The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 1929 LABOUR'S TEST PROBLEM

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 687, 12 June 1929, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 1929 LABOUR'S TEST PROBLEM

Trouble looms a gain on the British coalfields. So, at any rate, is the latest report from Fleet Street, where prophets of industrial evil are as numerous as policemen. There is as yet no solid reason for a black outlook other than the fact that the second advent of the Labour Government may tempt the miners’ unions to fight for the promised nationalisation of their industry. It is too soon yet, however, to anticipate another revolt. The present wages agreements still have some months to run, and by the time of their expiry the MacDonald Administration possibly will have evolved a practical and an acceptable remedy for chronic trouble in the coal industry.

When King Coal reigned prosperously in Great Britain the number of wage-earners employed in the industry was equal to the population of this country. Since then depression has gripped it and dragged thousands of miners into penury. Last year less than 900,000 workers were employed in and above the mines, and. their average working week was barely four days at a diminished rate of wages. Hence the national relief funds, the heavy expenditure on doles, and the widespread, disgraceful misery and slum life that astounded and almost enraged the of Wales during his tour of sympathetic inspection of conditions which never have Been known in the Dominions. All this wretchedness was not attributable to expensive organisation, had management, cut-throat competition and the traditional obstinacy of the mine-owners. These, as Royal Commissions have pointed out very plainly, have been contributory causes, but other conditions have exercised a malign influence on the depressed industry.

England’s coal problem has become an international problem, not to be solved easily, if at all, by any national political process. In a recent memorandum issued by the League of Nations, which has studied the world’s coal industry, it is pointed out that the effect of purely national measures designed to increase its prosperity in a particular country would likely be a worsening of conditions elsewhere. The real trouble everywhere is the simple fact that the world’s demand for coal tends to decrease rapidly rather than steadily to increase. Therefore, a stoppage of the industry in one place merely presents another with a welcome gift of increased production at a better price. When the industry internationally is active all more or less experience the effect of a falling demand. Electricity and oil fuel threaten to cause the black king to totter from his former industrial power. There are not enough buyers in the world today to purchase, at the lowest conceivable prices, the quantity of coal which the world’s mining industries are fully equipped to produce. This is the core of the problem, and the sooner miners and their employers recognise it _ and realise its significance the quicker they will be content with maintaining their industry at reasonable wages and moderate profits. There is, of course, much scope in the British coal industry for a more profitable organisation. On the one hand at present the workers suffer a low earning capacity, while on the other many of the mines are in a precarious financial position. It will be impossible to improve the condition of the wage-earners unless the paying capacity of the pits first has been improved. This may he accomplished to some extent by a general process of amalgamation and concentration on the best mines, together with the extension of the use of modern cutting machinery and a better treatment of by-products. Naturally, the miners want more work and better wages. Beyond this they will not look, and it is possible that their formidable organisation will fight for their desire and® as usual, lose in‘that sort of battle. It is admitted that coal is too cheap at the pithead. Its cost rises steeply in the ill-managed system of distribution with numerous non-producers taking a generous helping out of the high price to consumers.

All this leads to the supreme question as to the probable policy of the Labour Government. Its programme includes nationalisation of the coal mines, presumably by means of transferring the shares of the present owners into definite claims upon the State’s resources. Thus the shareholder will become a bondholder without claim on any future increment of_ value. There has been no talk of confiscation and none about State management of the mines. It has been suggested that, as in the case of electricity supply, the State might set up a board to buy coal and control its distribution. These are the main ideas among a host of remedial suggestions. But in respect of nationalisation the Labour Government may have to learn that it is necessary first to catch the hare.