THE STRIKE.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 April 1921, Page 5

THE STRIKE.

BRINK. OF THE CRATER. general upheaval probable. EXTREME ELEMENTS RESTIVE. By Telegraph.—-Press Assn.—Copyright. Received April 5, 5.5 p.m. London, April 4. At the transport workers’ executive meeting assurances were given that the unions concerned with shipping were prepared to withdraw all members if the triple alliance agreed upon a general down-tools policy. A leading transport official said that only an official effort to re-open negotiations, or a decision by the House of Commons to rescind the coal control, would prevent a general industrial upheaval in the next forty-eight hours. The railwaymen’s delegates meet tomorrow morning. The extreme elements in South Wales are -becoming restive. There was much Btone and brick-throwing in the Swansea district, in order to prevent volunteers from working, pumping or feeding the starving pit ponies.—Aus. and N.Z. {Cable Assn. A QUESTION OF WAGES. NEW OFFER AND 1914 RATES. CONTROVERSY AS TO COMPARISON. Received April 5, 5.5 p.m. London, April 4. The Miners’ Federation to-night issued E. detailed list of the proposed wages compared with 1914, which the federation allege shows a reduction varying from 11 to 49 per cent., according to the district Commenting on the list, Mr. Frank Hodges (the miners’ leader) says it tneans a reduction to below the miners’ pre-war standard of life. In view of jthe fact that the cost of living was 141 per cent, above the pre-war level, the miners would be placed in a worse position than the sweated trades. Mr. Evan Williams (president of the Coal Owners’ Association) points out that the figures of the Miners’ Federation are based on a five-days week, whereas the average week is five and a half or six days. Taking the country as a whole, the wages of the miners tinder the owners’ offer would be £2 a •week above the 1914 wages. —Aus. and N.Z. Cable Assn. EFFORTS FOR PEACE. LABOR LEADERS PARTICIPATE. Received April 5, 5.5 p.m. London, April 4. A number of Labor leaders are making an earnest effort to prevent the spread of the trouble to the triple alliance. An essential preliminary is the resumption of the coal negotiations, thus stopping hasty decisions. Among those working for peace are Mr. Will Thorne. Mr. Arthur Henderson, Mr Bowerman I and Mr. Sexton (all prominent, Labor leaders), who urge the Government to ball a conference and arrange a national Xvage agreement.—Aus. and N.Z. Cable

Assn. NAVY MEN READY. RECALLED FROM EASTER LEAVE. Received April 5. 5.5 p.m. Tiondon, April 4. Official.—All the Navy men on Easter leave have been recalled as a precaution. and N.Z. Cable Assn. GOVERNMENT TAKE OVER. TO CONTROL INDUSTRY. Received April 5, 7.55 p.m. London, April 5. .The Government, under the Emergency Sowers Act. has issued regulations emjKjwering departments to operate or control mines, transport, docks, gasworks, power stations and similar public services. —'Aus. and N.Z. Cable Assn. SHIPS IDLE AT CARDIFF. FIRMS THREATENED WITH RUIN. Received April 5, 5.5 p.m. London, April 4. Four hundred vessels are now docked Cardiff, and the number is contmutally increasing. Several firm» are hard (hit by the trade depression, and are glow threatened with ruin.—Aus. and BJ.Z. Cable Assn. TRANSPORTER’S THREAT. London, April 4. (The coal situation is increasingly threatening. The latest evidence of Hanger is that the executive of the /Transport Workers’ Federation met to night and adopted a resolution that if Government and coal-owners retrained from re-opening negotiations With the Miners’ Federation, it must its members to cease work. FLOODING THE MINES WHAT IT MEANS. A correspondent writes: •What ‘'flooding the mines* 5 entails can fcnlv be fuily understood by those who remember tne disastrous effect of flooding in South Staffordshire, the “Black Country” of mid-Victorian days. Mine after mine in the then rich coal-bearing districts around Wolverhampton, Bilfcton. Tipton and Walsall became utterly ruined by flooding. So serious did Jthe menace become that a Mines Drainage Commission was created to deal *with the whole district, as individual attempts at pumping had proved utterly (Useless. After years of labor and a jfrast expenditure of money, only those mines on the outskirts of the flooded tea were kept workable, and these only a limited extent. The result is seen in abandoned townships. and often in bad subsistences in gowns built over the flooded mine area, Jrhieh are still occupied. Many New Zealand “Diggers” will remember the camp at Cannock Chase, below which are many of the richest coal in England. Although these are hot in the worst of the “wet” area, borne of them were wet enough to necessitate the miners working in water bust-deep or more. If the flooding is (allowed to become general, it looks as (though the Staffordshire coal field will *9“ cease to exist