LABOUR TROUBLES.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3583, 20 September 1920, Page 5

LABOUR TROUBLES.

S 3KITISH COAL CRISIS. THE LABOUR VIEW. LONDON, Sept. 17. Mr Smillie asked why shotild the miners begin ,to increase the ou put for the purpose of increasing wages] when the Government were s already j

getting money to pay the increase, adding that unless the increase were conceded the miners' oilier proposals need not be . considered,, and they would have to recommen-d .he miners' conference on Tuesday that a strike should take place. Sir R. S. Home remarked that he thought it would not be difficult to find a basis on which increased wages should be obtained, having relation to larger output.

Mr Smillie added that they refused to consider Sir R. S. Home's proposal to set up-an Industrial Board to. endeavour to increase the output of coal unless an advance of 2/ were given. Sir R: S. Home said he had ascertained that the colliery owners were willing to meet miners to discuss the question of output, and {urged the miners to meet the employers on this question. He declared that all their efforts should now be to avoiding a conflict, which would be very disastrous, and he begged the miners to meet him again on Monday, o which Mr Smillie agreed.

The official report ofto-day's coal Conference shows that' discussion revolved round the question of increased output. Sir Robert Home said any increased output of coal would necessarily entail a review of the whole situation. His' idea was that for all tons got above a certain basis line miners should get an advance that would be a direct incentive.

Mr Smillie said the miners had abandoned the claim that their two points were indivisible. Now Sir Robert Home was trying ito make them believe they were actually quarrelling about the question of increased output. It was nothing of the kind.

NO COMPROMISE

SITUATION EXTREMELY GRAVE;

Received 8.45. a.m.

LONDON", Sept. .18.

Owing to the fact that the Coal Confex*ence adjourned with Mr. Smil.l- - ie's uncompromising insistence on an immediate 2/-, increase per shift, the situation is again generally regarded as one of extreme gravi.y. Some circles believe that the miners will push their dfctaste for an. enquiry to the extreme a strike. AfteV the conference, members of the Miners' Executive declared that 1 if the Government had said the -last word upon the wages question, a strike was inevitable. Sir R. S. Home says the questions of wages and increased output are inseparable. Hitherto, every fresh advance in wages had been Jinked up with a diminished output 1 , because it was declared that every increase merely stimulated a greater number of men to absent themselves from work. He desired to raise the output to the prewar level of 287,0.00,000 tons, which he beiieves* is easily attainable, see-, ing that two hundred thousand more men are employed than was the case in 1914. It was significant that the sub-committee of the Triple Alliance met after the Conference and] discussed arrangements for co-ordinate action in the event of a strike.

The Coal Association, in a statement on the coal crisis, says that hewers' wages for the period of June show that the first group averaged over £2O weekly, the second group £ls weekly, the third group £l2, and the fourth group £lO. y

THE ITALIAN CRISIS.

AN AGREEMENT REACHED. Received 9.35 a.m. ROME, Sept. 19. An agreement haTTUeen' reached by Milan manufacturers granting- four lire per day to adult workers and increases of eighty per cent, to t'hose under twenty years of age, and sixty per to women and children. Several factories havejjbeen evacuated and the red and blaclF flags everywhere lowered. Shots were fired at the Rome-Milan express train near Roveredo, severely wounding a woman and a child. NO SATURDAY WORK. IRONWORKERS HOLD OUT. Receive?! 10.50 a.m. SYDNEY," This day. Boilmakers and engineers at work in private firms and Government dockyards on Saturday, and a number of stovemakers remained adament, although, the Stovemakers' Union de cided'that members should wwk on Saturdays. The Union is asking for a forty-eight hour week rates of pay for forty-four hours ? work, and encouraging no Saturday work by giving rebates '.n contributions of members who do not work on Saturdays.