BRITISH LABOUR CRISIS.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 April 1921, Page 2

BRITISH LABOUR CRISIS.

CABLE NEWS.

AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. MINERS DETERMINED. MUST HAVE NATIONAL POOL. LONDON, April 16 Just prior to the general strike being declared off, Mr Lloyd George, in the House of .Commons, said he had just received a letter from the Miners’ Federation, refusing any temporary settlement of wages unless a national standard of wages and a national pool were conceded. )•

There could, said Mr Lloyd George, be no doubt as to what the issue would be. The Government was firmly of the opinion that for it to surrender on the question of mines control would be disastrous to the interests of the country. It was thoroughly realised by the Government that this was not a struggle in order to challenge the owners’ figures.

END OF ALLIANCE. LONDON, April 16 A Labourite correspondent writes that the miners’ allies- withdrawal .of their support is recognised on all hands as signifying the dissolution of tihe Triple Alliance, rebuffing the Federation extremists. They are now' left;to shape for themselves a new policy to save the Miners’ Unions from disaster. THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE. ITS VERSION OF THINGS. LONDON, .April 16 The Triple Alliance Executive, after a long meeting to-day issued a statement to the effect that a joint conference of railwaymen, transporters, and locomotive men had to ban the general strike in consequence of confusion confronting the conference yesterday. No reasonable hope remained of securing the spontaneous and united action of the three bodies which was essential to give the miners the help they sought. A partial, hopelessly incomplete sympathy stoppage would have weakened the organisations without materially helping the miners. Until Thursday night there was every hope of a tremendous display of working class solidity. Subsequent circumstances, which we profoundly regret, destroyed the firm ground upon which the Triple Alliance strike call was based, leaving no other alternative than cancellation. WORKERS’ STRONG FEELING. LONDON, April 16. It is generally predicted that the withdrawal of the . railwaymen’s and transporters’ support from the mineis will result in breaking up the Triple Alliance. It will also cause dissention in the railwaymen’s and transporters’ unions. Several branches of the railwaymen are already protesting bitterly agni-'- + the cancellation of the strike and thedesertion of the miners. A MINER’S OPINION. LONDON, April 16 When Tom Richards was asked for Lis frank opinion of the railwaymen, and the transporters, he said:—“lt would he unprintable.” Afr Straker, the Northumberland Miners’ Secretary, declared: —“I am speechless about it.” AYE WERE BETRAYED. LONDON, April 16. Interviewed after the decision, Mr Cooke, a South Wales member of the Miners’ Executive, said:—“We have been betrayed by the Triple Alliance. We shall go on with the fight as we are.” ' WELSH WORKERS ANGRY. SCOTTISH MINERS BITTER. LONDON, April 16 The news of the call-off of the strike was variously received in the different centres. It came as a thunderclap in South Wales. There the railwaymen and pitmen had completed their final agieements for a strike. These men were furiously angry. The local leaders with difficulty restrained them from calling indignation meetings, aid condemning the London leaders. In Scotland the workers are quieter than in Wales, but the miners are intensely embittered. The Fife miners are extensively looting the coal stacks for fuel. Oyer £20,000 worth of coal has lieen. taken by them. MINERS’ STRIKE GOES ON. LONDON, April 16 Air Hodges’ has now decided to summon a Conference of all the coal fields representatives forthwith. The feeling among the miners is that Mr Hodges went beyond his brief in making the offer be did. The strike of the miners continues.

MINERS’ DELEGATES. LONDON, April 15. The Miners’ Executive has adjourned Its members are proceeding to their various districts to confer with the local branches. They will re-assemble on Thursday next in London. Mr Hodges announced that pending a full conference of the Miners’ delegates on Thursday next, work will not be resumed on the coalfields. THE MINERS’ DETERMINATION. LONDON, April 16 The Miners’ Representatives forecast a continuance of their struggle to the bitter end. They expect hopeless defeat, but they declare that they will not be beaten by starvation.

The Government is not relaxing efforts to settle the strike. It is meanwhile continuing its emergency arrangements and the conservation of food and coal. The coal owners are still in London hoping for a resumption of negotiations.