The Daily News. MONDAY, APRIL 4, 1921. BRITISH INDUSTRIAL CRISIS.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 April 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, APRIL 4, 1921. BRITISH INDUSTRIAL CRISIS.

According to present indications, Britain is faced with an industrial crisis that may develop into one of great magnitude. Again it is the coal miners who are starting the trouble, arid they have appealed to the Triple Alliance for active support, and the leaders of the railwaymen and transporters have declared the dispute to be the first engagement in a prolonged struggle on the wages reduction question, which affects all workers. The reduetion of miners’ wages is not due to any desire on the part of the mine-owners to obtain larger profits, but to the fact that the price of coal has fallen to a point that will not allow of the recent rate of wages being continued unless the collieries are worked at a loss. Knowing this, the miners have advanced the demand that, not only should the State subsidise the industry to provide means to pay wages greater than coal could at present yield, and the profits of the industry should be pooled, in order that pits which worked at' a loss should be subsidised. To this extraordinary demand the President of the Board of Trade (Sir Robert Horne) replied that it was impossible for the Government to subsidise coal, adding that other great industries were in an even worse position than the coal industry, many workers being unable to obtain employment at all. The miners thereupon decided to strike, a last effort to avert the withdrawal of the men, including the pump workers, proving a failure. If the strike were confined to the miners it could be viewed with equanimity, as large stocks of coal are in hand; but the fear of reduced wages is apparently obsessing the workers generally, as evidenced by the statement made by the president of the Transport Workers’ Federation, to the effect that “this is not only a miners’ question, but will affect us in the same way, because it is an attempt to «e.vei’t Ue dwtmt, WOliMtioa

scheme instead of the national system.” In addition, the decontrol of the railways takes effect in August, and the railwaymen’s leaders contend that it is in their interest to join the miners’ fight; so it is understood the railways will be held up so far as coal is concerned. Manifestly if the coal and transport services cease there will be scarcely an industry that will not have to close down, and the result of hundreds of. thousands of men being unemployed may bring about a situation without parallel. It is stated that those who go on strike will not be entitled to unemployment pay, as it is a trade dispute. The miners angrily resent this decision, but its logical force is irresistible. The position of affairs is most deplorable, and the outlook, may well create anxiety- Every effort has been made by the Government to compose the unfortunate differences that have arisen, and even Mr. Ramsay Macdonald has warned the miners that a strike now would be disastrous for the Labor movement; but these headstrong and persistent malcontents refuse to listen to reason, and appear to be rushing towards disaster, regardless of consequences to themselves and the rest of the community. It may readily be imagined that after having acquired habits of extravagance when in receipt of abnormally high wages, the miners do not relish having a curtailment made. They will, however, find their position when on strike, with only the small pittance of strike pay, all the more acute. The crisis has certainly demonstrated the folly of Government subsidies which create more complex evils than they alleviate. There is every indication that the men are being treated with commendable firmness; but it would seem that every concession offered merely emboldens them to increase the extravagance of their demands. This phase of mining disputes is not confined to Britain. We have it here in New Zealand. Freedom of action must always be subservient to law and order; and it is the. duty of every Government to govern, and not to be flouted by a section of the people.