The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 1926. IN THE BALANCE

Hokitika Guardian, 31 March 1926, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 1926. IN THE BALANCE

In the tallies this week it was iiitiinateil by a statement from Mr J. H. Thomas, ex-Labour Minister, that the fate of Knghuid was wrapped up in the outcome of the proposals to settle the coal-mining question at Monte. Within very short time now the issue must he fated, and the Prime .Minister is doing his best to that end. The whole subject is a. very complex one, and as it is of such national importance the history of the trouble is worth noviewing. A Sydney paper lias done this very concisely, and we quote as follows for public information: 111 the year 1919 a. Commission, under the presidency of Mr Justice San key, was appointed to report upon the whole matter, many manifestations of dissatisfaction on the part of the miners having been exhibited since the close of the war. That Commission is loss noted for the success which followed its deliberations than for the verbal duels between the Duke of Northumberland and Mr Robert SmiMie, which punctuated them. The practical result of its findings was .small, and in 1920 a. general coal strike occurred, which ended in accentuating the bitterness already existing in. the hearts of the antagonists. Although work was ultimately resumed, the ferment of discontent never ceased for a moment. In March, 1924. exactly two years ago, a second Commission, or Committee, as it was called, was appointed for the .same purposes as its predecessor, and Mr Lloyd George was not only its nominal chairman hut also its actual lwxly, hones, and head. Its report was issued a few months later, and was followed by a hook written by Mr Lloyd George entitled “Coal and Power.” which amplified and discussed that report in detail. Respite the earnest .?ntreatie.s of a number of industrial authorities, neither the report of the Committee nor the advice of its chairman was acted upon, and the crisis of last- July followed. The disaster which th on seemed imminent was averted on- I l.v by tlie granting of the much-dis-cussed subsidy, whereby the owners were paid an immense sum so that they in turn, could pay the men the wage they insisted upon receiving. The subsidy, it was then announced, was only to he paid until the following May—that is, the May of this year—and in the interval another Commission was to sit and recommend some scheme whereby the whole trouble might he relieved. That Commission was appointed, took voluminous evidence, and has now issued its report-. It- is of in-

to rest to note, in the first place, that the Commission, without actually condemning the granting of the subsidy, lias no hesitation in declaring that its continuance after the end of its authorised term would be indefensible, and that, on no account should the expedient bo repeated. But, despite this recommendation, it is almost a matter of impossibility for the subsidy to come to an end in May. Tho Commission’s findings will have to l>o brought before Parliament, and it is very certain that tho discussion upon them will bo both heated and prolonged. Neither tho miners, who are set upon completo nationalisation Uml absolutely refuse to consider any reduction of wages or increase of hours, nor the owners, whose only suggested remedy has been this very medicine, arc likely to agree with a report which rejects both nationalisation and wagereduction as impossible in the one ease and futile in the other, 'l'he bill incorporating the report cannot be rushed through Parliament; and if and when it Incomes law it must tn months at last before its practical application can be enforced. Such radical alterations as it will effect can’ bo carried out instantly, or oven without considerable delay, and while these alterations are being effected the subsidy. or a lessening proportion of it. must be paid. It seems clear that in the most favourable circumstances it will he nearer December than May before the incubus is finally dislodged. If the Commission’s recommendations prove .successful, a consummation devoutly to be wished, neither the owners nor the nun will be able with any justice to claim a share in effecting that result. Almost without exception the owners have adopted a policy of •blank opposition, seemingly having learned nothing and forgotten nothing. The representatives of the miners have been equally stubborn, equally hopeless of result, should any remedy but their chosen one be tried. The one mine-owner who has shown himself wih iug and able to rise above the partisan narrowness which characterised all Hunt hers has been Lord Londonderry, and, unfortunatcy his example value too late to have any effect upon his fellows. Lord Londonderry has been the right-hand man lo Sir James Craig during the accent. Irish crisis, and until that was settled lie was unable to assist the Commission. Immediately the Irish difficulties wore over, however, Lord Londonderry resigned his office in Ulster and did what lie coulo to solve the coal problem in England it is evident that his broad-minded suggestions have been adopted, in part at least, by the Commission to the very great benefit of their report. In particular the principle of his proposal to meet some of the complaints of the men by means of local agreements, varying with local requirements, instead of having one general agreement covering the whole industry, scents to have been incorporated in the report, thouph varied /somewhat in detail. But the man to whom must credit wil be due if the Commission’s work proves profitable is neither the Prime Minister who called it into being, nor the chairman who presided over it, nor any one of the witnesses who guv.' evidence before it It. will he Mr Lloyd George who has earned that distinction. For it is a fact, clearly proven by any ono who cares to read the ex-Prime .Minister’s book above referred to, that the Commission’s report follows the recommendations which he summarised therein as tho findings of the Committee over which lie presiTiod in 192-1, with a. closeness that it is impossible to ascribe to anything but a deliberate desire. to adopt llv.-in. The whirligig of time brings in its strange revenges, but lew more strange—or swift—than this.