COALFIELDS DISPUTE

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1935, Page 11

COALFIELDS DISPUTE

MINERS POSTPONE ACTION. BEGINNING OF NEW POLICY. British Wifeless. Rugby, Dec. 20. The principal subject discussed on the motion for adjournment in the House of Commons was the position in the coal industry arising out of yesterday’s decision of the miners’ conference to give-notices in the coalfields to cease, work on January 27, unless in the meantime a satisfactory settlement of the wages claim is reached. The Secretary for Mines, Captain H. F. Crookshafik, referred to the appeal he had made to the men’s leaders to investigate fully the offer made by the owners, the actual terms of which they are not in a position to communicate to the .union before January. He said he took the date fixed for the handing in of notices as a response to that appeal, for which he expressed gratitude. . ’ He was convinced that reorganisation of selling agencies was the right line along which to advance to an improvement of the position of the coal industry as a whole. It was the beginning of a new policy and it would be a great misfortune if progress were delayed by a strike in the intervening period. He hoped that they, would be able to find a solution of the outstanding difficulties. Captain Crookshank repeated that the Government was not prepared to contribute, a subsidy opt of public funds.