The Prime Ministeereeeived the-miners' leaders on Wednesday. He told them
that-the Government must decline to. ask Par- liament to devote the unexpended balance of the temporary aubsidy granted in July to the maintenance of miners' wages at an artificial level for a -further period. Parliament voted MA/3,0004yr three-months to ease-the transition from State
control to normal conditions. By the end of September, £7,000,000 had been spent in assisting the coalowners to pay higher wages than the industry could bear. The subsidy then ceased. It would be fatal to renew it in any shape or form. The coal industry, which used to pay high wages and yield -large profits, must stand on its own feet. Everyone concerned with the trade knows perfectly well how it may be made to recover. With better management and harder work the cost of production must be reduced, and then the demand for British coal will be as great as ever. High wages for a low output mean prices that manufacturers cannot afford to pay, and thus produce the unemployment from which the miners are suffering. The miners have the remedy in -their own hands.
Previous page
