THE COAL CRISIS

Marlborough Express, Volume LX, Issue 229, 28 September 1926, Page 2

THE COAL CRISIS

PAR LIAMENT REASSEAIBLES. .A I INISTER IAL STATEAfENT. THE FOJjLOAVlNGr DEBATE.

fPRESfl Assodiaxion.1

Aus. and N.Z. Cable Association.

LQNDON, Sept. 27. In view of the "eriousnes® oi the coal orisis there was a large attenclan.ce of Ministers and niembers at the reassembling of Parliament. Sir AV. J oynson-Hicks presented His Alajesty's message declaring a continuance of th© state of exncrgiency. Both Air AtacDo nald and Mr Llovd George demurred at Alr Baldwin's motion giving Government business preference for the remainder of ihe session, the former expressiug the hope tliat there would bei an election before the House was due to meet on November 9th-. Fiirthhfmore, the outlook was tliut the House must meet a month henee to pass a further emergency resolution. Mr Balclwin's motion was agreed to by 237 to 122 votes. Mr Baldwin, speaking to the adjournment, traced the recent coal negotiations. He said that the Parliamcutary experienee last year had shown that thei interfereuce of Parliament in the past had done unqualified harm by generating tlie feeling, that ho'wever great the difficulties of the induKtry it was possible for Parliament to set tle the troubles of the two sides. That might be posslble in times of prosperity and rising markets, but it was impossible in ti mes of diffioulty. Speaking generaHy, the Government endeavored p>' assume tlie- attitude of a mediator and negotiator rather than a direct participant. Labor cries : "The Eighi Hoiirs Act I " Mr ' Baldwin went on to say that the Samuel memoranclum of Alay 12th might have offered a basis of negotiation, but it had been rejeet.ed. Although the Government' s last proposals had shared the fate of piany others, the- Government was perfectly willing that they should stand for a short time. He would leave Mr Churchill to tell his own story. The owners declined to a;ttend a tripartite conference, in which they had acted with stupidity and want of courtesy to the Government. The Opposition, should remember that Parliament could not make the owners open their pits or make tlie men go down. The result of ihe long stoppage had been that the ordinary business man felt that he must know wliere he was before he could make contracts. They now wanted a settlement based ou something firm rather than what could be acliieved by dialectic skill. After twenty-one weeks the men had practtically reaehed a point they dould have reaehed at the beginning of the strike, which ivas one rnore proof of the lafnentahle t'o.1 Ly of this method of trying to sefctle iudustrial dispni'tes, which gave satisfaction to no one except the small minority, which hoped to thrive on iinhappiness1 and misery. Mr Macponald urged that ihe House should cleclare itself in favor of a national agreement and pass one clause of the Bill declaring that the E'ight Hour Act should not cottle into force except on an appointed day. This would knock two months off the dnration of the coal dispute. The miners had believcd that the Government would support a national settlement, but now knew that the Government would never coerce the owners. The Government had not plavecl a straight hand. Mr AlacDonald asked the Government if it was still working to smash up the national agreement hy district breakaways and thus end the dispute. As his speech progressed Mr AlacDonald was swbjected to intermptions ancl contradictio-ns from the Unionist benches, cansing the Labor members angrily to ask the Chairman to call the Conservatives to order. Alr Churchill continued r It is essential that if the Government had to legislate a Coal Bill it must he presented to Parliament with the liotification : "This settles it." Henfie the nSo|i(5sity for a> general rc--sumption of district negotiations. before the Government set up an independeut tribunal. The_ Government dlefinitely offered that, if tlie district negotiations w'ere begnn, forthwith, it would set. up an indepenclcnt tribunal with the certainty of a national review by a fair-minded nmpire. Mr ' Hartshorn said that the miners' proposals were adequate and met the whole oconomic isituation. The price of coal would be shillings up compared with the pre-stri ke prices. There wTas no reason why the collieries should not be reopened immediately on n proiitahle basis. Alr AlacDonald, eonclnding, stated that, tliere was no sign of the miners surrendering. Meanwhile, trade was being starved, povert.y and destitution were increasing, and debts were piling up. AT'r Llftyd George suggested that Mr Churchill should be vallowed to get along with the negotiations he commeneed, but a settlement was: impossible if the Government went slddding along the road from side to side. It was Ihe duty of the Government to use the emergency regulations to eompel the owners to necept a fair settlement. He c'laimed that the Government could open the pits. There was no reason, because the owners were truculenl , thal ihe • Government should be impotent. Mr Ohurchill vigorously denied that he promised the miners a national agreement. There was not the sbghtost shadow. of disagreenient between hiraself and the Pxirrie Alinistcr. The Government had no intention of opening the pits, as Mr Lloyd Georgc suggested, or of being led into a course of action which would lead to the temporary nationalisation of the coalfields. Nevertheless, this did not rule out legitimate pressure on the mine-owners, which would secure the miners a proportion of wdiat they desired in the way of a national structure through tribunals wliich wmuld ensure that the district settlcments should be reviewed from the point of view of fairness and coordiniation. The Government contcmplated no action whatever agaiust the owners except attaching certain conditions to thc Eight Hours Act.