COAL INDUSTRY.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 18024, 20 May 1930, Page 8

COAL INDUSTRY.

POSITION IN AUSTRALIA. RE-OPENING THE PITS. CONFERENCE AT NEWCASTLE. United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright. SYDNEY, May 19. Representatives of the mineowners and the miners are to meet at Newcastle on Wednesday to discuss final arrangements for the reopening of the coalmines. It is expected that some important pits will be ready for work in ten days. BRITISH MINING BILL. SETTLEMENT BY COMPROMISE. (Official Wireless. 4 RUGBY, May 18. Some of the London newspapers suggest that if the. amendments made to the Coal Mines Bill by the House of Lords are resisted when the Bill returns to the House of Commons the differences will be settled by compromise. The most important amendments made by the House of Lords deal with the miners’ working hours and the compulsory amalgamation of collieries. .The first provides for a spread over of the working time of miners to permit of agreements for a 45-hour week or a 90-hour fortnight, instead of a fixed working day of 7i hours. The second amendment provides for substituting the Board of Trade for ad hoc Commissioners, as the authority to be responsible for promoting colliery amalgamation schemes.