THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1912. THE COAL TROUBLE.
Immense interest is being taken in the coal trouble in the Old Country, and the prospects of a general coal strike'are'naturally creating alarm in commercial circles. "The Midlands," (recently wrote the special correspondent of The Times), "are the coal producing counties which lie east of Wales and south oif Cheshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire. In this wide stretch of country there are -about 180,000 miners. The Forest of T>ean, the Bristol district, and the county of Somerset, on the Western border, account for some 10,000. In the east
there are the counties of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, with about 40,000 and 35,000 men respectively, and also Leicestershire, with about (5000. In the centre is the Midland Federation area, with nearly 40.000 men, of whom from 10,000 to 12.000 are found, in each case, in North Staffordshire, the Cannock Chaso district of Staffordshire, and Warwickshire. Ths conditions ci working, the cost of production, and even the expenses of living vary so greatly in these counties that the minimum wage agitation has-" many-phases. The .Uidhuids, in this---respect, are a microcosm of Great Britain. The minimum wages demanded differ very considerably. The Forest of Dean, Bristol and Somerset, apparently, would be content with about 6s a day. Cannock Chase and North Staffordshire are asking for 7s 1-Jd— a curious figure, arrived at, I am told, by taking as the basis the old holers' "stint" allowance of 4 s Tkl, and adding to it the 50 per cent, advances secured since 1888. Warwickshire and other parts of Staffordshire, as well as the small colliery districts in Shropshire and Worcestershire, demand 7s. Then we come, in a rising scale, to 7s 2d in Leicestershire, 7s Gd in Derbyshire, and 7s 9d in Nottinghamshire. It should be explained that these are the proposed rates for "stallmen," that is, the skilled miners who contract to get the coal at "piece" rates of so much a ton. They generally work two, but sometimes three, in a stall or bank, and are assisted by getters, holers, fillers, and loaders, who are practically in their employment, and are paid at fixed rater of ss,' 6s, or 7s a shift. The stallmen receive payment for all the coal-sent up from their stalls, and after'' remunerating their assistants, divide the balance among themselves. If through any circumstance this balance proves to be less than the amount desired as the daily minimum, they hold that it should be made up to that amount. At the present time it is the general custom for the employers to make some extra allowancies for abnormal places, but the men i condemn this voluntary system as un- | satisfactory. The Midland Counties possess one characteristic in coinmon: _ Until' recently the,miners hppiHl,,■«r4 apparently. with some reason, /that the minimum wage 'question,'"so ' far as they were'concerned, would", be settled by agreement. Negotiations have been taking place for several months past between the coalowners and the men's representatives, and as a rule they have been conducted in a conciliatory spirit. Warwickshire, as we know, actually agreed upon a -minimum of 7s at.the end of November.! A Httle later the men's leaders in Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire publicly declared that they were in hopes that a settlement would be effected. While in Warwickshire the problem has been solved, in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire the minimum wage agitation, is somewhat illusory- 'Minimum rates have actually been secured for abnormal places. And, after all, when miners speak of aimmimum wage they usually mean a-minimum, for abnormal places and abnormal conditions, since in normal circumstances men expect to earn considerably . more than the amount >"of the minimum fate.
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Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10569, 27 February 1912, Page 4
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611THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1912. THE COAL TROUBLE. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10569, 27 February 1912, Page 4
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