Vlie coal situation appears to have taken a less satis-
factory turn since the article on a later page of this issue was written. It is clearly too soon yet to be satisfied that a strike is out of the question, but the miners would be extremely unwise if they misinterpreted the public sympathy expressed with them in many quarters—not least in the House of Commons. There is a general feeling that their demand for negotiations with the owners on a national basis is reasonable. There is a general desire to find a way. to secure the men an increase in wages. But the way has still to be dis- covered. The miners' leaders themselves can give no satisfactory indication of where the money is to come from. It cannot be produced, except in the undesirable form of a Government subsidy, at the point of a pistol or in a space of days or even weeks. That some increase is promised, and explorations as to how to provide more are in progress, should suffice for the moment. The current of public opinion is flowing in the men's direction. It will be folly if they check it by their own action now.
