HOPEFUL TONE

Southland Times, Issue 19829, 27 March 1926, Page 7

HOPEFUL TONE

THE COAL DISPUTE MAJORITY FAVOUR REPORT PROPOSED CARTEL SYSTEM. (By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Rec. 720 p.m.) London, March 26. The owners’ and miners’ meetings yesterday were secret but Mr Cook made a statement that the delegates, conference will not be called until the owners formulate their wage proposals. There are indications that a substantial majority on both sides is willing to accept the report. Everything depends on the wage issue. Meantime, the Daily Express political correspondent outlines a striking idea which might render the recommendations acceptable. The details are still nebulous but it is understood that the Miners’ Federation and Coal Owners’ Association has reached a line of agreement for the future of the industry under which it is proposed that a cartel be established similar to those in France and Germany, the miners abandoning their demand for nationalisation, while the employers will accept a modified measure of working control in the form of pit district committees. The effect of the cartel will be to weld the industry into a homogeneous whole. This will involve a drastic re-grouping of the pits and the establishment of a central selling agency, the common ownership of the waggons, possibly municipal trading in coal, and the elimination of the worst evils of the system of middlemen. The cartel will also seek a European agreement on wages and hours. The miners will have a say in housing, baths and welfare schemes.—A. & NJZ.