COAL TRADE DISPUTE.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 March 1919, Page 6

COAL TRADE DISPUTE.

AVOIDING A SIGHT. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, March 11. Action in the coal trade dispute is suspended pending a further conference between the executive of the Mineowners' Association and the executive of the Miners' Federation. This conference was to have been held on Wednesday, but it has been postponed until Thursday owing to some of the delegates being unable to reach the city before that day Work in the meantime is reported to be proceeding normally at the various mines. The parties are very reticent about the situation. The position seems to be that they can reach agreement regarding the demands made originally by the Blackball miners; but there is a deadlock on the question of the reinstatement of certain men who arc alleged by the miners to have been ">.'.- timised" owing to their connection with the Miners' Union. The indications are that there will be a settlement. An important factor is the apparent desire of both parties to avoid a fight at the present juncture.

The conference that is to be held on Thursday has been called at the instance- of the Government, and it is understood that the Minister for Mines (Hon. W. D. S. MacDonaM) and the Minister for Labor (Hon. W. H. Herries) will take a hand in the proceedings. It is no secret that the mine-owners regard the intervention of the Government in this dispute and similar disputes with a certain amount of suspicion. They consider that the Government shows a tendency to seek peace at any price.