THE MINING INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17650, 10 December 1920, Page 6

THE MINING INDUSTRY.

No one will dispute the contention of the president of the Coal Mine Owners' Association that an increase in +'• - output of coal would be facility by a, better understanding between owners and miners. The conditions in the industry for many months have approximated more closely to guerilla warfare, or at best to an armed truce, than to peace. . The means for restoring the co-operation which Mr. Reece, in common with every well-wisher of the industry desires, are not so obvious. Clearly the men cannot be forced into the Arbitration Court against their will, and the conciliatory machinery peculiar to the industry is far from perfect. Mr. Reece makes a number of suggestions, the most vital being the establishment in each mining district of a sort of Whitley Council. For the fixing of agreements for a term Mr. Reece suggests the appointment of a tribunal having the approval of owners, miners, and the public. It is easy to agree that a tribunal so unique in its composition would have great moral authority, but how to constitute it is a prdblem of no small dimensions. Mr. Reece's ideas are indefinite, 'but his proposal that the public should in some way be represented is worthy of consideration. The outline of his scheme is blurred, but it might be brought into sharper "definition by an industrial conference of the kind advocated by organised labour and rejected by the employers on no very sound ground. Here at least is one idea for an industrial conference, and if the conference did no more than to bring real peace in the coal mines it would not have met in vain-