BRITISH MINING DISPUTE

Otago Witness, Issue 2924, 30 March 1910, Page 25

BRITISH MINING DISPUTE

LONDON, March 24. Delegates representing 15,000 Welsh miners have demanded that the Miners* of Britain should call a general striuS. '' The only possibility of averting a strike on April 1 is the intervention of the Board of Trade. f The representatives of the men will meet Mr Buxton to-day, •■ ' ; '"' ;;'■ ■;- March 25. Mr Buxton received the representatives of the coal miners and afterwards received the delegates of the.- Miners* He persuaded both to agroa to a further meeting of the Conciliation Board at Cardiff on Saturday. The Times states that the sympathies of the Miners'" Federation of Britain ar. already 'estranged to a not inconsiderable degree by the Welsh miners' opposition to the double "shirt system, which is: already in operation in Northumberland and Durham. : It is possible that the federation will apply pressure to prevent a strike. ■ . March 26. ' Mr Wordsworth, M.P., who is secretary of the Yorkshire Miners' Association, speaking at Denaby, said the association was determined' to 'support the South Wales miners. .If it was true that the cost of production would be increased it .must be borne by the consumers and not taken out of the bone and sinew of ths Welsh miners. March 27. ; coal-owners at Cardiff have submitted revised proposals, which have been favourably received, but the men's ■ representatives resist the abnormal places clause. This will be arbitrated on, if the other clauses are finally accepted. The Times, commenting on . Mr r Wordsworth's statement, states that since 1902 " the cost of production of coal has increased 20d per ton. The men are not feeling ,the pinch-" of ' low wages, because the. selling /price of coal, which .govenas the. wages, remains.high,, but;both parties will be concerned as to what may happen if the S/elling price falls. • ' ;