COALMINING DISPUTE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19292, 3 April 1926, Page 9

COALMINING DISPUTE.

COMMISSION'S REPORT. REPLIES BY THE OWNERS. ) POINTS OF AGREEMENT. MINERS NOT SATISFIED. WILL FIGIIT LOWER WAGES. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received 12.55 a.m.) Renter. LONDON. April 2. An official statement has been issued by the coalmine owners containing their proposals based on the report of the Royal Commission. Appended to the statement are replies to the commission's recommendation ad seriatim. These replies to a large extent express agreement with or acquiescence in tho recommendations, including willingness on the part of tho owners to engage in national discussions as against district discussions, which they had strongly advocated. The owners say they are of opinion that the recommendations for State ownership of tho mineral is a question for Parliament. They agree that the methods of payment of men who are not employed at a face should be revised, so as to give tho?e men a direct interest in the output. The. owners say they recognise that the miners will not entertain a proposal for longer hours, and they therefore wish to discuss the recommendations that the definition of working time should be weekly instead of daily, and for a greater flexibility in working hours. Further, the owners consider that the most urgent matter is the settlement of the minimum percentage on basic rates, arid the amonrit of subsistence wage in eaoh district. The executive of the Miners' Federation has also issued a statement concerning the two days' conference held with owners. This says the latter refused to intimate what thev proposed to pay thji men after May 1, except to say there would be heavy reductions. The executive describes the owners' views on the report of the commission as indefinite. It says the owners' refusal to consider the fixation of a national minimum percentage and their insistence that all wages must be a district ' concern, constitute almost insurmountable obstacles to amicable settlement. The men assume that in the absence of definite proposals for a minimum percentage the owners' position is the same as it was in July, 1925. and that the consequential reductions in wages will vary from one to five shillings a day. The executive unanimously decided not .to consent to a further lowering of wages nor to the abolition of the national minimum percentage. The National Delegates Council will consider the position on April 9 prior to which the executive of the federation will confer with the industrial committee of the Trades Union Congress.