THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 1925. BRITISH COAL CRISIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19086, 3 August 1925, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 1925. BRITISH COAL CRISIS.

The British coal crisis is at an end temporarily. Tho Government has intervened, granting a subsidy which ensures the continuance for some months of the wages and conditions established last year by agreement between the miners and the owners. Meantime there will be another inquiry into the whole circumstances of the industry. Comment on this denouement agrees substantially that a palliative, not a remedy, has been found., Facts to substantiate this interpretation are to be found in plenty. Ever since the great coal striko of 1921 there has been persistent dissatisfaction among the miners. The coalowners during tho period have stood consistently by tho declaration that tho industry is not able to bear the burden which would be cast upon it if wages commensurate with tho demands o£ the miners were granted. The parties have not been able to compromise on terms promising peace of any permanency. To say they have been working under a series of truces describes the situation as well as any generalisation can do. The most casual survey of its history for the past few years leaves an impression that there is something seriously wrong with the British coal industry. That, as a starting point, is easily determined. Exact diagnosis and permanent cure are still being sought. It is axiomatic that Britain's prosperity depends more heavily upon coal than upon any other single factor. In such circumstances, it cannot be wondered that the authorities are ready to go to almost any length to avert such a cataclysm as threatened to cast it into chaos. Memories of a nation-wide stoppage are too recent for tho prospect to have caused anything but < the deepest dismay. The great upheaval of 1921 lasted from the beginning of April until the beginning of July. It followed almost immediately upon removal by the Government of the war-timo control over the industry. The mineowners then proposed that there should bo a reversion to the standard rates current in each district before the war, with additional percentages varying in accordance with the ability of districts to pay, as ascertained monthly. The miners' demands were for a standard wage equal throughout the nation, with a national pool of profits to enable less prosperous districts^ 4 to pay this wage. They advocated further a national coal board to determine questions of wages and conditions. A protracted fight over these terras saw the country facing many dark hours. As the miners went out the enginemen and hands manning the pumps were withdrawn by their organisations, so that rising water threatened to ruin many pits beyond repair. Volunteer labour had to be onlisted to save priceless assets. A transport strike threatened several times. In the ultimate the trouble was ended, with the miners exhausted. The wages adjustment was elaborate in character. Its principal feature was the establishment of a variable scale of wages in each district, dependent upon the pro- ! ceeds of the mines after provision had been made for the costs of production and for the payment of standard profits. The settlement involved reduction of the rates prevailing when the strike began. The Government provided a subsidy of £10,000,000 to prevent too rapid a scaling down of wages. The cost of the. stoppage, as a whole, to the country was estimated at something like £250,000,000, though the more remote consequences such as the depressing effect on industry in general were, of course, incalculable. With such memories fresh in mind, the anxiety with which developments of the past few weeks have been watched is understandable. From the conclusion of the 1921 agreement to the beginning of last year, there was little change in the situation. It was not that the men were satisfied; quite the contrary, but the exhausting effects of the great struggle had not passed away. When discussions between miners and owners recommenced in 1924, adverse reports of the state of the industry were still current. A Labour Government was in power, and the campaign for nationalisation was being pressed. For a little time a serious deadlock threatened, but finally a compromise was reached. A new agreement was mado following the lines of that of 1921, but with features rather more favourable to the men. There were provisions for a higher minimum wage in all districts, better treatment for day wage men, and higher wages in the more profitable coalfields. At approximately tho same time a court of inquiry the Government had set up reported that while day-worker 3 were receiving less than the equivalent wages of 1914, the profits in some collieries were substantially in excess of those obtained before the war. On this occasion there was no serious talk of a State subsidy. Nationalisation was in the air. The attempt to achieve it failed, and, as it now appears, the miners settled down to await developments this year, when the agreement was due to expire. Those events arc now on record. Another upheaval, lisastroua in character, almost certain to involve the great group of transport unions, has been narrowly averted. Tho Government is to find a sum, roughly estimated at from £10,000,000 to £12,000,000, to purchase peace for a period estimated at nine months at the longest. Tho circumstances detailed explain why tho Government is finding so much to secure .eyen temporary

settlement. ' If in the brief breathing Bpace Bomething can be done to meet a Bituation full of perilous possibilities, the price is not too great. It i 3 better to pay it than to endure another strike costing hundreds of millions and possibly threatening the wholo fabric of society. The question is whether anything more than a postponement has been gained, as commentators on the situation remark. The coal industry of Britain contains numbers of unanswered questions. Unless some of them are settled—as they cannot be by State subsidies—it is impossible to see a more cheerful future than recurrent crises of tho •kind just experienced.