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Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 15774, 15 March 1922, Page 5

Being in England during the coal strike, Mr Newcomb, who has just returned to Auckland, states that he went up to the Black Country, where the conditions of*the people were pitiable, "and it was humiliating.to see them drawing the unemployment dole, which could not but bo detrimental. During the past eighteen months the unions seemed to have lost, to* a very large extent, their influence over the men. The men had been "let down" by the leaders so N often that all trust was gone On,the other hand, the leaders, whenever they met the employers now, were anxious to get the best possible terms for the men in order to win back lost, prestige. As far as.Mr Newcomb could gather the men were anxious and willing to go back to work, They were sick and tired of doing nothing—even playing pitch and toss gets monotonous after a time — and would willingly forego their unemployment dole (over £3 in the case of a man with a family) for lower wages and steady work. .Mr Newcomb scouted the idea, that Bolshevism would make any serious progress with the British workmen.