The Coal Strike

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 211, 5 March 1912, Page 5

The Coal Strike

EXPECTED TO END BY THURSDAY. HOLIDAY SPIRIT PREVAILING. COMPULSORY ARBITRATION " DECRIED. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. London, March 3. Owing to the strike the steamer Orontes arranged to ship 1000 tons of coal at Plymouth. The coal porters demanded double pay, and the concession was granted. A feature of the strike in South Wales and elsewhere is the miners' determination to maintain order. A holiday spirit prevails. There are 23,000 industrial workers idle at Swansea. Yesterday the Newcastle branch of the Railway Servants' Society asked the society to decline to handle trains conveying troops during the strike. The duration of the strike is estimated at from a week to a fortnight. Mr. Williams, member for Swansea, said he expected the strike would be mutually settled on Thursday. Mr. Harvey, member for Derby, speaking at Clowne, said he would always fight against compulsory arbitration, which had absolutely failed in Australia. Mr. Ure, Lord Advocate of Scotland, speaking at Exeter, said he hoped the strike would be mutually settled; otherwise the Government would not shirk its responsibility to give legislative effect to the minimum wage. The real difficulty was thai the men wished to fix a certain amount and refused to discuss the situation. He thought that on reflection they would not adhere to that position, lest they lose the country's support. The Great Central Railway Company yielded to the Sheffield manufacturers' appeal, and has delivered coal to them.

TRAIN SERVICE REDUCED. EFFECT ON TRADE. MIXERS ADHERE TO DEMANDS. Received 5, 12.50 a.m. London, March 4^ The leaders of the miners, in making speeches in different parts of the country, firmly adhere to the proposed schedule of minimum rales. The London train services have oecn seriously reduced. A merchant trading to Australia has been compelled to place an order with Germany instead of Wolverhampton. Baling hoops for wool, and other orders usually executed at Staffordshire, have gone to Germany, Belgium, the United States or Canada. Many manufacturers in Manchester are availing themselves of electricity instead of coal. Outward chartering of vessels is at a standstill at Liverpool, Cardiff, Glasgow and Newcastle. Little credence is attached to the statement of Davis, one of the miners' delegates to the London conference, in a speech at Ebbwvale, that the Premier, in a speech to the miners on the 29tb, declared that the day was not far distant when the Government would make themselves responsible for a minimum wage to all workers in the country. Sixty thousand steel and other workers are idle in the West of Scotland.

THE EFFECT IN AUSTRALIA. Received 5, 12.20 a.m. Sydney, March 4.' The English strike is causing nervousness in commercial circles. Values are extremely firm, in anticipation of advances. THE FAR-REACHING EFFECTS. Christiana, March 3. Two thousand industrial workers at Sharpsburg have been rendered idle through the British coal strike. ===== ,