COAL STRIKE.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17118, 13 April 1921, Page 7

COAL STRIKE.

CONFERENCE OPENED. I IMPORTANT STATEMENT BY | PRIME MINISTER. (By Cable— Vt ess Association— Copyright.) (AuatraJiai: and 2\.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON, April 11. The conference of miners and owners, with Government representatives as_ intermediaries, has.bogun. Mr Lloyd George opened the conference. He stated : "We are here to safeguard the interests of the community by securing industrial peace. If there were oniy tne same eagerness to share the losses us there is to share the prolits, we should certainly reach an early and satisfactory conclusion. The prolits were practically made out of the export trade, from which we guaranteed the profits to the owners and the wages to»tho miners. Since then there nas. been a slump, and coal has dropped from 19s 8d a ton to 36s Cd' at the pithead, and the markets ofjiurope and South America are practically closed to business. "The Government has definitely decided not to continue to subsidise the owners and miners out of taxes, or abrogate the decontrol 6"rder. Within those limits the Government is prepared to listen to any scheme submitted for adjusting wages and profits. The owners have found that, j without the subsidy, there ,is not enough in the business to pay wages I on the' present scale." \ K would be for. the owners; he continued, to show ; ;that.the grounds on which th^y'arrived at their conclusions] justified a reduction. It would then be for the miners to state case, not merely in' opposition to the owners' j figures, but to provide plans for adjust-) ing the whole "position. J Mr JLloyd George suggested a com-! mittee of six miners and six owners to examine the situation. Both had to face tyie facts, whether they affected profits or wages. The facts were there, and would remain until the world adjusted itself to the present conditions. fßcceTVed April 13th, '12.35 a.m.) LONDON, April 11. It is officially stated (hat, following on statements • by Mr Evan Williams, president of the Mining Association or Great Britain (the conl-owners' organic sation) and Mr F. Hodges, secretary ot the Miners' Federation, the Prime Minister asked to have an oppoitunity of perusing the two statements when a transcript of the notes was ready. Tha conference agreed that a report of the meeting shquld not be published until the parties had been able to read the tra,nßcriDt. , : Mr Lloyd George said he wished an , opportunity of meeting the owners antt the miners separately as a preliminary to a further joint meeting. This was .agreed to. Tho owners' representatives willineet Mr Lloyd Georgo at 11 "a.ih. tomorrow and the miners at 12.80 p.m. EOpijrOMIO EFFECT OF BETTLE- .".'."."'•...''"""'""•' 'MENT, : .. JReutii's -ilelegnuiu.) ' ' LONDON, April 11. The fact of the miners agreeing to meet the r-owners' is accepted as evidence that the strike will now, be settled.-'' ■.''''.■ '>' •' '. • ,'■ ..." ' A resumption of Work at lower wages .is expected to produce an immediate fall !ih the. c6st of living, with a; proportionate" improvement in wages values. It ■is anticipated that a settlement of the trouble will be the turning point as regards trade depression. .The Government's intimation that it is prepared to 'grant monetary assistance to tide over the wagodimculty in unproductive/districts has greatly helped the situation; In the House of Commons, Mr W. O. Bridgeman, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade' (Mines Department) said the payments made to the industry five years ended March last totalled £14,250,000. it was.estimated that a- further £2,000,000 would be required for outstanding claims. > ' : DANGER NOT YET PAST, ' : ■:''■'\ ' (Reuter's leiigranui.) > April 18th, 1.20 am:) . < o- ! i.:'>:v.:,-v-*:.»'(:"^^ l April'll; >■ In the House of Commons, Mr Austen OhamberJain, Leader. of the .House, in moving a formal ftddrees of .thanks ;for the King's Message relating to the re- v serve forcea' proclamation, stated tha.t the Miners' Federation's instructions with- regard to jno interference with pumping at the mines.had been generally followed. Ho feared that the nego- ; "tiationa would take a considerable time, and would be very difficult. 'JWe must not'flatter; ourselves," he 9ftid, "that we.areout oi danger.'? -,, -'."Mr- Chamberlain pomted out that the threai of ah exte«4n of; the dispute to the whole of the transport industryrhad been suspended, but not withdrawn; therefore; it was necessary to continue precautions. The community must show that if its existence yraa attacked it was able to protect it-. 'self. '(Labour cries of <'N6 provocative, language.") ' x , * Mr Chamberlain replied'that he was anxious' that v nothing should be said to make a fair and honourable settlement impossible. He urged the adjournment of the dilcussion. • ' ; The discussion was adjourned tul tomorrow- '..'.■'''',.".,. V DAMAGE TO MINES. FORTY PITS FLOODED. N LONDON; April 11. Mr W. C. Bridgeman, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, speaking in the House of Commons, said 40 pita were completely flooded, involving 16,000 workmen. It was impossible to forecast how many of the pits would again be workable, or to estimate the amount of coal that would bo irrecoverable. . ■ ~ , West Fife strikers last night applied direct action, drawing the fires to prevent pumping at tho Blackball Colliery TV police arrived too late, WJJ/.wui, prevent any damage, to the Machinery. Military police are now guarding tne machinery at most of tne collieries. THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE. MANIFESTO AGAINST OOVEENMENT. ■.<^*»&?fiaJl' . The Triple Alliance has issued a lenethy inanifeeto accusing tho Government of calculated and persistent hosSitv to the working classes. The maniS wys the Government is not an imwrtial arbitrator, but *n active, if St partisan who, while speaknig of '■SsSjvffiSSTi* Scanner calculated td encourage war. In addition to raUreservists, it had adopted * mw and odious. expedient ot forming a Volunteer force as a&trument againsi .organised Xabour. Tho Governmen& S assumed of provoking bloodshed and civil war.

A COUNTER MANIFESTO. (Received April 13th, 12.35 a m ) tu Xfii «i L ? ND April 11. The Midlands branch of tho Discharged Soldiers' and Sailors' Federation has issued a maniiesto stating:— "We are not concerned with the rights and wrongs of the present disnute, but we are concerned on behalf of the country for which we fought, and which is in danger of being brought to the brink on rum by foolish and reckless action. We have already had riots in which the same ringleaders appeared as led tho strikes during the war, others being foreigners desiring to see Britain reduced to Russia's condition." * THE BAILWAYMEN. „ , „ WKTOPX, Anril 11. Mr J. H. Thomas, M.P., general secretary, and Mr C. T., Cramp, industrial general secretary of the National Union of llailwaymen, telegraphed to iue Northumberland' railwayrnen, stating that thoy must strike on Tuesday; unless i'ho negotiations between the miners and tho owners resulted in "a settlement. The local Railwaymen's Union repudiates the Lime street, Liverpool, protest. A non-unionist ticket examiner admits sending tho message at the instance of forty unionists. He says there was not sufficient time to calf a meeting of the wholo station staff. f'A previous message said 600 members of the staff 'Bt Lime street station, Liverpool, telegraphed to Itir J. H. Thomas denouncing the striko, and saying that the whole thing was a Bolshevistic move to bring, about a revolution. The staff demanded a ballot, adding: "We will not strike." The telegram declared that tho "so-called mass meetings held on Sunday in favour, of a strike were an absolute farce. They wore packed with outsiders. Out of 17,80 d railwaymon in the Liverpool district only 40 attended, and half of these left in disgust owing to the Bolshevist attitude of the speakers. As British working men, we urge the Federation to take a stand against the extremists."]