COAL TRADE DISPUTES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 544, 26 June 1909, Page 7

COAL TRADE DISPUTES.

' ' SUSPENDED INQUIRY. (By Tolesraph.-Prcss Asaociation.-Oopyrigbt) , ' Nowcastle, Juno 25. .The minors' lodges havo confirmed tho notion of thoir dolegato on tho board 'in withdrawing all claims from the Coal Commission. ' v The dissolution of tho commission 13 viewed m some quarters .with considerable alarm. 1 , ' ,' ' SLOW-FOOTED ARBITRATION, Or' ' TURMOIL? "It 13 very much hoped (writes tho "Sydnoy Morning Herald") that the Newcastle coal,miners will think more than once or i twice 1 before they endorse the proposal to withdraw thoir claims from the Royal Commission 1 on Coal-mining 'Disputes The alleged motive iot this extraordinary proceeding is agrcatdoal too weak to carry the burdens imposed on it. runithat as the Teralba matter took so long to decide there would be no hope s of tho commission reaching finality for a year or-two, and that that would bo too long to wait But thoro 1* very little cogency in the Vfcronco to tho Teralba dispute. The main reason why it consumed an inordinate amount of timo was, as everyone knows, found in tho 1 constant interruptions that arose from cessation of work. " F6r these interruptions the men woro re-1 sponsible. Thoy bad tho power to prevent 1 ( them, but they did not use it Unionism is so strong m tho coal districts that it can cer I tainly exercise sufficient disciphnarv control if it"cares to do so, bnt thoihistory of aibitration' proceedings has shown that the exorcise of that Control was" the la9t thing thought' of. . . what they plainly ought to do is to reduce their claims to a minimum, 1 simplify them to the greatest possible extent, and arrange to put evidence and argument before the commission in the briefest and most compact form pos--1 ,81016» ' . Tho alternative can only lead to ( a , tbrmoil of discontent, which in the long run is bound to be the worst possible thing in the interests of unionism."