Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED OVER 50 YEARS] TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1926. THE COAL STRIKE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 7 December 1926, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED OVER 50 YEARS] TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1926. THE COAL STRIKE.

It may now be taken for granted that the coal strike, which lias so evilly affected Great Britain for a period of over six months, is virtually at an end. One of the most curious features about the settlement of the strike is the manner in which it has been achieved. When the Government offered certain terms the other day, based upon a Series of "standard” agreements, liable to revision and .amendment in details by a national tribunal to be api pointed for that purpose, it was at first believed that the various' districts would accept them. The early voting was in their favour, but at the last moment the Yorkshire miners turned them down so rudely that a linal majority against them of nearly 150,000 votes' was recorded. Then, when once more a settlement seemed hopeless, the executive of the Miners’ Federation, "after jin acrimonious debate,” recommended the district delegates to accept the best offer they could get from the owners direct. This decision amounted to a complete surrender of almost everything the miners had been contending for ever since the strike started. All along their representatives insisted that nothing but a national agreement would content them. That was the rock on which all negotiations split, for the owners were equally resolute in defence of district agreements only. The Government compromise was rejected by the men almost as emphatically as they had turned down the offers of the owners. And now tiiey are accepting those very district agreements, and on the owners’ terms!