at all events, that if the working miners could be reached they would readily accept such a settlement. The proposal for local conferences is therefore welcome because it opens the way to direct consultation with the miners. The officials of the Miners' Federation may object, but they have been too long permitted to stand between the public and its coal supplies. The miners should at least have the opportunity of- saying whether they accept the Government's judgment in the dispute or whether they deliberately prefer to defy the law and curtail their own earnings by a continuance of the " go-slow policy. The Conciliation Commissioners can put the alternatives before them. No objection can reasonably be taken to this. A favourable vote would end the deadlock ; a hostile one would dispel the existing belief that the collective opinion of the miners has been ignored or misinterpreted by their leaders.