BRITISH POLITICS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVIII, Issue 16821, 29 May 1919, Page 3

BRITISH POLITICS.

IMPERIAL PREFERENCE. ' Australian' and N.Z. Cable Asan. LONDON, May 26. Mr Winston Churchill, at Dundee, said the Budget proposals would not add to the cost of living or impose a burden on us or the Dominions, who sent not mere handfuls of soldiers but great armies. The Dominions would regard the proposals as a kindly act. We should not treat this as a question of principle, but as a measure of inir perial diplomacy, designed to express gratitude to the dominions.

COAL MINES. ARGUMENTS AGAINST STATU OWNERSHIP. LONDON, May 16. Sir Charles Wade, Agent General for New South Wales, in evidence at the Coal Commission, said that the Railway Board in New South Wales had reduced the dangers of State ownership of railways to a minimum. The Labour Government of New South Wales had never attempted to nationalise coal, despite the miners' demand. There was no stimulus to economy or reduction in excessive staffs. State ownership encouraged bureaucracy in the desire to avoid responsibility and encourageed laziness among miners. All coal after leaving the pit' head should be controlled, but this could be accomplished without the nationalisation of the whole industry, and miners should be represented at the tribunal fixing wages and conditions of labour, but it would be dangerous to discipline if the management were shared with the miner. He was certain that State ownership would never stop strikes. This was proved on the Victorian coal mines, the New South Wales railways, in Commonwealth shipbuilding, and the New Zealand coal mines.