The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1920. THE "GO-SLOW" REVIVAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 September 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1920. THE "GO-SLOW" REVIVAL.

Apparently the West Coast miners consider they have the power to force the coal owners to agree to\any terms and conditions the miners lay down. The position in the Dominion with regard to coal supplies is that the supplies havenot -sufficed to enable any reserves to be accumulated. In fact, but for the enforced system of rationing the public, whereby great inconvenience has been caused, the main industries and transport services would be in serious danger ' of curtailment, and possibly of a temporary stoppage. The present dispute is too trumpery to serve any purpose except that of Labor domination by direct action; it merely concerns the question of what was the amount of the rate of pre-war pay, a matter that was considered to have been settled by the Disputes Committee in June, but has been revived by the miners as a means of forcing the Government to make the Taratu and Green Island companies observe the national agreement, which they deny they are breaking. To all intents and pprposes the coal miners are at war with the rest of the community, and the question to be settled is whether this small section of the industrial workers, is to bo allowed to carry out with impunity tactics that will penalise the whole country and cause losses that are wholly" preventable i and unjustifiable. The adoption of harsh measures cannot be contemplated except as a last resource, yet it Would seem that the time lias arrived when the needs of the country demand that arbitrary action on the part of the miners should be met with firmness and determination, and the gauntlet of a handful of irresponsibles taken up by the rest of the community. The inconvenience and loss wpuld be grievous, but if they effected the desired cure —the bringing about of settled industrial conditions—they would be justified.