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WORKMEN'S NOTES. «

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WORKMEN'S NOTES. « RENEWED MENACE IN THE COALFIELD. [By MR. WILLIAM BRACE, M-P.] I read with exceeding regret, if not dismay, in your issue of last week the opinion expressed by a leading South Wales colliery owner in the following words:—" You may depend upon it, we shall see a strike in South Wales within the next nine months." I have no doubt at all about the accuracy of your repre- sentative's statement, for such words as these have been addressed to me several times by different parties during recent days. Personally, I have rebutted with- out reservation such a fatal idea, first, because I see nothing in the situation that would warrant such a conclusion, and, secondly, were the future shrouded in the deepest gloom and doubt, it is not the policy for any man who really desires peace to assist in the creation of an atmosphere that makes the maintenance of industrial peace almost a miracle. I have always held that the greatest enemies any nation can possibly have within her gates are the people who propagate the theory or doctrine that war between given nations is inevitable. It is this doctrine that is the first cause of the really heartbreaking burden of arma- ments that nations have to carry in these days. It is not so very long ago since it was preached with much confidence that war between Britain and Russia was inevitable. Then war between Britain and France was given a turn, and now it is Germany. A little ordinary business commonsense would save us no end of unliappiness and expenditure, speaking from the nation's standpoint; and the possession and exercise oi the same attri- bute would be most valuable among those interested in the South Wales coal indus- try at the present time. Danger of Fatalism. I say with strong conviction that if leading South Wales colliery owners are going to hypnotise themselves into the belief, or allow anyone else to hypnotise them to accept the belief, that a stoppage of work at the beginning of next year is inevitable, then a stoppage will assuredly follow. It is a peculiar, and. perhaps, mysterious, phase of human life that men cannot readily appreciate that there may be a wiser and better policy to follow than the one they have allowed themselves to drift into believing as inevitable. To talk as this colliery owner does is a form of fatalism highly dangerous to the welfare of the whole community. it only requires a few workmen's leaders to join a few leading colliery owners in the refrain that a stoppage by way of a strike or lock-out is bound to come, and it will come as surely as night follows day. If this doctrine would advantage anyone one could under- stand and forgive it, but inasmuch as it must mean disadvantage and loss, is it not time to cease such prophecies and rather preach the gospel that there is nothing in the situation to justify a stoppage any more at the beginning of next year than there was at the beginning of last July!" I have always held, and hold now, that there never will arise any question affecting Capital and Labour that cannot be settled without a stoppage of work if both parties will go into con- ference determined to find a peaceful solution of the difficulties to be faced. The real serious danger to industrial peace is when one party commences negotiations under the fixed impression that the other is out for a rupture. In such an atmo- sphere of suspicion and want of confi- dence, how can it be humanly possible to conduct negotiations to an amicable end? Inadequate Haulage Underground. The coalowners' discontent over the shorter hours Act of Parliament I do not propose at this juncture to discuss, but it may be of interest to mention that many colliers complain about shortness of trams, and some of the most level-headed among them reluctantly suggest that everything is not being done that could be to give them the opportunity to send out as much coal in the shorter-hour shift as they did when longer hours were worked. Whether it is part of an agreed- upon policy to have a reduced output for the time being, so that Governments may be warned off dealing with measures of this character in future, or that it is desirable to demonstrate to the public that the coalowners were correct in their contention that a reduced out-put was bound to follow a reduction of working hours I do not venture an opinion, but the fact remains that given clearance the colliers at many collieries could send to bank more coal than they have been doing for the weeks the Act has been in operation, and to the degree that the management can rectify this the com- plaint about output will pass away. I note the hauliers are being blamed in a general way for this, but instead of making general charges, which are so diffi- cult to reply to, it would be fairer to par- ticularise, so that a proper investigation could be undertaken. In many collieries the hauliers haul by the ton as the colliers cut by the ton, and are as much dependent upon keeping up their output to earn wages as the colliers are. It will, therefore, be seen that to talk as if hauliers suffer no loss, however the out- put may be reduced, is not in accordance with the facts of the case. Menace to Trade. I do not propose dealing with this phase of the question further upon this occa- sion, as the point I wish to emphasise and enter a protest against is that of preach- ing a doctrine of inevitable strike at the end of March next. I am told that the fact that notices were given by* the employers last June nearly crippled all business in South Wales for months. People lived from hand to mouth. No money was spent other than for absolute necessities, and the reason why the out- side public felt so relieved when they learned the threatened stoppage had been averted lay in the hope that trade would recover itself immediately peace was assured. Yet here comes a leading colliery owner with an equally unsettling declaration, and for what? To benefit himself and his colleagues? I imagine not, for ordinary buyers of Welsh coal will not be encouraged to place contracts in a coalfield when some of its leading authorities declare, without a shadow of doubt, that that coalfield will not be in position to fulfil its obligations in a few months' time. If these are the business principles dominating some leading colliery owners upon the Cardiff Coal Exchange, one need not be surprised that it was only after years of bitter experi- ence that producers of Welsh steam coal remembered that they were not working their collieries primarily to supply foreign buyers with cheap fuel. Industrial peace, present and prospective, is as necessary a factor to secure the placing of paying con- tracts as anything one can conceive of. To threaten or suggest with confidence that a stoppage at a given date must and will ensue may be pardoned to a man who knows but little of the delicate manipu- lation essential to induce buyers to favour the South Wales coalfield with their orders, but for a leading South Wales eoacowne.r to so recklessly indulge in this is, indeed, impossible "to understand. Having done so, it will not be for him to complain if the South Wales coal trade will have to pay some penalty by wav of loss of trade because of his indiscretion.

PEMBROKESHIRE HEROES.

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