The Pahiatua Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, JULY 10, 1925. BRITAIN’S COAL CRISIS.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9980, 10 July 1925, Page 4

The Pahiatua Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, JULY 10, 1925. BRITAIN’S COAL CRISIS.

Great Britain is faced witli another

coal crisis, the present trouble being threatened for several months past. In March last, a joint committee representing the coalowners and the miners was set up to investigate the conditions in the industry, but the results do not appear to have been conducive to mutual understanding. The root of the difficulty lies in the fact that the coal industry is not prospering. Recently, when the position was under discussion in the House of Commons, Mr Baldwin expressed the opinion that the Government should intervene only as a last resort. He observed that a serious and difficult position would arise “if the trade were unable to adjust the conditions to enable it to compete in the world’s markets.” The number of miners out of employment at Home—the figures range from 120,000 to 160,000 —is in itself a sufficient indication of the depression which the coal industry is suffering. According to a recent statement by the Under-Secretary for Mines 361 coal-pits which, under normal conditions, would be employing 72,000 men. have closed down since November last and have not been reopened. Mr Justice Sankey pointed out that production must he the test of the health of the coal industry, but it lias been steadily falling since ho gave his warning that “if the output per man continues to go down the supremacy of Great Britain is in danger.” As the output has fallen so have the profits decreased. The owners’ “credits” were only 7Jd per ton for the first quarter of the present. year as compared with Is in December, 1923, while the wages cost amounted to 13s Id as compared with 12s 7id in December, 1923. It is logically urged that, if the present movement continues, not onlv will Great Britain lose her coal export trade, but the recovery of her great national industries will be checked. Manifestly the interests of the miners are as closely affected as those of the owners by the position of the coal industry, and it is allimportant that an understanding should be reachod that will enable the mines to be worked on a more satisfactory basis. A reduct-fbn of operating costs need not mean reduced wages, but may be productive of the opposite effect. Goodwill, it has been well said, is the lubricant of industry, and more of it is evidently needed in the working of Britain’s collieries.