A BOLD EXPERIMENT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 281, 23 August 1919, Page 6

A BOLD EXPERIMENT

Tt is rather difficult to account for the extreme dissatisfaction willi which the British Government's proposals for- the reorganisation of the ooat-mining industry have been received by-tli? officials- o.f the minors' organisations. The changes /proposed are in fact drastic and far-reaching. '. The denfand for nationalisation -and 'the outcry about the failure of the Government to act on l.lie -•recommendation of the Sankcy Commission is the less justified since no section of the Commission advocated immediate nationalisation.' Its report was broadly. summarised by the Labour correspondent of the London Times in the following terms: —

(1) The chairman and every member of 'lit? Commission recommend thai, coal should' be nationalised, and there is a miljoi'ily of ten In three in support-.of-the payment of fair compensation In the dispossessed royalty owners.

(2) The chairman and half the .members' of the Commission, a majority of seven to six, recommend the nationalisation of tho collieries in 11122, and Iho reorganisation of the control of the industry, centrally,,by districts, and locally, in the meantime.

It will' lie observed that a distinction ,is drawn between the nationalisation of coal, thc_ measure now proposed by the British Government, - and I he. full .nationalisation •of the industry. The nationalisation of mining rights in coal . is dealt with in all four of the reports presented by the Sankcy Commission in June, and the extent to which the Government has drawn upon .these various reports in framing its scheme has yet to appear. The object of acquiring the mining rights in coal is in any case to enable the State as landlord to enforce the reorganisation of the industry. It is pointed out in the main report or the Sankcy Commission/that 'there are important advantages to be attained in this way. One passage observes that under State ownership there nil] be one owner instead of nearly 4000 owners of the national asset, and the difficulties caused under tho present system in regard to barriers, drainage, pttniping, boundaries, etc., will largely disappear. Barriers arc walls of coal left unworkcd between the properties of various owners, and it is stated that under this system millions of tons of coal are wasted. . Then again, drainage and pumping arc carried on in individual pits at heavy unnecessary expense instead of under a centralised plan covering a whole area. "Further, lack of co-operation in drainage has in the past been, and is at the present time, conducive to the abandonment of-cOal and collieries." Under the plans briefly outline/! by Mr. Lloyd George*, the Government presumably would lease coal workings to mining companies, but under conditions ensuring the fullest possible co-ordina-tion and economical working. At the same time it is proposed to set up joint councils, on which the mi.ners would be ren resented with other parties, to deal in local areas, in districts, and on a national basis with working conditions and other matters effecting the industry. Varying powers for these bodies m suggested in the different Sankey Commission reports. As information .stands,] however, it is evident that the British Government is attempting a bold reconstruction and reorganisation of -the coal-mining industry in conditions which would give the working miners exceptional opportunities of co-operating to establish it on a footing satisfactory to themselves and making for a greatly increased output,