MOUNTING LOSSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26559, 6 September 1947, Page 7

MOUNTING LOSSES

YORKSHIRE COAL OUTPUT GRIMETHORPE MEN REFUSE TO RESUME LONDON, Sept. 4. Only five out of 59 collieries in South Yorkshire are working normally tonight. Thirty-eight pits are idle, and 16 have partially stopped. Already over 300,000 tons of coal have been lost. The Evening News says that the situation is grave. There seems little hope of stopping the sympathy strike from embracing most of the remaining 140.000 miners in the area, as negotiations are at a deadlock following the Grimethoi’pe miners’ second refusal to return to work. “ Strike now ” notices are appearing at many of the 140 pits. Reuter says that the Grimethorpe miners have not received the Mine Workers' Union statement made yesterday asking the men to resume work immediately on the larger stint and to allow the Fact-finding Committee of the Miners’ Union to investigate the position. The Sheffield Gas Company has asked firms, including some of the world’s biggest steel producers, to reduce consumption voluntarily by as much as 50 per cent. This request had an immediate effect. The English Steel Corporation, which employs between 7000 and 8000. said part of their plant had been rendered idle. Other Sheffield firms are affected to a similar extent.