The Press Tuesday, April 5, 1921. The Labour Crisis in Britain.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17111, 5 April 1921, Page 6

The Press Tuesday, April 5, 1921. The Labour Crisis in Britain.

The trouble in the coal industry in Britain, "which has been brewing since it became known that the Government would end its control of the industry, has come suddenly to a head, and Britain is faced with an industrial crisis' of the utmost gravity. With the passing, of control the mines will have to take care of themselves, and the owners are faced with u heavy loss—estimated at-Wo millions sterling a week—owing to the trade slump and the decline in coal exports. The high wages fixed last year, were made possible by the system of control and the high prices at which coal could be sold, but these wages cannot be maintained. This is obvious when one considers the fact that the total yield from the sales of coal last year was 388' millions, of which 266 millions went in wages alone. The Government decided against the continuance of control on the ground that it involved the continued subsidising of the industry, which was impossible on financial groun'ds and as a matter of principle. The present strike is inspired partly by a determination to fight the threatened reduction of wages and partly by the feeling that the Government can be forced to resume control, which the men's leaders have regarded as a half-way house to nationalisation. During the controversy that preceded the crisis in Octoter last Mr Smillie said: "We are determined that " the .nation shall own the mines and "that the time will come when the " present exploiters will have to give "them up." If -the Government resumed control of the mines, the present wages could only be "paid by making the industry a heavy burden upon the taxpayer, and this is what the miners are hoping they will force the nation to accept. The other great branches of organised labour—the railwaymen and transport workers-H&ppear to be making up their minds to make common cause with the miners, since the railways will soon be in something like .the same position as the'mines. If these organisations do combine in a great strike, the position of the country will be very serious indeed. The Government has already recognised that disaster is at hand, arid has issued a proclamation under the Act of last year—the Emergency Powers Act. This measure authorised the Government to act whenever it appears that any action has been taken or was immediately threatened, by interfering with the supply and distribution of food, water, fuel, or light, to deprive the community, or any substantial portion of it, of the essentials of life. Whenever, in the Government's judgment, such a situation arises, a state of emergency may be proclaimed, and the Government may issue regulations to meet the, crisis. Somewhat similar powers are vested in the Government of this country, but in the British Act there are ample checks upon the Government's authority. Parliament must be called together; the regulations must be submitted for approval .a few days; and these regulations are operative only for a brief

period unless expressly extended. During the debate in the House of Commons the Labour members were suspicious and hostile, and were little satisfied with the Government's assurance that the Act would not suspend, even temporarily, the rights and privileges of trade unions, and that there would not even be any interference with "the "right to strike." It is to be feared that the Government will be called upon to do more than organise some means of feedings the nation and keeping the machinery of national life at work, for already there has been some menacing talk from Labour leaders. Some of the leaders of organised Labour are heart and soul opposed to violence or sabotage in any form, but in a widespread industrial upheaval the forces of disorder are hard to restrain. The tern-: per of organised Labour in Britain is at present very dangerous, and if the Government stands firm it is possible that the communitv will be unable to protect its rights without a violent conflict, of which no one can foresee the end.