11 JUNE 1921, Page 2

The Prime Minister on Saturday told the miners' leaders that

he had nothing further to propose. Moreover, the proposed State dole of £10,000,000, " to ease the difficulties of the men in the districts most hardly hit by the great fall in coal prices," must be withdrawn if a settlement was not reached in a fortnight. The nation had suffered so much from the strike that it was no longer so capable of giving this assistance to a particular in. dustry. The Prime Minister said that the miners' leaders would have time to take a ballot of the men, if they thought fit.