WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 5 February 1920, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE COAL SHORTAGE PREMIER WATCHING THE POSITION (Special Correspondent ) Wellington, Feh. 2. The Prime Minister's reply to the representations made to him by the Wellington City Council in regard to the coal shortage will bring little comfort to the long-sull'ering consumers. Mr. Massey_ says he is "closely watching the position with a view to securing a satisfactory solution of the present difficulty," but the opinion of the many people without coal is that the time for merely watching has past and that the time for effective action has emphatically come. Mr. Massey has been urging the employers to meet the miners, but so far he has not pressed them to waive their objection to the Alliance of Labor being represented at the conference, and as the men are insisting upon I thi9 point the negotiations appear to be little 'further ahead than they were at the termination of the abortive conference some months ago. COAL BY THE POUND. While both parties remain obstinate on ; this question of principle and policy j nine-tenths of the citizens of Wellington are suffering more or less severely I from the shortage of fuel. Fortunately the weather has taken a turn for better during the last week or two and | people who can afford to cook and wash with gas have managed to get along well enough. But there are not many three or four-roomed cottages, such as are occupied by the less fortunate workera, equipped with gas cookers and gas •boilers, and if there were the cost would be a very serious drain upon the resources of their occupants. These people are getting along as best they can with a dole of a few pounds of coal a month, grudgingly supplied from the State coal depot, wliich seems to be receiving much smaller supplies than are the private yards. THE WELFARE LEAGUE INTERVENES. The Welfare League, which appears to have found a congenial occupation in lecturing the employers and the workers with admirable impartiality, takes the coal mine owners and the miners in hand this morning. It shows no leaning towards either side. Indeed, it appears disposed to pronounce a plague upon both the disputing parties, but it calls upon Mr. Arbucklp. the secretary of the Miners' Federation, to reconcile the statement he made the other day to the effect 1 hat the miners' wages were averaging only £2 5s sid with the statement he made some months ago to till ffffci, that they were averaging £3 17a a week Very naturally the League wants to know, on let alf' of the puh'ic, if the decline from £.'! Its is due to the ''go-slow" policy c some further disability piaccd upon the men lry the employers Now it is Mr Arbueklc's tarn tj speak. DISTURBING INFLUENCES. The New Zealand miners are not likely to 'be brought to a more conciliatory mood 'by the demands of the Australian Coal Miners' Federation, which are published in the papers this morning. On the other side the men want a six-hours' day, five working days a week, the abolition of the contract system, a fortnight's holiday on pay, and practically every other concession demanded by the Federation here. A scarcely iess disturbing influence is the determination of the Wellington Typographical Union to cancel its registration under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act. Since the passage of the first conciliation and arbitration measure, the printers and illlied tradesmen have been among its most faithful supporters. Now, after more than a quarter of a century's experiences of its operation, an important section of them are breaking away. All this is winning credence for the predictions of a labor deluge.