BRITISH COAL STRIKE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19389, 26 July 1926, Page 8

BRITISH COAL STRIKE.

The latest development in the British coal strike is the drift back to work of miners in considerable numbers, Warwickshire being the field affected. A whole quarter has passed since work ceased, so that a break in the ranks is not surprising. The passive strength the miners have shown is remarkable ; but there must be a limit. If the strike were to end in this manner, the men returning sporadically in different areas, on the terms offered at the pithead, it might appear a victor} for the mineowners. It would be n hollow victory. If one thing has been completely proved by the history of this industry since the wartime control was lifted, it is that neither peace nor prosperity can be counted upon if it is to continue on its old basis. That verdict was sealed by the report of the Coal Commission, which various people are again demanding as the groundwork of an effective settlement. The report is not without its critics, but none of them has been able to shake its exposition of the wastefulness, lack of system, and endless duplication of effort with which coal was being won and marketed in Britain. Without a general tightening up of organisation, the elimination of the uneconomic pit, and the utilisation of all the resources of |pience, the commission saw no chance of coalmining paying the wages contained in the last agreement, and returning a profit on invested capital. Reorganisation and development on the lines it recommended would, it was urged, restore mining to a condition of prosperity equalling, and, indeed, surpassing, that .enjoyed in the past. Accepting, then, the conclusions of the Coal Commission, the drift of cer tain miners back to work cannot be regarded as satisfactory unless there is also to be a real attempt to tone up the industry and provide reasonable prospects of a durable peace.