WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 31 January 1920, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS

TfTE MINING DISPUTE. SHORTAGE OF COAL. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, Jan. 28. The publication of the correspondence which has passed between the Coalmine Owners' Association and the Miners' Federation has set people speculating again concerning the big industrial trouble the pessimists have been predicting for months past. Unhappily the correspondence suggests no easy way out of the deadlock in which the owners and the miners are involved. Both parties profess to be anxious for cnother conference, and, both, no doubt, are sincere up to a certain point, but they are as far apart as ever in respect to the j constitution of the Conference and its I methods of procedure. The owners wish to have nothing to do with the Alliance of Labor, which they regard as a disturbing element and the very antithesis of conciliation, while the men refuse to move without the recognition of this body. APPEAL' TO THE GOVERNMENT. The City Council last night, moved by the menace of the coal shortage, which would very seriously interfere With the trams and other essential municipal services, resolved to ask the Government to take immediate action to "terminate the I present intolerable position" and to | show both parties "the interests of the community must be paramount." Of course this is all very fine and large and it would be a great relief to the comI munity if Mr. Massey and his colleagues ' could terminate the present tension by a wave of the Ministerial wand. But the j trouble is accentuated by the fact that a considerable number of men have left ' the mines and tak&t to other employment. These cannot be ordered back and some months would elapse before their places could be filled'by efficient hands. WATCHING DEVELOPMENTS. The Prime Minister is watching the position carefully and will be prepared to act with promptitude and decision should the necessity arise. It has been represented to him that as Minister of Railways J**' should be exercising further economies by cutting down the train services and so releasing further supplies of fuel for private use. But just now the railways are in the midst of their busiest season and very grave loss and serious inconvenience would be inflicted upon the community if the services were reduced during the next three or four months. This may be necessary in spite of all the efforts of the authorities, but the railways, being among the most essential industries of the country, must be kept running in the general interests as long as the conditions will allow. | ■ \ : THE OUTLOOK. The man in the street is tlio only person' who talks freely of the fuel and transport troubles that are threatening. Ministers and minor politicians, mine owners and miners, even shippers and waterside workers remain strangely reticent. There is, however, a very uncomfortable feeling abroad. Though the differences between Capital and Labor are not very well defined, there is an atmosphere of unrest pervading all their relations. The men complain chiefly of th'o additional cost of living being far ahead of the increase in their wages, and of a lack of sympathy on the part of the employers and the Government with their efforts to improve their position. But it still is safe to say the rank and file of the workers have no desire for industrial strife. If it comes it will not bo of their seeking.