BRITISH COAL STRIKE.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 April 1921, Page 2

BRITISH COAL STRIKE.

TRANSPORTERS’ PRIVATE MEETING LORD DERBY’S ADVICE. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. London, April 6 Four hundred delegates representing 35 unions, which comprise the Transporters’ Federation, are meeting privately. They considered sectional and district reports and adjourned until Wednesday after issuing an official disclaimer of the Press reports regarding the alleged decision of the dockers’ executive to withdraw all' labor if the triple alliance decided on downing tools, which they declare are without foundation. Lord Derby, addressing Liverpool commercial men, advocated a month’s extension of the coal control order to prevent the extension of the strike and to enable the public to become fully enlightened on the situation. The public paid and suffered and ought to be the arbitrators.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. DISORDERS IN LANARKSHIRE. London, April 5. Large bands of Scottish miners, led by pipers are forcing the absolute closing of the .pits in Lanarkshire. Five hundred overpowered the police guard at West Benhar, injuring four. They also attacked emergency workers, smashed the machinery, and left 25 pit ponies to their fate. GOVERNMENT POLICY CRITICISED. POLIOE BESIEGED. London, April 5. Mr. Thomas, in the House of Commons, said that there was a genuine feeling in the miners’ minds that the Government was guilty of a breach of faith in de-controlling the mines at the end of March, instead of, The workers believed that this was a determined effort to reduce the standard of living. Mr. Thomas condemned those who said the fight should be fought to a “finish. If this policy was adopted, whoever won the nation would certainly lose. The House of Lords adopted a resolution bringing into operation the regulations under the Emergency Ppwers Act. «• A mob of miners severely mauled the manager of Cowdenbeath, Fifeshire, who refused to desist from. work|ing the pumps. A large force of police used batons and rescued the manager. The strikers then hoisted the Red Flag, collected in thousands/ and are now besieging the police. The situation is becoming critical. In the House of Commons, Sir Robert Horne said that, as the result of the last strike, Britain had been robbed of many markets and the present threat had resulted in manf" orders going to America. The miners had refused to discuss wages with the owners, but had demanded a Government subsidy. The present controversy was not about rates, but whether the country was to come to the assistance of the coal trade, involving the expenditure of ten millions a year. He could think of nothing more pernicious to an industry which as a whole had a better chance than other industries. Pooling would . destroy individual enterprise; the alternative was the payment of district rates. The suggestion that de-control should be suspended for a month offered no solution. He appealed to the miners to reconsider the situation. —Aus.-N.'Z. Cable Assn.

.MR. .CLYNES’ ADVICE. London, April 5. Continuing the discussion in the House of Commons, Mr. Clynes slated that the struggle cofild be fought out, but it would be better to think it out, and he urged the Government to bring the parties together. Intolerable reductions had been proposed in the miners’ wages, amounting in some cases to 50 per cent. The Government ought to have insisted on the two parties coming together before de-control was introduced. He insisted that there must either be nationalisation or some method of unification with Government control. MR. ASQUITH’S COMPROMISE? London, April 5. In the House of Commons, Mr. Asquith x urged that some steps be taken to avert an overwhelming national disaster. Further deliberations between the parties, with the assistance of the Government, might show that the gap between the national and district wage basis was not so unbridgeable as it appeared. He could conceive of accepting the principle of a national standard, while providing for elastic variations in accordance with local conditions. The essential preliminary to any discussion was that the mines should -not be destroyed. He was in almost complete agreement with Sir Robert Horne regarding the cessation of the control of the mines and the impossibility of the State calling upon the taxpayers to maintain the solvency of any particular industry by means of a public subsidy.

CHEAP GERMAN COAL. * London, April 5. Offfei’s of steam coal at 54s per ton c.i.f. have been received at Liverpool from the Ruhr district. PITS LEFT TO THEIR FATE.. PUMPING STOPPED. London, April 5. There is an increasingly ugly temper, especially among the younger men. The pumps in the naval collieries at Penycaraig have been abandoned and the pits left to their fate in consequence of the miners threatening the officials. The men’s leaders also warned officials tending the pumps in the Cambrian collieries, Mid-Rhondda, that if they crossed the bridge to the collieries in future the leaders would not -be responsible for the consequences.

Thousands of miners went in procession o the pitheads at the Ocean collieries ,t Cwmparc and demanded the cessaion of .pumping, which was accordingly bandoned.

Headed by a piper, a party of young miners marched to the Leven collieries, Fifeshire, and demanded that the furnaces be put out in ten minutes. The agent protested'that the ponies were still underground, but the miners insisted that the pumpers should be withdrawn.

The Wellesley colliery, which has rich seams under the Firth of Forth, will also be out of action for several months. —4tu.*XZ, Cable Awn.