The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1921. THE TWO WAYS.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 May 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1921. THE TWO WAYS.

The statement that the British Premier (Mr. Lloyd George) is personally summoning the owners and miners to a new conference shows that the struggle has reached a stage calling for the calmest and most statesmanlike handling, owing to the bitterness and class strife that has been created as the result of this strike. It would certainly seem that it would bs dan gerous to allow matters to drift into an industrial revolution, and the only way in which safety lies is in the direction of hammering out an agreement. According to Brigadier-General H. Page-Croft, those who inspired the upheaval are hand and glove with the Bolsheviks. Just how far that assertion may be true can only be conjectured. It would be sheer madness on the part of the workers to even entertain for a moment the wild idea of gaining their ends by revolutionary methods. Attempted coercion, which has to be met by armed force, is a barbaric and senseless way to bridge over a labor dispute, though a sure means of accentuating bitterness and adding fuel to the flames of discontent. The only effective avenue whereby a settlement can be reached is that of common sense and mutual forbearance. No industrial dispute can be satisfactorily settled, even temporarily, except on lines that assure justice and fair dealing all round. Hence the significance of Mr. Lloyd George’s statement that “before the coal parties can be got together again the ‘never-never’ mood must evaporate,” and the Government, must have an assurance that the parties would be in a better mood to negotiate. Unless the mam object of a joint conference is to find fair ways of dealing with the dispute, so that the settlement arrived at would not only be just to both sides, but would also not be destructive to any other industry, no good will

result. It would be a suicidal policy to settle any dispute in such a wa/'that while the terms might be favorable to the workers in that particular trade or manufacture, they would cripple or destroy other industries, and it is that, important aspect’ the Government has to keep in view, especially as the main demand made by the miners—a national pool—is one that cannot be granted, though it is quite possible to devise other means for equalising the wages of the men, aid the Government is willing to help in that direction. Coal is a key industry, and as such affects most of the chief industries on which Britain and other countries depend. The miners are well .aware of this fact, and have ventured to rely on the strength of their imagined position, especially as they chose a time when unemployment was already passing hardly on those engaged in other industries, possibly in the hope of inciting a revolutionary upheaval. So far they have succeeded in causing huge losses of money, and have inflicted unavoidable hardships on themselves and others. It is now high time to put an end to this unjustifiable waste, and there appear to be indications that reason will prevail at the new conference. It may be that a' certain amount of give and take will be necessary, but if the effort at. settlement is adroitly handled it should meet with success.