Miners And Migration

NZ Truth, Issue 877, 16 September 1922, Page 1

Miners And Migration

Writing m the "Sunday Times," Harold Cox, a very well-known economist, discussing -the plight of the coal miners of Great Britain, points out that apart altogether from the trade depression and also the decreased use of coal as;oil and gas come into more and more favour for industrial and domestic use, the ranks of the Miners' Federation were swelled during the iwar to altogether uneconomic proportions for peace time conditions owing, both to the high wages offering and also to the fact that it afforded an escape from their obligations m the army for such as professed conscientious objections to^ military service. Up to the present' there does not seem to have- been any sufficient effort to get rid of this additional labor, and the consequence is that' there are .many more men wanting work than there is work for. There is no doubt whatever that our present output of coal could be furnished <by a very much smaller number of men than are now employed m the mining industry, and if this 'reduction of men were made the average earnings' of the -men remaining would be ; very appreciably increased. As it seems extremely probable that there will never again toe such an extensive demand for,' British coal as there was m the. years 'before the war, Mr. Cox urges that the officials and others who are so energetically pushing migration to the Dominions should devote special attention to. the mining community. Many of the miners are drawn from' the agricultural classes for agricultural laborers , and farmers often take work m the pits, and it is not at all apparent why such men should not go back to the land, but m the Dominions instead ? ofhome. Moreover, the Miners' Federation might, so Mr. Cox thinks, actively assist schemes of emigration .;■ which would give to their members chances of a new and more prosperous life. Possibly, if the question were approached from this trade union point of view, Mr. Cox thinks, the opposition raised by organised labor m Australia might be overcome, especially, be it added-, as the miners would not ( be competing with their fellow workers m Australian fields, tout would go. on ..the land right away. -.'?■