BRITISH MINES WORKING

Taranaki Daily News, 3 December 1930, Page 9

BRITISH MINES WORKING

ONLY FEW MINOR STOPPAGES INTRODUCTION OF SPREAD-OVER. ? NEGOTIATIONS - FOR SETTLEMENT. (British Official Wireless.) Rec. 5.5 p.m. Rugby, Dec. 1. In the English and. Welsh coalfields work proceeded as usual to-day. In Scotland there was a stoppage in most, though not all, districts, but hopes are entertained that the situation will be relieved, as the result’ of a conference of the Scottish coal trade and a conciliation board, whito will meet at Glasgow at' noon at the request of the National Union of Scottish Mine Workers. The utmost confidence is expressed that a temporary, if not a final, agreemen will be .reached and the danger of a general stoppage in Scotland averted. Saturday’s decision of the South Wales Miners’ Federation in accepting the district agreement for a spread-over of .the working hours, despite tho embargo placed on such by the Rational Miners’ Federation in -London the previous, day, has apparently had a marked effect upon tho situation, it is generally anticipated that when the na? tional federation meets again on. Thursday it will reverse Friday’s decision and sanction the spread-over in districts where the miners desire it. The secietary of the federation, Mr. A. J. Cook, said yesterday, “It is for. each district to consider the position in relation to its own needs, namely, to protect wages and. standards.” , , T .. • The president of the National Union of Scottish Mine Workers expressed the opinion this morning that the negotiations at to-day’s Glasgow meeting with reference to the stoppage of work in ' the Scottish coalfields would take such form that a definite settlement of a temporary character at least would resuit.

Mr. Shinwell, Secretary for MiueSj stated in the House of Commons that in England and Wales all pits were working to-day, and in Scotland 18 per cent, of the men; , .

When to-day the Scottish Coal Board, met at Glasgow the men’s officials said an agreement was almost certain. The board adjourned without reaching .a de-, eision, but hopes are widely held that the Scottish miners who struck to-day will return •to work on a day to day ‘basis. ' ■ ’' ’ - .Three’collieries, one working only half force, was the extent of the coalmining .jn Fifeshire to-day.’ ' / Communists persuaded 500 of 1500 employees at the Lewis Merthyr mine, Trehafod, not to descend the shaft. Six-hundred men struck at the Tarcni ; colliery, Swansea Valley, as a protest against the terms of the South Wales Miners’ Federation settlement which most of the districts accepted. The strike is expected to cease to-morrow. All- the North Wales pits resumed. Three thousand men at the Easington Colliery are. idle owing to a hitch in the new agreement. An early settlement is expected.