STRIKE ENDED

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2520, 22 July 1915, Page 5

STRIKE ENDED

WELSH MINERS' DEMANDS CONCEDED EXCEPT ON ONE POINT

NON-UNIONISTS EXCLUDED

The HigU Commissioner reports

London, July 20. The miners' strike has been settled,

ALL DEMANDS SAVE ONE CONCEDED. By TeMgwipJi— Pims ABSoolation-CopjTight London, July, 20. All the miners' demands were conceded except that for a three years' agreement. After a conference between the owners and Mr. Lloyd George (Minister for Munitions) new terms wero submitted, and the Cabinet Ministers (MessrsLloyd" George, and Henderson) later attended the Miners' Council, whose leaders afterwards left for the various coal centres, where a hundred meetings were held to-night- to discuss tlio terms, in order to instruct the delegates for next day's conference. It is reported that non-unionists arc not included in the now agreement, and that cnginenieu and stokers have come into tho-South Wales Miners' Federation. Other reports stated that the settlement will extend for six months after the war, and will bo silbjcct thereafter to threo months' notice. TERMS OF SETTLEMENT. NEW STANDARD OF WAGE. (Wee. July 2], 10 p.m.) London, July 21. Ministers are remaining in Cardiff until tho fJeiiulU &eul«ni«ut proposals fov the cousidsratwu of the conference

a,re reached. They are so satisfactory from the workmen's standpoint that they aie certainly .to bo approved today.

A peace treaty will be. signed. The miners aro granted:— (1) A new standard wage, which is an increasG of fifty per cent.- upon tho 1879 standard.-

(2) A minimum of ten per cent, on tho standard.

(3) Payment of six days for five days' work when on night-shift. (4) Surfacemen included in the agreement.

(5) Agreement to operate for sis months after the war, and subsequently to be subject to three months' notice.

The men are expected to resume work on Thursday,

STRIKE PENALTIES WAIVED. (Rec. July 22, 1 a.m.) London, July 21. Mr; Lloyd-George on Monday night induced the Miners' Executive to formulate new proposals, and the Cabinet Ministers laid them before the masters. On Tuesday morning tlio masters assembled in one room of the hotel while tho Miners' Executive was in another. Tho Cabinet Ministers moved between the two until the executive promised to recommend the terms to to-day's conference. The settlement agrees to refer disputes to tlio Board of Trade. The main terms are for almost the whole federated area, including tho standard and minimum wages, hut the Welsh agreement includes surfacc-workers. The executive further promised to recommend the men to work on the August Hank Holiday and help to overtake the shortage, but the strike penalties on strikers, incurred uuder the Munitions Act, will bo waived. SEVERE PRESS COMMENTS. MINERS ROUNDLY CONDEMNED. (Wcc. July 21, 10.55 p.m.) London, July 20. The "Daily Chronicle" says:—"Outside of South Wales the nation will not bo interested in the terms which have been obtained, but it will be impossible to forget tliu menus which were taken hx toe men to stwrq It is au v

ugly, odious business for a body of men to improve their position by deliberately holding up tho nation m the hour of extreme need. The miners! action deserves the severest condemnation, and any other judgment would be unjust to all the other groat tra'do unions; if they had done what the South "Wales miners did, tho country would now be helpless under the Kaiser's heel."

Tho "Daily Mail" eulogises Mr. Lloyd George, and characterises tho settlement as his triumph. The "Morning Post" _ says: —"Tho whole transaction is humiliating to the country and to the Government. The men have been tyrannical and tho Government vacillating. The men won a victory in defiance of the law."

The "Times" says the Munitions Act has broken down 011 the first attempt to apply it. "If tho Government is going to ignore it, it can hardly apply it to other cases. Tho only ' satisfactory thing about tho wbolo wretched episode is that Mr. Lloyd George was ablo to impress the disputants by telling them plainly what the consequences of their quarrel would bo. Hitherto there have been too many appeals and entreaties and far too little plain speaking. No settlement can wipe out tho moral injury. Tho stoppage of tho collieries has disgusted our Allies, delighted our enemies, and shaken our prestige among neutral States."