THE COAL MINING SITUATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14282, 3 August 1908, Page 4

THE COAL MINING SITUATION.

It havo been observed by the comanunity with, the liveliest satisfaction that the conferences which were held in the latter part of last week between . the colliery proprietors in some- of the southern portions, of the provincial district audi the representatives of the Miners' Union afford a. reasonable prospect of the amicable settlement of the •matters in dispute between them. Upon many' points, indeed, an absolute •lgreenient lias in these eases been arrived at, an d the questions that have been reserved for the consideration of the Arbitration Court are, though important in character, not so numerous a.> to indicate that the conferences bave been other than. successful. Of far greater public consequence than the circumstance that the outstanding issues between the mine-owners and the miners liavd been .narrowed down by these conferences to a fairly small compass is the fact that the result which has thus been attained was the outcome of the existence on l)0th sides of a conciliatory spirit and of an apparent determination to avoid the ml? of the failure of the attempt to frame conditions that would be mutually satisfactory. We do not suppose it frequently happens that, where such a spirit prevails as was evidently manifested at the most recent conferences, negotiation in a, dispute, is not fruitful of a judicious settlement. And we hops we are warranted in regarding ( tho proceedings at the Bruce and Taratu conferences and the temper in which those conferences were conducted as of tlio happiest augury for the issue of the entire dispute. There was a good deal of somewhat wild talk about a week or so ago about the possibilities of the occurrence of a strike, and the information which was communicated to the Minister of Labour on the subject •was certainty of such a kind as was calculated to excite the greatest concern and alarm in the community. But the tactfnlness and the reasonableness which marked the handliug of the ■miners' cause by the officios of the •Minors' Union at the recent conferences do not lend, any support to the assumption that those who are responsible for the conduct of the affairs of the Union have any sympathy with the suggastion that extreme measures should be adopted in the event of their inability to secure for the workers all the concessions that are sought by them. They realise, we believe, that, however largely the claims advanced by the minere may be believed by them to he based upon justice, there is a limit beyond which the employers, if they are to remain in busiuess, cannot possibly accede to these claims-that, in other words, justice must be rendered to the employers as well as to the workers. And no doubt they also lealise that a strike in the coal mining industry would involve such a serious dislocation of business in other industries that, unless it could be proved that such a strike was the only effectual weapon the workers possessed with Winch to protest against) intolerable conditions of omployment-and l a contingency such as that is impossible in a country like this, where the conditions of industry are subject to State regulation through the instrumentality of a special court—it would) inevit«bly fail to obtain the approval of workers in other classes of industiy. It will be a fortunate circumstance if it can be siid that at a time when, as it bas been asserted, strikes are. in the air in New Zealand, the officials at the bead of the Miners' Union, while anxious to make the best terms they can for the workers, are animated by an earnest, desire to avoid any action that might tend to precipitate strife or even to produce a state of tension between the employers and the workers in the industiy.