THE MINERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 May 1919, Page 4

THE MINERS.

It is little wonder ibat the miners are complaining of tlio conditions under which they have to live in the mining towns of the West Coast. Anyone who has seen the habitations, or even pictures of them, must recognise the justice of their complaints. How they have managed so long to put up with such primitive conditions without serious protest is surprising. As a rule the miner is a rough and ready character, slow to move, and indifferent to comfort and the niceties of social life, but often | hiding under a rough exterior a large] heart and wide sympathies. The recent epidemio proved to him, as nothing else probably would have, that sordid and unhealthy surroundings, lack of sanitation and overcrowding provide conditions favorable to the spread of disease. Hence his protests. In so far as Blackball is concerned, the Minister for Public Health stated on Friday that the (Jovernmeilt was prepared, if the report of their expert warranted it, to use its legal powers and make provision for a water supply and drainage without consulting the vested interests of the place,' which, he alleged, had opposed proposals for those purposes some time ago. But, satisfactory as this assurance is, it does not go far enough. The housing question is left untouched. All the mining towns are affected. The habitations are not homes—they are mere shanties. How the miners can be expected to be contented and bring up their families in decency under such conditions we cannot say. It would have paid the mining companies ten times over to have provided in the first place good houses and pleasant surroundings, for the men would have been.easier to get on with and have responded to the interest taken in their welfare. As it is the companies and the miners are at daggers drawn. The men ( do as little as they can for as much as they can squeeze out of the companies. The companies protest—and pass it on. The poor, unfortunate publie is hit, and suffer from dearnesa and lack of coal. It thus becomes a national question, and it has reached a stage where it cannot be left where it is. The Government or the companies, or both, should do something without further delay to improve the living conditions of the miners, enabling them to live as human beings and not as animals. The present obstinate and unreasonable attitude of the miner is very largely the result of the treatment he has been accorded in the past by callous companies and indifferent Governments, and before an improvement can be expected his outlook has to be changed. It is late in the day, but the experiment is well worth trying.