BRITISH LABOUR CRISIS.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 May 1921, Page 2

BRITISH LABOUR CRISIS.

BY TELEGRAPH —rRESS ABBN., COPYRIGHT.

SERIOUS RIOTING

LONDON, May 6. Ther is a marked recrudescence of rioting in the strike areas. The miners at the Hill of Beath colliery, in have blocked | the railway lines to prevent ooal transport. A military guard has been sent to the .place. Demonstrations against the safety me ; n have been resumed in several parts of the Rhondda Valley, where there are 200 police on duty. Twenty-five motor lorries laden with ooal, when proceeding from Wigan to Rochdale, were surrounded by an excited mob, who removed the coal and damaged some of the lorries.

The miners made efforts to prevent the sale of slack coal for industrial fuel. These led to serious disturbances in Cradley Heath, in Staffordshire. The police made three baton •charges, one man being injured. Three were arrested. Similar trouble has occurred at Halesowen, in Worcester. The miners, armed with picks, formed a procession at Accrington to prevent the public from removing coal from the outcrops. The police persuaded the miners to leave promising that tlie public would not be allowed to touch the coal.

Following on some strikers suggesting that a settlement of the wages question was possible 300 malcontent extremists stormed Burt Hall, the headquarters of the Northumbferland Miners’ Association, and remained in possession for the .afternoon as a protest against the Miners’ Council meeting to-day. MOVE FOR COMPROMISE. LONDON, May 5. The “Daily Mail” says: The Labour Party in the House of Commons and a group of private M.P.’s held a conference and formulated proposals which wer submitted to the Government. These proposals are designed to secure a temporary coal settlement. The outstanding features are the proposed appointment of Mr Arthur Dnekham (a member of the Sankey Commission) as arbitrator.

A lobbyist states this action followed from authentic information that the miners in Lanarkshire, Northumberland, Durham, Nottingham, and Derbyshire earnestly. desired to resume work, and that the Miners’ Executive was hopeful of renewed intervention at an early date, and that the Miners’ Federation would accept Mr Dnekham’s appointment.