The Daily News. FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1920. THE COAL IMPASSE.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 January 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1920. THE COAL IMPASSE.

The longer the dispute between the coal owners and the miners remains unsettled the more accentuated becomes the position as it affects the industrial activities of the country, transport, lighting and heating. The public are proverbially long suffering, but there are limits even to philosophic endurance. A recent discussion of the situation by the Wellington City Council, more particularly with reference to the effect on the tramways, brought to light several features worthy of notice, one of the most important being that, since Christmas, seventy men had left Deniston, and there were at the present time a good many vacant houses in the mining districts. It was stated that the only men staying were those who could not get away; that_ the talk about the miners making one or two pounds a day was all nonsense, as men in the State mines could not make ten: shillings a day, apart from the bonus, because the coal was so hard to workj that the mem were: leaving the mines and. abtaaniia-gri I better- wages elsewhere)? that the average pay -was; two> and! sixpence per toa j that peGgle) vrera

paying £6 a ton and getting bad coal; and that an increase in the price of coal would mean higher tram fares. The Mayor pointed out that the matter had got beyond a question of the interests of private owners, or the interests )f any labor union, and this view! will meet with general endorsement, as will the Nrther statement that the posit L.i is intolerable. What is to be done? It is generally admitted that the goslow policy has been in force for some considerable time past. The miners insist on a conference with the owners, but the latter will notj meet the Alliance of Labor (which! comprises the miners, transport and waterside workers), and will only consent to confer with the local unions, which refuse to acr except through the Federation; hence the impasse. It is noteworthy that the Premier, in a recent statement, stressed the necessity of the railways having the first claim on coal supplies, not only because a stoppage of the railway services would soon cause a stoppage of other industries, but that now the war was over the people should have the boon of holiday traffic. '' We cannot cut down the railway services," remarked Mr. Massey. If that is the case, then the responsibility is on the Government of ending the present deadlock and insisting on a settlement of the coal dispute, which is penalising the whole of the community, and particularly the wage earners. Obviously the people of this country will not be content with the mere maintenance of the railway services—important as they are—nor can the Government ignore all other interests. If the real object of the Miners' Federation is to force the Government to nationalise all the coal mines, then the Premier should give a decisive reply on the matter, and the public will back him up loyally. In any event, steps must be taken to bring the dispute to an end, and it is unthinkable that the united wisdom of Cabinet cannot devise effective means to this end by conciliation or otherwise. During the war much sympathy was felt for the people in the Homeland at having to be rationed, but the necessity therefor was recognised. The people of New Zealand are now undergoing the rationing process—not because it is imperative, but owing to preventable, or remediable, circumstances. The resolution passed by the Wellington City Council was: "That, in the opinion of this council, the Government should immediately take action to terminate the present intolerable position in connection with the coal industry, and act in such a manner as will ensure adequate supplies of coal for all industrial, commercial, and domestic requirements."

This exactly represents the feeling which is general throughout the country. To defer action must inevitably make the position worse by reason of the miners seeking other employment. This aspect of the problem is not sufficiently realised, though it is extremely serious. Mining is not an ideal employment, and if the men find more congenial occupation they are unlikely to return to the mines after settling down to other work. The Government is faced with a great responsibility over the coal question, and to allow it to drift until the winter arrives would be unpardonable. Now is the time to act, and the country looks to the Government to do its best to bring about a settlement between the employers and the workers.