The Coal Strike

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 212, 6 March 1912, Page 5

The Coal Strike

THE MINIMUM .WAGE. * THE PREMIER'S DENIAL. MINERS MAKE MERRY. THOUSANDS OF TRADEMEN RENDERED DDLE. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. London, March 4. The min«s spent the week-end at football matches,-picture theatres, music halls and coursing matches. Many Derbyshire miners are visiting the seaside. Two thousand five hundred daily trains have been withdrawn. There is a vast accumulation of pro- ' visions in London warehouses, and , people are ordering heavy supplies of tinned meats, fruit and flour. Fifteen London stations on the SouthEastern line will close to-morrow. Six hundred ponies in Yorkshire and Derbyshire mines have been ( brought to the surface, some for the first time for twenty years. Replying to Mr. Bonar Law, the Premier denied the statement by Mr. Davis, a strike delegate, that the Government would soon make themselves responsible for a minimum wage for all industries. He said he was not in the habit of having sly flirtations with Socialism. An obstacle to a settlement was the amount of the minimum wage. Owners raised a number of formidable objections to the men's schedule, and urged that many pits would have to be closed. It was impossible that the Government should ask Parliament to coerce the owners into, accepting the very figure of the minimum wage. He warned miners of the enormous responsibility! of entering upon the course they had determined on. The Government felt compelled to pursue a rigorous examination of the figures given by both parties. Trains sufficient to transfer 20,000 troops are ready at Aldershet for an immediate start. Sevent thousand engine-builders and others at Swindon, 5000 founders at Leeds, 2000 shipyard hands at Jarrow, and 1000 potters in the Midlands have been rendered idle. , The Premier's statements to-day regarding a complete deadlock were awaited with the keenest interest. Mr. G. Roberts, Labor Whip, declares that the miners were justified in demanding the incorporation in the Minimum Wage Bill of rates representing the basis of what they believed to be right. He appealed to the workers to avoid violence. The speaker denounced the sifffragist demonstration in the West End as a combination of hysteria and hooliganism.

350,000 WORKMEN IDLE. RAILWAYMEN THREATEN TO STRIKE. MINERS BREAK FAITH. Received 6, 1.15 a.m. London, March 5. Three hundred and fifty thousand men in various industries are idle. These include 108,000 in the North of England, 62,000 in the Midlands, 70,000 in Wales, fIOW in the Eastern Counties, 20,000 in the South of England, and 70,000 in Scotknd. The Industrial Council discussed the miners' crisis for two hours, and then adjourned. Seven hundred trains are suspended in Manchester. The railwaymen at Doncaster resolved to strike if the Government threatens to coerce the miners. Similar resolutions will be moved at other railway centres. The railwaymen at Neasden have appealed for a national railwaymen's strike in order to support the miners. Some Derbyshire miners are wearying of the strike. Miners in North Wales are dissatisfied with, the minimum of 6s feed by the Federation, instead of 7s, and threaten to resume. Contrary to the Federation's recommendation, the miners refused to allow several collieries in Northumberland to be kept in order. Miners at Whitburn and Durham refused to permit ventilation or pumping of water from the pits or the feeding of 400 ponies.

BELGIAN MINERS' DEMANDS. Brussels, March 4. The Miners' Federation demand an all-round advance. WHAT THE MEN ARE ASKING. AN INTRICATE PROBLEM. It is understood that the miners define the meaning of the minimum wage, for which they have struck, as follows: 1. The descending of the pit and the remaining at the coal face to do a day's work shall establish the right of a workman to receive the average wage of the district.

2. A committee, consisting of an equal number of representatives, chosen by the owner and the workmen, shall be appointed in every district to consider an 4 determine any disputes as to wages and working places.

3. The only exemptions from the payment of the average wages of a district shall be in the ease of workmen who, by reason of age or physical infirmity, are unable to do a full day's work. Local committees to be formed to deal with points raised by either 6ide regarding the working of a minimum wage ecale.

Exemption from any mimium wage arrangement to extend not only to men incapacitated by age or infirmity, but to habitual malingerers, and men who do not put in some agreed percentage of time; the measure of a day's work to be judged by an agreed number of tubs covering normal and abnormal places.

The coalowners in many parts, however, have asserted that the way out of the difficulty is not by way of the minimum wage, but by an adequate scheme to deal with the hardship complained o& by the men, asd admitted by the employers—work in abnormal placei. "Let the men," say the colliery proprietor*, "Jrfm with us in devising a method to deal with these exceptions." One great difficulty in arranging a settlement will be in reconciling the varying demands of the separate districts. Some idea of what this involves will be from the following particulars:— Scotland.—Firemen at least 6s per shift; roadmen at least 5s lOd per shift; all other oncost workmen at least 5s 9d per shift. Yorkshire.— Hewers, 8s for all men who have worked at the coal face two years; datal men of various classes, <ss <M per day; ehargcmen, 7s 6d. Lancashire.—Hewers, 7s per day, exclusive of lamps, tools anil explosives. Derbyshire.—Hewers, 8s per day, or an advance of about 5d on current rates. Notts—Hewers, 8s 3d and 7s 9d for all men working at the coal face. Derbyshire (South).—Hewers, 7s 6d, 6« 6d and 6s, according to the class of work. ,

Wales (North).—Hewers 4s Bs, plus 50 per cent.; shifters, 4s, plus 50 per cent; surfacemen, 3s 4d, plus 50 per cent. Wales (South).—Hewers, 8s per day; haulers, 7s; banksmen, 7s; screeners, ss; shifters, 6s <sd. Equal to an advance of from lOd to Is 3d per day. Northumberland.—Hewers, 6s 6d, ex-, elusive of all tools, lamp 3 and explosives; atonemen, onsetters, chargemen, 6s 6d (including 30s per cent). Durham.—Hewers, 7s per day; fillers, 7s <M; stonemeri, 6s 2d; wastemen, 4s 10% d; shifters, Ss l%d; screeners, 4s 9d.