The third conclusion of the Report is one that has
given most offence to Labour. It runs :-- " Co-operation between mine-owners and miners. There will be no peace in the coal-mining world unless the ruiners have an effective say in the general policy of the industry in which they live. But it will not benefit the miners or the nation to impair the executive efficiency or responsibility on which wages and sperity depend. It is, therefore, proposed to give the miners consultative powers on equal terms with the mine-owners, at three points—in Pit Committees, on District Boards, and in a National Mining Council, but to leave the executive responsibility for mining operations unimpaired."
We believe that this proposal would be a great and a sane step forward in the democratizing of industry. We do not mean to assert that this exact proposal is certainly the most suitable one, but merely that the line of advance is somewhere along these lines. Once again we fear that the Conservatives have been " left." The best thing they can, do now is to consider seriously the work of the Liberal Committee, amend it where they find it defective, and then co-operate with the Liberals to give effect to a forward policy for the mining industry. It is only so that the great danger of nationalization will be averted. A merely defensive attitude is fatally weak.
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