Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

12 articles on this Page

Miners' Federation.

News
Cite
Share

Miners' Federation. Conference at Cardiff. if A conference of the South Wales iners Federation was held at the Cory Cardiff, on Monday. There was a ftige attendance of delegates. In the Absence of Mr. W. Abraham (Mabon), the president, the chair was occu- pied by the vice-president, Mr. W. Brace, vno was supported by Mr. T. Richards, i general secretary, and the mem- eis of the Executive. .A vote of sympathy with Mr. W. tl braham (Mabon), M.P., the president of le Federation, in his illness having been Passed, the Chairman moved the following resolution: That this conference extends its heartfelt sympathy to the widows, orphans, and relatives of the victims of the Wattstown Colliery explosion, and trusts that, the public generally will Illake a generous response to the appeals made for help to enable them to bear the heavy burden that has been "nposed upon them." | his was carried unanimously. ■In moving the next resolution, "That this conference of delegates, representing the whole of the miners employed in the South Wales coalfield, call the attention of the Government to the frequency with which colliery explosions occur, causing a great loss of life, and request the Home Secretary to exercise the powers vested in him by section 45 of the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887, to order a special investi- gation into the causes and circum- stances of the Wattstown explosion, for the purpose of considering the possi- bilities of further preventive measures and any provision it is possible to make tor facilitating the efforts of rescue parties with a view of minimising their disastrous effects. Copies of this reso- lution to be sent to the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary, and the Leader of jthe Opposition," Brace said that a motion had been „anied at the previous conference in avour of the Federation of Great Britain .^coming amalgamated with the Labour ^presentation Committee, but in conse- quence of a previous resolution having !reii accepted at the annual conference the Miners' Federation at Glasgow the Motion carried by the South Wales Fede- ,ation could not become a matter of ^siness at the Bristol meeting, and if it the pleasure of this conference that be pressed forward it would be neces- \ai'y for them to confirm what they had one at their last gathering. At the ?'»tol meeting a resolution had been Pies.sed expressing belief in the principle the political independence of all Labour rj?mbers, and that all members who ?)\ght be returned under the auspices of Federation should do everything pos- .ible for the formation of a Labour group the House of Commons. Regardless the fact of what people said of the andidates running under the Federation cheme, the speaker assured the confer- that they were running as Labour ^ndidates pledged to the policy of the Ol'mation of a OBLimliamentary Labour Group. 5 the House of Commons. An under- j 1Gilding had been arrived at between the j^bour Representation Committee, the r,liainentary Committee of the Trades a0llgre.ss and the Federation of Trades Mutual working understanding under oich the whole of the Labour candidates t>ld receive the unanimous support ot ,e three (applause). i Arr. Brace then dealt with the approach- es termination of the Conciliation Board Agreement. t was necessary, he said, for the Execu- tive Council to ask for power to open Negotiations for the establishment of a ^age system to succeed the present Con- flation Board agreement, otherwise the "lalfield would find itself face to face with crisis without a settled system for the egulahon of the workmen's wages. The Ilterest of the workmen, of the employers, M of the community at large depended .Pon everybody knowing as early as pos- r< what was to be their position. The 11I IIClhatlOn Board, although an experi- eut, had succeeded beyond the most k'Siiine expectations of either side. It maintained general peace for the ha?'u Pei'i°d over which the agreement 0p oeen signed, and that was something value to everybody. There were, un- tunately, a large number of disputes a ^llieries, and many workmen were idle individual collieries at a standstill, at a¡;¡ it too much to say that they were 3 a standstill because the Conciliation fat-a' had not applied the same principles the settlement of individual disputes Hip c.°il'ei'ies as it applied for the settle- Peni the wage question? The inde- t^ent chairman had made it impossible have a general stoppage of work, io ere had been occasions when the deci- bel independent chairman had not Li11 Acceptable to one side or the other, ci G. the very fact that the independent a,iriliall had 44intained the General Peace. fOra certain number of years with regard Piin • WaSe question was proof that the to could be applied with advantage liei-6 8ettlement of disputes at the col- i(jjles- With regard to the men who were Wot e Would ask those present to go to their lodges and do their level a* to secure additional financial assist- thftf way of grants. It would be to lr interest to do so, for the men who Vi^f .fighting these battles at the indi- te a c°lliei ies were fighting battles for all Jpllei'al principles of importance to &lan engaged in the industry (ap- i.8e). They were told trade was bad. i trade might be a little depressed, ^oiin i n £ the figures of last year they W* that over ,2,000,000 tons of coal Hot \!old »ore than in 1903, and he was ^P^suaded that a, trade that could f k Measure of progress was in that to v. depression that employers ought ti, glamouring at all times for reduc- tion lln wages. Even if trade was depressed, he had yet to be per- ^ist reducing wages was going to VhcL the maintenance or creation of i, there had been periods of depres- Mce tlie Sliding Scale, when the f,ci bCoal was brought down to 8s. Mote ,,Ju(lged by that it would not pro- prosperity of trade if wages ^uced. Employers failed to re- •0 Pav1 t it was as important for them ^U-str ten.tion to the selling end of the e di/ as 't was to the producing end. t)lliopld,1 llot, think it would benefit the en's 1 s to be saving pence in the work- t ve eiv'ages at tlie time their agents l aPer 8 coal away at shillings per ton n tli Employers united to a man .r attani ",len'S! wages had to be reduced fed' hllt when they talked of ^taiir en)ployers for the purpose of p fa;!n^ Prices at a point which would fWtal ah WageB and a fair return upon said it was impossible. He, h? PrevAv,lVa^. c°nvinced that combination xn + dumping of coal on the ELU^cts 6a j on^y carrying out business action' i maintained that as much the he paid to the selling end producing end. It did not bespeak business acument to produce coal on the best scientific lines and then give it away at shillings per ton leas than it ought to be sold for (applause). In conclusion, he said it would be im- prudent for him to say what ought to be done upon the eve of a meeting with the employers. He preferred meeting the employers and arguing the matter out. The workmen would have an opportunity of making suggestions as the negotiations proceeded, and the workmen's represen- tatives on the Conciliation Board would have opportunities of consulting the dele- gates. He would not be doing justice to the delegates present, and the great body of workmen whom they represented if he did not declare that it was the unanimous conviction of the workmen of the coal- field that there could be no agreement which did not recognise the principle of a Minimum Wage. and that, there must be no reduction in the present minimum. The workmen had formed themselves into a great federation, which was worthy of all admiration. It was true that a few men had caused trouble at some collieries. Those men were much to be pitied, because they were, consciously or unconsciously, play- ing into the hands of their employers and against the interests of their class and fellows. If they were under the impres- sion that the employers had any parti- cular affection for non-Union men they had not studied human nature. He trusted that those men would be brought to see that they ought to do voluntarily what they otherwise had to be driven into in justice and fairness to their fellow-workmen (applause). Mr. D. Watts Morgan, in seconding the resolution, emphasised the importance of the step which they were taking, and said that they were convinced whatever might have been the obstacles in the way in other cases that no objection could be taken in this case, for all who were in the mine, and who might have been re- sponsible were now removed. For that reason no effort should be spared in probing it to the very bottom, for they could hurt no one's feelings. There had been three disasters between January and July-at Elba, the Cambrian, and Watts- town—and he was convinced that their mines were not in that condition they ought to be in regard to the protection of the lives and limbs of the men working in them. He believed that facilities should be given to rescue parties in the shape of the necessary implements, machinery, and appliances in every col- liery, and that these should be within easy reach. Those who had read the reports of the inquiry at the Cambrian Colliery would have seen that in 40 work- ing places 22 blowers of gas were reported in one district; and in the very district where the seat of danger was agreed upon there were 18 working places and eight blowers in that very district. Was that anything like the degree of safety that could be obtained in the mines of South Wales? No district should be in a posi- tion that there should be a blower of gas working out in every other of the working places, and if it could not be improved upon they should insist upon the adop- tion of the French style, to reduce the output in that district or stop the work altogether until the danger was removed. Under the Act of 1896 larger powers were given to the Secretary of State, but he felt convinced that very little improve- ment had followed. Throughout the whole of the South Wales coalfield, in similar collieries to those of the Rhondda, he found that 10, 12, and 14 blowers were habitually found reported by the ex- aminers, and he held that something must be done to reduce the danger. They had been recently told by an eminent mining engineer that he thought there would be something wrong with the colliery if he did not find 25 or 30 blowers reported every day. What he (Mr. Morgan) would say was that such a colliery was not safe with the lamps they had, and it was not right that any human being should be in that return at all. At Clydach Vale the question was put to the chief Mines Inspector if he had anything to suggest by way of improvement, but he said, No, the law had been fully complied with in its practical sense. All blowers had been diluted, and he had no reason to com- plain of the condition of that mine. He (Mr. Morgan) ventured to predict that so far as the provisions of the law were con- cerned they would be told about Watts- town that they had been observed, and that, there would be no blame attached to anyone. He did not blame the in- spectors, but he held that the law was too weak. He believed for that reason that the time had arrived when an indepen- dent inquiry apart from the coroner's inquest should be held, and an indepen- dent man appointed by the Home Secre- tary to probe this matter to the very bottom in order that the sacrifice of 119 valuable lives should not, have been in vain, and in order that the lives of other men might be made safe in future (ap- plause). The resolution was adopted unani- mously.

Unfair Press Criticism.

Official Report.

Advertising

County School, Porth.

The Cymmer Dispute.

Advertising

Gossip.r

"Social" at Blaenclydach.

[No title]

Advertising

Miners' Federation.