BRITISH MINING STRIKE

Otago Witness, Issue 3029, 3 April 1912, Page 29

BRITISH MINING STRIKE

MINIMUM WAGJi BILL PASSED. COLLIERS RESUMING WORK. SEVERE DESTITUTION. EFFECT ON STEAMER FREIGHTS. LONDON, March 25. Owing to the coal strike the Norddeutscher (German) and Australian lines have raised their freights to Australia and New Zealand by 2s 6d a thousand kilos on first and second class goods, and by Is on others. March 26. The Prime Minister made a strong and passionate appeal to both sides to come to an agreement. Sir E. Grey's diplomatic pleading was equally resultleas. The price of coal in London has been increased 5s per ton. The Denaby colliery has sold to the Cunard Company 50;000 tons of coal at £1 14s per ton. The colliery has a reserve stock of 200,000 tons. It is selling smaller quantities at £2 6s per ton to the public. The municipal funds are unable to cope with the growing distress. The masters are not asking the colliers to pay rent for their cottages during the strike. Out of 150,000 employees in Middlesbrough 50,000 are directly affected by the strike. The lack of fuel is a worse hardship than the lack of food. The corporation is retailing coal and coke in small quantities. Many orders for coal which had been placed in Britain have been cancelled and transferred to Germany or the United States. The price of Japanese coal has risen 40 sen per ton. [The sum of 100 sen is equivalent to 2s O^d.] UNFORTUNATE CHILDREN. SHORT OF FOOD AND CLOTHING. LONDON, March 26. Three hundred additional miners have resumed work in North Wales, 400 in Warwickshire, and 600 at Rosehill. One-third of the population at llkestone are subsisting on charity. The children at Middlesbrough have to stay abed because they are without clothes, and others go hungering through the streets. The South Wales owners have given £3OOO to the Swansea, Curdiff, and Newport Relief Committees, and the West Yorkshire owners have given £IOSO to the local relief fund. After two days' persuasion the Prime Minister succeeded in inducing the owners and men to confer, but the meetings were a fiasco.

SUPPRESSION OF SYNDICALISM. LONDON, March 26. In the House of Commons Mr J. 0. Wedgwood (Liberal member for New-castle-undei'-Lyme) moved the rejection of the Consolidated Fund Bill acs a protest against the Government's prosecution of avowed syndicalists. He stated that the working classes were suspicious of the judiciary from the sentences passed on Bowman and Bucks, who had advised soldiers not to shoot strikers, and urged that these would confirm them in their belief that they had no chance of justice if they expressed syndicalist opinions. Mr Lansbur.y (Labour member for Bow and Bromley) seconded the amendment. Sir Rufus Isaacs (Attorney-general), on behalf of the Government, said that the only alternative to the use of the military was anarchy. If, however, a petition were presented, showing that the accused had acted in ignorance he would be inclined to recommend a reduction of the sentences. Mr Keir Hardie warned the Government not to pursue a policy of exasperation. " There is,"' he said, "no telling what the result will be if the forces of revolt are let loose. The debate was adjourned.

FALL IN RAILWAY RECEIPTS. BUDGET SERIOUSLY AFFECTED. LONDON, March 27. Hundreds of strikers marched to Chirk and refused to allow the evening shift to descend ths mine. The polico escorted the day workers home. Mr Craig, a mine-owner, aged 85 years, addressed the strikers and successfully pleaded with them to refrain from rioting or demonstrations at Cannockchase and Doncaster against the colliers who were repairing the pits. The traffic receipts on the railways have declined by £1,500,000 in three weeks. Mr Masterman, speaking in the House of said the strike had substantially influenced the revenue, and it might completely change the Budget. ■ BILL PASSED BY THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. DEPLORABLE DISTRESS LONDON, March 27. The Minimum Wage Bill has been read a third time. One hundred thousand out of a population of 250,000 in five towns in the Potteries districts are receiving free meals daily, chiefly through the churches' and

mayors' relief funds'. Thousands are gathering in halls and schools and are securing bread, scones, butter, and soup. Special arrangements are made to supply infants with milk. Crowds of half-s'tarved children in other districts are flocking to the soup kitchens. LOADON, March 27.

A constable at Middlesbrough saw a man steal a loaf, and he captured him. The unfortunate man said : " Please, I'm starving, and so is the missus. Dome and see." The constable went to the house, and discovered the man's wife cooking a small dog. The Government is taking measures for the relief of the distress.

The War Office is expected to call out the reserves in order to protect miners who are willing to work.

The strike pay in Northumberland has been reduced by one-half. The South Wales miners will receive their last instalment of strike pay this week, and those in Lancashire next week. Durham, Derbyshire, and Nottingham are able to pay full allowances for a month longer.

WARNING TO THE MINERS. BALLOT TO BE TAKEN. LONDON, March 27. In the - House of Commons Mr Asquith again warned the miners of the heavy responsibility they incurred if they persisted in the strike when the bill was passed. The Government had gone beyond all precedent in asking Parliament to accept the principle of a minimum wage. Mr Bonar Law said that the whole resources of the country must be used to protect men desiring to work. An amendment by Mr Brace (Labour member for Glamorgan) at the report stage for the reintroduction of 5s for men and 2s for boys as the minimum was rejected by 326 to 83. The Nationalists abstained from voting. Forty-three Liberals supported the Labourites, including Sir J. H. Dalziel, Mr L. A. Atherleyones, and the Rev. Sylvester Home. Mr W. E. Harvey (Labour member for Eckington) stated that over 100,000 men were working underground who did not get 5s a. day. The Government's amendment that it be an instruction to the district boards that they should have regard to the average daily wage now paid to miners was passed by 265 votes to 135. The Labour party moved an amendment that the rate fixed should never be less than the average daily rate. This was rejected by 271 to 101. Mr Ramsay Macdonald said, on the third reading of the bill, that it was simply making fools of the men to try to ask them to use the bill. "Do not," he. said, " let anybody imagine that the strike will be declared off." Mr Lloyd George said that Mr Macdonald's language was deplorable. The bill embodied, the miners' very words in regard to the ballot in favour of a strike. They had not, it was true, given way upon the insertion of a schedule, but they had accepted the principle of a minimum, and that was a gigantic advance for Labour. It was neither upright nor courageous of the Labour party to destroy a bill the effect of which would be to plunge the people into even greater misery. The bill was read a third time by 213 votes to 48 (Labourites). The majority of the Unionists abstained from voting. Mr Asquith was warmly cheered on leaving the House.

FOUR THOUSAND MINERS AT WORK. VIEWS OF THE LEADERS. LONDON, March 27. Four thousand miners are back at work. The Government hopes that the passage of the bill will afford an excuse to other miners to return. The leaders favour the men accepting the bill to the extent of assisting to form district boards and endeavouring to secure satisfactory minimum wages, but it is probable that orders will be issued against their returning to the pits until the rate of wages is fixed. The ballot to be taken asks whether the men will resume work pending the district boards' settlement of a minimum for the various grades. Mr Ramsay Macdonald advises the strikers to accept the bill, and to proceed to establish joint boards so as to get early decisions on such simple points as 5s a day. If the decisions are satisfactory they should be regarded as an indication of what the other decisions are likely to be, and worlc could be resumed immediately. He recommends a ballot as an alternative. Mr Hartshorn says the strike is only commencing, and he anticipates, with the Labour M.P.s' assistance at mass meetings throughout the country, to organise a dogged resistance. It would then be seen who could hold out the longest, the miners or the nation. Mr Stanton said that in view of the solidarity of Labour the miners could, within a week, by the stoppage of the railways and other transport, bring the Government to its knees begging the men to resume on terms which it now declared to be impossible. Notwithstanding the above opinions outside the conference, the latter's recommendation to take a ballot is inter-

prcted as a shelving of the responsibility for future action upon the miners. FOOD FOR STARVING PEOPLE. ASSISTANCE FROM NEW SOUTH WALES. SYDNEY, March 28. Mr M'Gowen has cabled to the Agentgeneral giving him authority to spend £IOOO to pi-ovide meals for 50,000 starving people in the provincial towns. BILL BEFORE THE HOUSE OF LORDS. LONDON, March 28. The House of Lords read the bill a second time. Lord Crewe explained the circumstances leading up to the introduction of the bill. Lord Lansdowns said that during the debate on the Address-in-Rep!y the Government rejected the principle of a minimum wage, but it had been converted by a colossal conspiracy making the miners' grievances the pretext. The bill left to the men's leaders the power to sentence the country to starvation and ruin, and they would perhaps humiliate and paralyse the nation at a time when men were most needed. The Opposition would not embarrass the Government by moving amendments. The Archbishop of Canterbury appealed to the Christian conscience of the nation to remember the interests of the poorest and weakest msmbers. He believed that they would not make an appeal in vain. Earl Grey sa.id there was a battle proceeding between the radicals, individualists, trades unions, and the new unionists aiming at the abolition of private ownership. Lord Haldane denied that the bill was an attempt to buy off the conspiracy. The Government believed it better to take the simple principle of a. minimum wage than to attempt to fix wages. The committee stage was postponed owing to the miners' leaders objecting to the wording of an amendment which the Government desired to introduce. VIEWS OF LABOUR. LEADERS. LONDON, March 28. Mr Keir Hardie, speaking at Camberwell, said the Coal Bill was compulsory, and both sides must accept it. The boards might meet on Friday or Saturday. If the owners wished to' concede 5s for men and 2s for boys as minima, after that the details would be easy, and possibly the men would be back at work on Easter Monday. Mr Henderson declares that the Labour party and the Miners' Federation will make their protest now. It behoves everybody to make the bill effective. Minimum wages of 5s and 2s ought to be the first business of the district boards. The Time« states that the split between the trade union wing of the socialists and the Labour party resulted in angry scenes and recriminations on Tuesday night before it was decided to oppose the Miners Bill. Mr Macdonald counselled abstaining from voting on the bill. A SERIOUS RTOT. LONDON, March 28. Five hundred men from the Yorkshire regiment have gone to the Littleton collieries at Cannockchase, where a mob is preventing the miners from reassembling at the surface, and is throwing missiles down the pit upon them. Despite an appeal by the miners' agent, the mob overpowered the police and burnt the buildings. The damage is estimated at £3OOO.

After making numerous baton charges the police finally sent urgent messages for the military to Lichfield, and a detachment of infantry arrived from Chirk and two regiments from Aldershot armed with ball ammunition, and with three days' rations. The entraining of the troops was unknown in the strike area where disorder was threatened. The other troops are still confined to the barracks. WIDESPREAD DISTRESS. DEATHS FROM STARVATION. LONDON, March 28. There have been angry meetings at Warwickshire owing to the strike pay funds being exhausted. The miners are demanding that the executive draw upon the pension fund. The executive has ordered the men not to wait for the, result of the ballot, but to return to work immediately. There have been a number of deaths from starvation in the Potteries districts. The Mayor's fund at Grimsby relieves 3000 families, and 1000 children are fed in. the schools. The infantile mortality in Manchester has risen from 84 to 135" per 1000. There is a similar rise in the Potteries districts. The railway companies have decided not to ran any goods trains next week except for food supplies. Several have cancelled their Easter excursion services. Trains are in readiness at Aldershot to convey 4000 troops, and an additional 6COO men are preparing. The Labour leaders have adjured the strikers to refrain from disorder where men are resuming work, otherwise public sympathy will be alienated. SPEECH BY MR ASQUTTH. LONDON, March 28. Mr Asfiuith gave an address to the

Liberal members of the House of Commons l'epresenting mining constituencies. He emphasised the recognition by Parliament of the principle of a minimum wage, and dwelt on the increasingly strong public demand for a resumption of work under normal conditions. The meeting approved a resolution of admiration for the Prime Minister's action, and of appreciation of the benefits conferred by the bill. The Hon. W. Ormsby-Gore (Unionist) raised a debate in the House of Commons on syndicalism. Mr Hobhousc (Chancellor of the Duchy) said he did not think that the doctrine had taken a real hold in the British working classes. There wer-e many causes for the present unrest. The Government was willing to grant a wide inquiry into the causes of the rise in the cost of living and industrial unrest. Mr Tom Mann lias been admitted to bail on promising not to repeat his remarks pending his trial. " VICTORY FOR THE MEN." BILL PASSED BY THE HOUSE OF LORDS. LONDON, March 29. The miners' leaders have returned to the colliery districts, and are describing the bill as a victory for the men. The prospects of the ballot are favourable, though a strong body of South Wales miners is opposed to the resumption of work. The military at Chirk exercised a sobering influence, and all the pits are working. The police were stoned at Mexborough, and they retaliated with a baton charge. There were other disturbances at Walsall, where 2000 strikers compelled the Bloxwich colliery to cease work. The House of Lords has read the bill a third time. The Minimum Wage Bill has received the Royal assent. Mr J. Pointer, the Labour party's junior Whip, says that the Prime Minister was extremely weak and erratic in his negotiations. He constantly blundered, but all his blunders were inimical to the miners' interests. He feared the combination of Conservatives and rich Liberals against him, and Labour was left in the cold.

RESUMPTION OF WORK. APPEAL TO THE MINERS. LONDON, March 29. Air Ashton (secretary of the -Miners' Federation) has issued a personal manifesto advising the miners to vote for resumption. Some leaders of tho federation are advising the men not to resume. At Maesteg Mr Hartshorn said that if the men returned it would not be to surrender, but to test what they had already won. About 10,000 miners have resumed altogether in various districts. The ballot has been completed at Chirk, and shows over 2 to 1 in favour of resumption. Mr T. Richards, Labour member for Monmouth, convinced a majority of the. South Wales miners that it would be wise to vote for resumption. The treasurer of the South Wales Federation regrets that the National Federation did not give some, lead or recommendation regarding the ballot at this most critical stage of tho conflict. The miners at Bynkinailt approved of a resolution to abandon their foolish loyalty to men much better off than themselves. Two thousand men in North Warwickshire have resumed, as well as large numbers in Lanarkshire, the latter stipulating that they be paid to-morrow, as they and their families are starving.

STARVING FAMILIES. LONDON 1 , March 29. The Mayor's fund at Middlesbrough feeds 10,000 persons, and 7000 others are receiving outdoor relief. At Cardiff 3700 children are being fed by charity. Many families are without food, and there are many sick. The Lord Mayor of Manchester has opened a relief fund. There is great destitution in Stockport, Lancaster, Swinton, and Tyldesley. The municipality of Glasgow has voted JCZ-yjO to local reiief. The shipbuilders of Sunderland are closing down for lack of coal, throwing 3000 idle. The miners' unions have disbursed £1,043,250 in strike pay, and still hold securities nominally worth £950,900, mostly belonging to the Durham, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Nottingham funds. North Wales, Warwickshire. Cumberland, Somerset, and Bristol have exhausted theirs. The National Free Church Council is organising a relief committee in every district, and collections have been ordered for Good Friday and Easter. The unemployed returns show that the strike has not caused any abnormal distress in London. PROGRESS OF THE BALLOT. SURFACEMEN'S GRIEVANCES. LONDON, March 60. Three groups of collieries in Lancashire and one in Staffordshire have voted against the resumption of work pend-

ing a settlement of the wages question. Similar feeling has been evidenced ia Cannoekchase, where the result of the ballot has not been announced. Reports from other districts are hopeful that the ballot will result in U>* immediate resumption of work, partioriarly as all the leaders are advising resumption. The National Federation of the Colliery Surfacemen has issued a manifesto ia which it states that there must be no resumption of work until the surfacemen's grievances are settled. Tom Mann has been committed for trial. Bail has been allowed. TROOPS FRIENDLY TOWARDS STRIKERS. LONDON, March 31. The South Wales owners held a meeting at which they declared the new act to be unsatisfactory both to owners and miners. Mr John Wilson, M.P. for Durham, says the act has given the miners all they asked for in last February's ballot. They now owed a duty to their families and to cognate trades, and he demanded a resumption of work forthwith. Delegates representing 30,000 Rhondda Valley miners have advised resumption. The speakers criticised the Miners' Federation for not giving the men a definite lead. The ballots in Lancashire are unfavourable to resumption. At Doncaster Mr Fred Hall, Labour M.P., said the men had not sought the act. It had been forced on them, and he regretted that some miners had resumed instead of waiting for a complete settlement. A miners' conference at Glasgow recommended the men to return to work. The Lothian Miners' Federation resolved not to resume until the Wages Board had settled the minimum rate for the respective districts. The troops on some of the coalfields ara fraternising with the strikers. There was a football match at Cannock between the soldiers and strikers. The soldiers at Brynkinnalla subscribed £2O for the widow of a miner who was killed.

PROGRESS OF THE BALLOT. LONDON, April 1. The employees in 59 collieries in South Wales have given a majority of 2 to 1 in favour of resuming work. In North Wales the voting is overwhelmingly in favour of starting work, but in Cumberland it is against such a course, while in Rotherham the voting is solidly against the resumption of work except at full schedule rates. The strike war in Wickshire has collapsed, and 10,000 men are resuming work. A number at Forest of Dean aro also starting again. Mr Keir Hardie, speaking at Bradford, said there was no essential difference between syndicalism and Socialism. Both desired to overthrow the present form of society. One lesson to be learned from the strike was that the commercial classe4 were realising that the mines and railways must become State property. Mr Victor Grayson, in a speech at Wigan, said the miners were unable to expect substantial economic results from the present strike, but they had taught th<> statesmen that the working classes mattered. The Government had deceived them. The bill had been cunningly conceived and drafted by clever statesmen collaborating with rich capitalists. Mr Snowden. speaking at Oldham, said the concession which the miners had wrung from the Government was f- 1! of illimitable possibilities. It was tne right of the miner to have a minimum wage guaranteed by law, and every worker was entitled to similar treatment. The Times states that the loss in wages through the strike amounts to £11,870,030.

SYMPATHY FOR TOM MANN. LONDON, April 1. An official of tlie London Carmen's Union, addressing a Labour demonstration, declared that if Torn Mann were sent to prison for a single day the transport workers would strike. GIFT FROM NEW SOUTH WALES. SYDNEY, April 1. The State Premier has received a cablegram from the Agent-general stating that the contribution from New South Walea is greatly appreciated. He adds that the distress in England is appalling, and almost beyond belief. People are actually dying of starvation in the Potteries district. ADVANCE OF LABOUR. SYDNEY, April 1. Mr Bell, the organiser of the British Seamen's Union, says that the coal strike in England is a email symptom of the immense advance that has l>egun in connection with the British labour movement.