COAL INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 114, 11 February 1928, Page 10

COAL INDUSTRY

JNEMPLOYED MINERS DISCUSSION IN HOUSE OF COMMONS LABOUR AMENDMENT TO ADDRESS-IN-REPLY BY TELEGBAPH.—PEESS ASSOCIATION. Copyright. London, February 9. In the House of Commons, Mr. A. Henderson moved the Labour amendment to the Address-in-Reply, expressing regret that no mention was made in the Speech of measures to grapple with the pressing urgency of unemployment, especially in the coal and other basic industries, and its menacing effects

in many areas. He declared that a quarter of a million miners would never again be required on the coal, fields. The posi tion in South Wales was unprecedently bad, and the Eight Hours Act had been the direct means of adding a hundred thousand to the unem-

ployed. Without its repeal there would never be good relations between the miners and owners.. Personally he believed that the nation as a whole was in a worse position than in 1914. (Rec. February 10, 10.40 p.m.) London, February 9. Mr. Neville Chamberlain, replying, said it was fallacious to blame the Eight Hours Act for the increase in unemployment. The Act reduced the price of coal 2s. Bd. a ton, and resulted in more being mined and marketed. Unemployment was not general, but was concentrated in the basic industries, coal, iron, and steel, in which there was a permanent surplus of labour.' The Ministry of Labour was operating several training schemes with a view to the transference of men from the black spots of unemployment to other . districts and other employment. Ninety-two per cent, of ex-miners trained to woodwork, plastering, and painting had obtained work. Nearly a thousand miner trainees had gone to the Dominions. Mr. R. C. Wallhead (Lab.) said: “It was rather a cruel joke to throw examiners into the competitive market, after a few weeks’ training in new occupations.”—A.P.A. and “Sun.”