GREAT COAL STRIKE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14053, 10 November 1909, Page 5

GREAT COAL STRIKE.

ADVANCE IN PRICES. TRAINS CEASE RUNNING. INTERVENTION NOT REQUIRED. I'Tcss Association-Bv Telegraph-Copyright SYDNEY, Nov. 0. Coal advanced 10s to 15s a ton at Sydney yesterday, while up to £3 is asked at Newcastle for the best coal. One effect of the strike is, that 100 coal trains daily have ceased running in the northern districts throwing 200 men idle.

The^waterside workers await the decision of to-day's conference of miners' delegates before making any move. Some of the northern co-operative societies have agreed to supply the strikers families with the necessaries of life.

Mr. Bowling, the Secretary of the Miners' Federation, declares that Mem-" hers of Parliament will not be allowed Ito interfere nil the dispute in any

The President of the Colliery Proprietors' Association says that the proprietors have their grievances ns well as the men, and these have to be settled before the miners resume work. They cannot go back on the same terms as they came out on. One prominent proprietor declares that the owners are going to fight out the matter this time themselves, and no offer of intervention by the Government or anyone else is not likely to ho favourably considered. EFFECT IX MELBOURNE. MELBOURNE, Nov. 9. The strike is not likely to seriously affect the railways or the city gas supply for some time. Both have stocks of coal sufficient to last some weeks. Some of the .shipping and manufacturing firms have been caught shorthanded and will feel the pinch, unless there is a speedy settlement. A meeting of the Chamber of Manufacturers discussed the situation and resolved to urge on the Government the necessity of opening up Victorian coalfields at the earliest opportunity. IMPORTANT CONFERENCE. AVEIGHTY RESOLUTIONS. THE MEN DETERMINED. Received 12.10 a.m.. Nov. 10th. SYDNEY, Nov. 0. The miners' conference concluded tonight. The following resolutions were adopted:— That the proprietors in the northern, western, and southern coal districts be asked \<> meet representatives of the federal coal-shale workers of Australasia in open conference immediately in order to redress existing grievances.

That in the event of such conference not meeting before Tuesday next, the delegates representing the Waterside and Maritime Unions, the Coal Lumpers Union, and Coal Trimmers Union, recommend to their members and all those engaged in the transport trades to cease work that dav.

• Mr Hughes, M.P., president of t'.i..Waterside AYorkers' Union, in announcing the resolution to the Press, stilted that they jvere conic to after all the delegates had carefully listened to the case put forward by the minors. Tt became perfectly clear that while it might have been possible, to have postponed matters for « little while, u condition of things existed and lri'l existed for a considerable time at Newcastle, which' made it imi>ossiblo 1..r tli: men to continue work. A p'llicv of pinpricks had been pursued for a long while; some of the pinpricks had ■utno very deep, and were, he thought culibcrntcly made for the purpose of provoking such disburbances as this for the purpose by employers. Speaking for, himself lie said that he went to" the conference rather disposed to censure the precipitous action of the miners, but came out with a conviction that the position had been deliberately forced on them. As things were it was only a matter of a few days—a fortnight at the outside—when full half the persons employed throughout \ustralia would be unemployed, and on the verge of starvation through lack of coal. Under these circumstances it was felt that the only hope lay in a conference of the parties.

EFFECT ON SHIPPING

Per Press Association. DUNEDIN, Nov. !). In regard to the Newcastle coal strike the Union Company are reticent, but express no doubt that the intercolonial passenger service will be maintained unimpaired. They admit, however, that there will probably be some difficulty in maintaining the usual interstate service between Australain ports, and that some of the cargo boats of the intercolonial service will have to be laid up if the strike continues very long. No danger of a coal shortage here is anticipated. Shaking to a reporter to-day, a man well-informed in shipping matters stated that one effect of the. frequent industrial upheavals in the New South Wales coal trade is that Newcastle coal is losing ground in the eastern Pacific and is being replaced by lower grade coals from Japan and elsewhere. The result is neither in the interests of the- Newcostle owners nor the miners, lie also expressed the opinion that if the uncertainty as to supplies continued, a similar experience would follow in other markets.