THE BRITISH STRIKE.

Waikato Times, Volume 101, Issue 16841, 6 July 1926, Page 5

THE BRITISH STRIKE.

j RENEFITINC GERMANY.

INDUSTRIAL IaiPROVEWENT. j | ! QUESTION OF nouns. j (Australian and N.Z. ''.able Assn.. BERLIN, .lllly ''■ i The Prussian Ministry or commerce ■ ] emphasises the improvement in the lluhr coal industry owing to the Rrt- , lisli strike. i Sales at home and abroad increased i '; by M 0 per cent, in .tune. .Many long j contracts it good prices have been j booked, also there has been a general | I industrial improvement owing to Ihe I slackness of British manufactures l lacking coal. , I Mr Hodges addressed the Miners Conference at Saarbraeken. He urged an international agreement for the sale | and distribution of coal, and appealed j for the reduction of the German miners' eight-hour day to the British level. I The Germans refused, pointing out | that the British and German hours ! could not be compared, as Ihe Herman j I included time spent in reaching work. The Daily News says Hie imports j of foreign coal are checking the (In- j cline of British manufactures. The i engineering linns carrying on are using j I imported materials, but orders Tor all I j products are generally slackening off. I Bradford textiles arc suffering a slow i strangulation. "NOT ASHAMED TO GROVEL." MR THOMAS' CONFIDENCE. 1 LONDON, July •'!• j | "I am not ashamed thai 1 grovelled i for peace." said Mr Thomas in his first | j speech since the strike, at the annual railway conference "The vulgar abuse of me and oilier leaders will nnl be ; | a substitute Tor round-table coal nego- ! ■ j nations. t am most confident that ' j there are the germs of an honourable settlement in Ihe Coal Commission's j report. II would, be blind and foolish In achieve submission through starvation, nor would mere slogans bring industrial peace, which did nol lie in • lhal direction. Mr Cook, speaking at Widnos. said ' Ihe strike would lie woi or lost clur- '■ ing Ihe next rorlnight. They would 1 have lo slop railway employees hand--1 j ling imported coal. A settlement could | mil be discussed while Ihe Kiglil- ' I Hours Hill remained. If the men aei copied longer hours they would have | to gel a new secretary.

OFFER BY OWNSRS. REJECTED BY THE MINERS. (Times.) LONDON. July 5. Although the majority of Ihe coalmine owners will not posl notices as lo Ihe new rales of wages limy are prepared to pay until Ihe Eight-hours hay Bill lias been passed by the House of Lords, the Warwickshire owners ha e offered to re-open their collieries on the following terms-.—Wages of men on subsistence rale arrangement lo he unchanged. Wages of pieceworkers lo 1". tos sd per shift : coalgetters and timlierm.n. 'as ail: tillers, 8s '.ld. All these rides are rather more than those paid before Hie strike. Meetings of Warwickshire miners held yesterday, however, carried resolutions against accepting the offer. The notices to bo posted on the Yorkshire coalfields are likely lo be based on the wag s paid prior to the I stoppage, except for the withdrawal of the extra percentage lo pieceworkers. The owners of the mines in Northumberland, Durham and Scotland have not decided what terms Hiey will offer.

The Government will shortly .prcsenl in the House of Commons Supplementary Estimates I ver purchases of coal from Iho Continent in order to safeguard the essential services. It is hoped these will merely be bookkeeping transactions, as the coal was sold to the companies concerned.