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Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 167, 5 October 1927, Page 2

INCENTIVE TO AUSTRALIA?—“Under the heading “An Australian Obligation,’’ the Sydney magazine, “The Harbour,” makes interesting comment on New Zealand’s contribution to the cost of the Singapore Naval Base. “A good many thinking people in Australia must have cherished a lingering hope that, during the ceremonies at Canberra, Mr. Bruce would have announced an Australian contribution toward defraying the cost of extending the naval base at Singapore. Mr. Coates, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, recently announced that the Dominion would contribute £1,000,000 toward the cost of the base, and this gesture of support for the great work which Mr. Bruce himself has declared to be essential to the security of Australia might well have served as an incentive. COMMUNITY COAL MlNE.—Another illustration of the misfortune which attends the efforts of workers to manage industrial concerns is furnished by the experience of the men working in the San Vicente de Asturias coal mine in Spain, states the “Shipping World.” After the owners had refused a claim for an increase of wages, the mine was, by agreement. handed over to the workers in order that they might try to work it profitably. The experiment proved a fiasco. During the months of May and June the loss per ton steadily increased until it amounted to prevail upon the owners to take back their nearly 5s a ton. The men now admit defeat and have sent the president of their union to Madrid in the hope that he may ,mine and work it on economic lines.