NEW SOUTH WALES MINES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20425, 29 November 1929, Page 13

NEW SOUTH WALES MINES

DEADLOCK AT CONFERENCE.

WAGE REDUCTION REJECTED.

NORTHERN MEN OUTVOTED.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright, SYDNEY, Nov. 28.

Hopes of a settlement of tho coal trade dispute were shattered when tho council of tho Miners' Federation decided that it would not agreo to any reduction in wages. This decision if adhered to means tho collapse of tho negotiations with tho northern colliery proprietors, who insist upon a reduction in wages as the only basis of an agreement.

Tho officials of the Minors' Federation and the northern leaders favoured a compromise, but they were outvoted by the western and southern delegates. The action of the Miners' Council has tho effect of throwing the dispute back upon the hands of the Federal Government. All the southern and western miners have been, fully employed during the currency of the northern strike, and although they were paying heavy levies to tho northern strikers, they enjoyed a boom period which they will not now readily forgo, especially as it would involve a slight wage reduction and possibly diminish the employment oi: a number of their members.