TROUBLESOME AGITATORS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 158, 3 January 1912, Page 5

TROUBLESOME AGITATORS.

COAL TRADE INCUBUS. By Telegraph—Press Association. Sydney, January 2. Mr. John Brown, a well-known colliery proprietor, speaking at Newcastle, attributed the strikes amongst miners to the delegates. The men were keeping too many idle delegates. They sat and created trouble day after day. Sometimes after conferences they never put the decisions reached before the men. They were like a lot of Kilkenny cats. He also complained of Government interference. If the Government made laws they should carry them out. It was unfair for the Government to act as a shield for the men against the law. It was time miners thought for themselves and did not let the delegates think 'for them. Everybody in Australia had been taking coal lately because there were rumors of a strike. An alteration of the methods of settling disputes must be made, or the district would go down. People must insist on the Government saying that strikes must be a thing of the past. If the men were determined to create strikes the proprietor should demand that the Government, instead of taking the part of the men, must give the proprietor protection. He would then guarantee to work the pits.