The Dominion WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1920. COAL AND THE COMMUNITY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 105, 28 January 1920, Page 6

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1920. COAL AND THE COMMUNITY

The penalties which industrial warfare impose alike on the innocent and the guilty have seldom been better illustrated than in the present circumstances of the coal-mining industry in' this country. The _ mine workers have now been restricting the output of coal for more than four months, and there is no definite indication that a settlement of their dispute with the employers is any nearer than it was when the "goslow" policy was inaugurated. There have been some tentative suggestions of late that the parties are ready to confer with a view to a settlement, but it is by no means certain that any real move will be made in that direction unless means •are found of asserting the right of the public to receive the consideration it has been denied during' the last four months. The position reported a week or two ago was tljat the miners were demanding another: conference, while the employers, though they considered such a conference unnecessary in view of the full and open discussion that took place last year, were willing to meet the miners' delegates again on cer'tain conditions. No immediate result followed, but a few days ago it was announced that the Huntly Miners' Union had passed a resolution, asking the Miners' Federation to withdraw from the Alliance of Labour, and urging that unions should be allowed to negotiate individually with the employers. The Coal Owners' Association thereupon wrote to the Miners' Federation agreeing to negotiate in these conditions, but it has been informed in reply that the dispute is still in the hands of the Alliance of Labour.. Matters stand here for the moment, and on present appearances the deadlock seems likely to continue. *=

Obviously enough failure to arrive at an early settlement will impose the severest hardships on the general population, and more especially on wage-earners and their fami- j lies, during the coming winter. It is now high summer, yet some industrial establishments arc at a standstill for lack of coal supplies, and others arc struggling along on a starvation allowance. in many directions the shortage of coal is •increasing costs of production and raising the cost of living, Gas and other services in municipal areas are precariously maintained, and in the streets of the capital city of tho Dominion trams are boinir brought to a standstill almost daily because coal of tho quality that is needed to keep then runninrr to schedule cannot be obtained. The household demand for coal is at a minimum in the summer, but at present it is far from being met. People in most places are able to obtain only inadequate and uncertain supplies. Any idea of making provision for the winter i in these conditions, whethef as regards industrial, municipal, or other supplies of coal, js manifestly out of tho

question. The inference to be drawn is plain. Either means must be found of settling the coal dispute without loss of time, or the Dominion next winter will enter upon the worst coal famine it has ever cxpcrienccr}. Even in circumstances otherwise normal such a famine would impose terrible hardships, particularly on women and young children. But even worse things are possible. It is by no mvms certain that the Dominion will escape such a of the influenza epidemic as is being experienced in other countries, and few things would tend more to facilitate the spread of the disease or stimulate its destructive effect than a shortage of necessary fuel. The ! picture is rounded oil when it is considered that all the existing hard-, ships arising from the coal shortage, j and the worse evils in prospect, arc j due to the action of miners who are i rejecting a settlement that would ; leave them advantageously placed as; compared either with their fellow-] workers in this country or with mine workers in other countries. That the miners aro offered liberal wages is perhaps best exemplified in the fact that those who are "going slow" have been content during four months to earn little more than half of what it is open to them to earn when they please, without overtime anil in conditions of regular employment. There certainly need be no difficulty about meeting any legitimate demands on their part in respect of safe working conditions in the mines, or satisfactory housing and living conditions. It ought to be emphasised, however, that the "go-slow" policy has done, and is doing, more harm _ than anything else to hinder housing and other reforms which are needed urgently in the interests not only of the miners ljut of tens of thousands of other workers.

This dispute has brought about conditions in which the people of the dominion aro bound to consider what means are open to them of asserting and defending their elementary rights. It is, perhaps, l not yet too late, however, to make an appeal to common sense arid to the spirit of fair dealing which is an indispensable condition of community life. It would evidently be wasting time and breath to reason with the introducers and exponents of the "go-slow" policy, for their attitude is frankly that of enemies of society. But is difficult to believe that any large proportion of the working miners are satisfied to be imposing hardship and distress on the whole community, and reducing 'their own earnings to a pittance, for no intelligible end. If at heart the miners prefer an honest and rational policy, the means of enforcing it are in their own hands. Whether or not the miners and their employers agree in the near future to confer with a view to a settlement the time is more than ripe for with the restriction of coal output in its real character as an intolerable outrage on the public. Labour bodies, in particular, ought to give the; coai industry dispute earnest consideration, for the interests of their members arc vitally at stake. Presumably all Labour organisations would support the miners in obtaining wages and working conditions which could be regarded as fair in comparison with those obtained by other workers. So would most other people in the Dominion. But the apparent position is that the miners are freely offered such conditions and are refusing them, and at the same time attacking and outrageously penalising the whole community. Are other wage-earners and their womenfolk content to submit tamely to such treatment? These are questions which evidently demand the practical consideration of Labour organisations and other sections of.the population. No selfrcspeetint; community ought to allow itself to be swept unresisting into such liartlshins as a winter of coal famine would impose in this country.