SERIOUS OUTLOOK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 September 1938, Page 7

SERIOUS OUTLOOK

THE COAL STRIKE THREAT IN AUSTRALIA UNEASINESS IN INDUSTRIAL CIRCLES CONTENTIONS OF THE MINERS By Telegraph —Press Association. Copyright. SYDNEY, September 7. The miners’ decision in favour of a general strike in the coalfields, to begin on Friday, unless there is mediation in the meantime, is creating uneasiness in business and shipping circles. The popular feeling had been that the coal miners were “bluffing.” Th 6 situation has not taken on a different complexion, and all industries using coal are much perturbed. Most of the gas companies have from two to three months’ supplies of coal. A prominent coal-owner declared today that the miners’ action had created an intolerable position. They had been taking one day off a' week for several weeks, thus reducing output by 20 per cent. Their claim for a six-hour day, bank to bank, would in reality work out at a four-hour day, and, if all their demands were granted, the additional cost a ton, he said, would be 10s. The Leader of the Federal Opposition, Mr Curtin, is urging the Prime Minister, Mr Lyons, to intervene and convene a conference of the parties “with a view to avoiding a grievous ultimate loss, irrespective of whether the strike succeeds or fails.” The number of mine workers and their dependants who are likely to be affected will be 100,000, 80 per cent of whom are in New South Wales. Miner’s officials stated last night that there is no alternative but to strike, as the replies of the mine-owners and the State Governments to their ultimatum were most unsatisfactory, and the Federal Government merely formally acknowledged the letter. MR LYONS’S APPEAL MINERS ASKED TO SETTLE BY ARBITRATION. (Recd This Day, -11.10 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. The Federal Premier, Mr J. A. Lyons, said he could not adopt Mr Curtin’s suggestion that the Federal" Government should intervene. He appealed to the miners to settle the dispute by arbitration. There appears to be some doubt about the position of miners in other States. Although the Victorian Branch of the Miners’ Federation is prepared for a long stoppage, members have not yet been instructed that they must begin a general strike on Friday. It is doubtful whether the Queensland miners will strike. If they do, it will not be until after Monday, when stop-work meetings will be held. The coal miners in Tasmania, despite their objection as individuals to a general strike, apparently are to be forced into a Commonwealth-wide strike. The men on the Tasmanian fields do not attempt to conceal their objection to a cessation of work. FEDERAL INQUIRY DEMANDED BY MINER’S FEDERATION SYDNEY, September 7. The Miner’s Federation announced today that nothing short of a Federal inquiry would ward off the strike which will begin at the week-end. No good purpose would be served by a conference with the colliery proprietors. Mr J. C. McCann, chairman of the Northern Collieries’ Association, tonight deprecated the suggestion of Federal intervention while the Arbitration Courts were open to the men whose present award was not expiring until August next year. Colliery proprietors, he said, saw no reason why the coalminers should, under threat of direct action, be provided with a special tribunal.