GREAT STRIKE ENDING

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12604, 15 November 1926, Page 7

GREAT STRIKE ENDING

-EMSATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS FOLLOW DRAMATIC CONFERENCES SITUATION COMPLETELY CHANGED DAILY LOSS ON GENERAL TRADE EQUALS WARTIME EXPENDITURE After many false alarms, it now appears certain that the great struggle between coal miners and min’e owners is practically at an end. The men are going back to the pits in large numbers, and Labour leaders are confident of a settlement being reached. The outlook is so bright that an industrial boom is anticipated.

Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright. Sraliau and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received November 13, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, November 13. It can be said with more or less certainty that the greatest of all strikes which paralysed Britain for more than two years is drawing to a close. Following upon dramatic conferences lasting far into the night, from which the leaders left tired and worn out, the situation has completely changed. There were many adjournments throughout the night at which the Government hurriedly conversed with the owners, chairman, and vicechairman in another roomWith the changed situation, there are distinct signs of a trade boem. Industries up and down the country are waiting to carry out orders, while shipyards have received orders for fourteen vessels, involving millions. To-day cabled advice was received from Buenos Aires that a British tender had been accepted for a complete system pf underground tube railway*, worth million*. Labour representatives were in closest touch with the miners, and declared that the odds in favour of a settlement increased from 10 to 1 on Thursday to 100 to 1 to-day. Meantime, 320.000 miners are hack at work at the pits, which is one-third of the total. The average weekly increase for the month has been 25,000. GREATER THAN WARTIME There are various estimates of the lass on general trade. Those figures are astounding, rivalling the daily expenditure during wartime. The cost of household coal more than doubled, and hundreds of thousands of homes are without fires. It is impossible to exaggerate the sufferings of the miners’ families.

It has often been said that the miners had been the victims of a slogan, but against this Sir Neville Chamberlain, in a speech at Glasgow, to-night, said The cost to the country i« colossal. The loss on coal exports alone since the stoppage amounts to twenty-five millions# and on last year** trade forty millions. Outdoor relief in areas directly affected has increased £223,000 weekly# and totals £5,800,000* Only five steel furnaces are in blast, compared with 147 before the strike. “When we see the owners are not prepared to sit at table and discuss +er|ns with their employees, all we can say is that it is a very badly managed industry. Such a spirit of antagonism is as unnecessary as it is suicidal.’* MINERSANDCHEESE ONE SIDE OF COAL STRIKE A MARKET LOST. After a trip to England whither he went in connection with the Dairy Control Board’s freight contract Mr F. Grainger, of Patea, returned to Wellington by the liner Tainui yesterday, Mr Grninger will remain in New Zealand on the Control Board’s staff. “One of the sides of the coal strike which is not appreciated in New Zealand is the effect which it has had directly on the consumption of cheese,” said Mr Grainger when interviewed. ‘■The miners are among the largest eaters of cheese in the United King- • dom. It is one of the few things that they can take down the .shaft without souring. And with the strike on that market is Jost, for on the surface they do not mind what they eat. “The effect of the strike has been tremendous, of course. Half the iron works had closed down when I left, and not these alone, but also shipbuilding and cotton mills were affected. There will be a general want of confidence in the whole country until the strike is ended.”