COAL-MINING WAGES AND PROFITS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 42, 13 November 1919, Page 5

COAL-MINING WAGES AND PROFITS

NEW SOUTH WALES ROYAL COMMISSION'S REPORT. Sydney, November Vi. The report of the Eoyal Commissioner who inquired into the conditions of tho coal-mining industry recommends tie need, ;n the interests both of tho Stale and of the public, for more economical methods of working and distribution, in prevent the present serious waste. Dealing with the habit of miners in absenting themselves from the mines, and thereby interfering with the output, thn report says: "Had the miners worked with the same honesty and consistency in 1918 as in MM, their average daily earnings should have shown an increxso corresponding to tho increase in the tonnage rate; but that it was onty about half what it should have Tjoep is fairly conclusive proof that the minors were not working up to their normal capacity. They aro receiving a rato of pay which, even with reduced working time, enabled them to make sufficient without unduly taxing their energies." Begnrding profiteering, the Commissioner found ovidence that the public was charged prices beyond the measure of initial increases in the cost of production, whilo he hart strong reason to believe that retail dealers charged tho prices of a first-class cooll for an inferior article.—Press Assn.