COAL CRISIS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 8053, 6 March 1912, Page 7

COAL CRISIS

INDUSTRIES IDLE RAILWAYMEN THREATEN TO STRIKE IF MINERS ARE COERCED By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyrisni (Received jlarch 6, 1.15 a.m.) LONDON, March 5. Three hundred and fifty thousand persons in various industries are now idle, including 108,000 in the North, of England, 02,000 in. the Midlands, 70 000 in Wales, 0000 in the Eastern Counties, 20.G00 in the South of England, and 70,000 in Scotland. The Board of Trade Industrial Council yesterday discussed the miners' crisis for two hours and then adjourned. . - Seven .hundred trains are suspended at Manchester. The railwaymen at Poncaster have resolved to strike if the Government threatens to coerce the miners. Similar resolutions are to be moved at other railway centres. GENERAL RAILWAY STRIKE URGED. The Railwaymen's Association has appealed for a national strike of. railwaymen in support of the miners. Some Derbyshire miners are wearying of "the strike, and minei-3 in North Wales are dissatisfied with the minimum of 6s a day fixed by the Federation instead of 7s, and threaten to resumo contrary to the Federation's recommendation. The miners have refused to allow several collieries in Northumberland to be kept in order, while miners at Whitburn, Durham, refused to permit the ventilation and pumping of water at the pits or the feeding of four hundred ponies.

IN THE COMMONS

STATEMENT BY THE PRIME ' MINISTER. LONDON, March 4. Replying to a question by Mr Bonar Law,, leader of the Opposition, Mr Asquith denied Mr Davis's statement regarding a minimum wage for all industries. He (the < Premier) was not in the habit of having sly flirtations with Socialism. _' [Mr Davis stated Mr Asquith, on Thursday last, said the day was not far distant when the Government would make themselves responsible for a minimum wage for all workers in the country.] ,

Mr Asquith added that an obstacle to a settlement of the coal dispute was the amount of the minimum wage demanded. The owners raised a number of formidable objections to the men’s schedule, and urged that many pits would have to close if the demands were conceded. It .was impossible for the Government to ask. Parliament to coerce the Owners into accepting the very figures of the minimum demanded, and he warned the miners of the enormous responsibility attaching to entering on the course they had determined on. The Government felt compelled to pursue a rigorous examination of the figures both parties had given.

LABOUR M.P.’S. JUSTIFICATION. Mr G. H. Roberts, M.P. for Norwich and Labour* Whip, and one-timo secretary of the Typographical Association and president of the Trades Council, Norwich, in a speech in the House of Commons,' declared that the miners were justified in demanding the; incorporation in a Minimum Wage Bill of the rates representing the basis of what they believe to be. right. He appealed to the workers to avoid violence.

STEIKEBS' WEEKEND LONDON WAREHOUSES FULL OF PROVISIONS. . TROOPS READY FOR ACTION. LONDON, March 4. Many of the miners spent the weekend at the football matches., picture theatres, music-halls, and coursing matches. Many Derbyshire miners visited the seaside. Two thousand five hundred daily trains have been withdrawn. There is a vast accumulation of provisions in London warehouses, and people are ordering heavy supplies of tinned meats, fruit, and flour. Fifteen London stations of the SouthEastern Railway close to-morrow. Six hundred ponies in the Yorkshire and Derbyshire mines have , been brought to the surface, some for the first time for twenty years. Seven thousand engine-builders and others at Swinton, five thousand ironfounders at Leeds, two thousand shipyard hands at Jarrow, and thousands of potters in the Midlands are idle. Trains sufficient for the carriage of 20,000 troops are at Aldershot ready for an immediate start if necessary.

ON THE CONTINENT. BELGIAN MINERS DEMAND AN ' INCREASE IN PAY. BRUSSELS, March 4. The Miners' Federation demands an all-round advance in wages. IN AUSTRALIA BRISBANE CARTERS REFUSE TO LEAVE WORK. BRISBANE, March 5. A further attempt was mad© to in* duco the carters to work, but the men declined to do eo/ The whole of the tramway services have now been restored. Loyal workers have been granted double pay from the beginning of tho strike to last Saturday. A STATEMENT POSTPONED. (Received March 5, 10.15 p.m.) BRISBANE, March 5. Mr Coyne, addressing tho strikers, said the important statement he had expected to make had to be postponed till to-morrow. A conference between employers and

waterside workers at Maryborouga proved abortive.

SHIPPING AT SYDNEY

SYDNEY, March- 5. The Howard Smith Company intends dispatching the steamer Leura to Brisbane with a, cargo. Other companies are accepting a cargo, and no difficulty is anticipated. The Prinz Waldemar, one of the German vessels designated " black by the unionists, discharged her cargo at Brisbane with her own crow. It was intended to dock her at Sydney, but painters and dockers notified that they would not touch /her. (Received March 6, 0.45 a.m.) SYDNEY, March 5. Tho trouble over the -loading of wheat ships is still unsettled. Acting under the union instructions the wharl labourers have stopped all loading oi cargo for Brisbane. A meeting of the union is being held to-night to consider tho situation, and further de-_ velopments are expected. NEWCASTLE COLLIERY DISPUTE ENDED. ' SYDNEY, March 5. The Newcastle Colliery Conciliation Board has effected a settlement of the Shortland Colliery strike, which has bean in existence for a year, by fixing rates for shooting and filling. The men and the proprietors had several | conferences, but were unablo to agree. The men will now resume work. TROUBLE AT MOUNT LYELL. HOBART, March 5. A number of the Mount Lyell employees declined to work on Thursday last owing to a fatal accident on Wednesday. When they reported on Monday they were told they would have to sign on as new employees and await a notification as to when tliey would bo required. Several have stated their intention to leave the district.

THE MINEK'S DREAM TEOlt OuP. SPECIAL COEEESPONDENT. LONDON, January 19. The result of the miners' ballot taken during the past week is much what was expected. Out of 561,522 votes casino less thaiv 445,801 were in favour of the minimum wages proposal, and ■ only j 115,921 were against giving notice. Unly in one district did the vole go against the proposal to strike for a minimum wage, namely Cleveland. -In lorkshiro there were six to one for strops measures, and in Scotland and the Midlands five to one. Altogether the figures are very substantially over the necessary two-thirds majority, and the result of the ballot tends to confirm the fears of tho public and to strengthen the hands and stiffen the backs ot the extremists among the miners, wliose demands have grown with the progress of the quarrel. ' At first th.e dispute between masters and mea was based chiefly on the technical question, of payment to men set \to win coal ! from mother earth m abnormal places. On that question there were apparently good grounds for believing that an amicable settlement wad in sight. But then the minimum wage principle was brought forward, the men's demand finally amounting-to<such minimum payment being made, not to able-bodied miners only, but for all hands, surface as well as underground workers, and the infirm as well as the strong. It is not only to be an individual district rate, : but a general wage, and in some cases the figure proposed is considerably above the rate ruling iii the jjitetricfc? '■■■?"£"' * ; i ; Here the 'mine-owners. Tefuse to givo way. They are prepared, it seems,; to consider the . question':: of , abnormal places and the Wages of , tho lower;paid workers, but to the demands outlined they givo an emphatic r 'No." They declare that they cannot comply ,with the demands and keep their pits, open. Some, mines are, of course, so rich in good, easily won coal that they could stand the proposed increase,, but such mines are few and far 'There are many mines at present ' working which fail to return any dividends to their shareholders,' and in many others the mar-gins of profit are so small that a very small increase in cost of production, or any diminution of output 6uch as owners fear must arise from tho adoption of a minimum wage, would turn profit into loss. .. Mine-owners are not philanthropists, and if a mine cannot show a profit to its shareholders it must close down.. That is the position the men have to face. If they persist in fighting and win the battle, they will, enjoy increased wages in such mines as continue working, but the, volume of employment must decrease because maDy mines /now working on small margins of profit must be closed. This position the extremists among the men refuse to recognise. Their contention is that the mine-owners can recoup themselves by raising tho price of coal to the public, or alternatively, that the State can step in, nationalise the mines, and run them as a Government industry. As to the first point it is impossible, to say what the limit of a profitable rise in the price of coal really is. Probably it will be found to be a good deal smaller than either the miner or-the general public seem to "believe. .Foreign competition _ is ono factor which keeps down the price,' even in the Home markets, while iri foreign markets a rise in the • price of British coal would in many cases mean a transference 1 of custom to German and American competitors. Coal merchants are oven now discussing whether it would not be possible to bring foreifen ooal to 'Newcastle, and although , the miners hops that the co-operation of the transport workers would . prevent such importation in the case of a strike, such protection would cease after a settlement which made foreign competition possiti?. ':■..',..■: •■•: •' ■'■■'

There is another r limit set upon a rise in the price of coal, namely, alternative fuels such as oil, the rise of which is daily becoming: more prevalent, and will receive a big stimulus with every rise in the price of coal. As to the second hope of the miners—namely that a, general stoppage would produce such a desperate state of affairs thpt the Government would be compelled to step in and nationalise the mines—it appears to outsiders that practically the’came economic conditions as at present prevail would : continue to rule the roost both in wages and prices. Nationalised coal would have to compete with foreign coal and alternative fuels just the same, and the State cannot -afford to pay the miner any higher wages Than the economic conditions warrant any more than a limited company cap. In spite of the result of the ballot and the attitude taken up by the extremists among the men's leaders, most people seem to believe that something- will occur to obviate the terrible alternative of a national miners’ strike. But the outlook is verv black, and whilst still professing to disbelieve in the crisis coming to a head in the shape of a strike, those who can are "getting to cover” with all the eeleritv they can muster. The householders "cover” is to lay in extra stocks of coal at 3s to 5s a, ton over normal winter prices; the poor who cannot order in quantity cannot take cover anywhere. They have to pay 2d to 3d per owt above _ the usual winter rates to-day, and will probable be paying 3s per cwt ere many days hare passed. For them even' the promise of a coal strike is indeed a serious thing at this time of the year.