VICTIMISING THE PUBLIC

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 288, 1 September 1919, Page 4

VICTIMISING THE PUBLIC

There scorns to be lit'olc doubt that a "go-slow" policy has been decided on by the miners at most if not all the coal mines of the Dominion. This means that at a time when the whole country is suffering severely from the shortage of coal supplies, with railway communication dislocated, industries of various kinds crippled, and others threatened, an endeavour will be made by the miners to accentuate the hardships of the situation by reducing the output at the mines. Presumably the action of the miners is intended to injure and intiniidate the mine-owners. In actual fact it threatens the welfare in a greater or lesser degree of every person in the community, and those who will feel the pinch most arc the people least able to bear it. If persisted in, the "go-slow" policy will mean a further curtailment of transport facilities, the closing down of industries, and widespread unemployment'Sml loss. It is not going too far to say that at a time like the present, when it is so urgently necessary that production of all kinds should be maintained at the highest possible pitch and development works prosecuted with all the speed and enterprise wc are capable of, a further cut-, ting down of so vital a necessity as our coal supplies would strike at the very roots of our . prosperity. The thought will no doubt occur to most people that the miners are well aware of these things. That their action is prompted by the knowledge that with the existing shortage of coal supplies they are in a position, by reducing the output from the mines, to quickly paralyse transport and industry and bring the whole country to its knees. That is to say, some 2000 to .'JOOO miners who could not g<-it all they wanted in their recent negotiations with their employers (including the State) are prepared to sacrifice, the interests of every other 'branch of labour, all their fcllow-ujiionists in fact, and everyone else :in an endeavour to gain their own ends. The fact that these same miners have already been conceded, as war demands, more, probably, than any other body of -workers, with one exception, in the Dominion, is a matter which apparently counts for little with them. They would seem to imagine that the country is in a very tight place through the coal shortage, and that therefore it is. a good opportunity ,1;o give an extra turn of the screw, regardless of the fact that those who are most likely to be injured thereby are the men and women and children of jtheir own class. The folly of pursuing the line of action indicated | by to-day's telegrams is heightened by the fact that the whole question of the_ control and working of the coal-mining industry is at the moment under consideration. Two important bodies—the Board of Trade and the Industries and Commerce Committee of Inquiry set up by -the House of' Reprerentatives— during recent months have made investigations into the . working of our coal measures', and both bodies have put forward recommendations which go a. long way—in one case entirely—in the direction of meeting the main desires of the Miners' Federation. The. wholo- question [will shortly come bfefoi'e Parliament for decision, and in view of the fact and tin substantial concessions already granted to the miners by the coal mine-owners, there is not a shadow of justification for the course of action now adopted or about to be adopted., One thing is certain; The Labour organisations of the Dominion which are hoping so much from the coming general elections are brought fixe to face with the. question of'whether or not they approve a "go-slow 1 ' policy in the coal mines at the present time .and in the circumstances which exist here to-day; They cannot remain silent without sharing in the responsibility for what may follow. They are in a position to influence the miners by discountenancing a course of action which will seriously injure practically evnry class of the community. The .mistake is commonly made by the irreconcilable clement in the Labour organisations of thinking that they can succeed in attaining their aims by a selfish concentration oil the immediate interests of the members of their particular organisations without any' regard for the-interests of the public. They may go a ccrtain length towards their goal- under such a policy, bub they are bound rooner or later, to find their plans upset and their ambitions thwarted, for in the end they cannot make material headway against public opinion. They cannoj: victimise the public and hope for public support.