334 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. August 13, 1915. LABOUR AND WAGES. South Wales and Monmouthshire. The Conciliation Board sat on Tuesday, Mr. F. L. Davis presiding over the owners’ side, and Mr. James Winstone over the workmen. The meeting had been specially called for dealing with the question of the agreement in respect of the terms of settlement which the Government brought about. There was, however, a' wide divergence of opinion between the two sides as to what the present position should be. The owners, it is stated, regarded the Government terms as in the nature of an addition to those of the old agreement; whereas the workmen’s representatives contended that the old agreement had expired. They stated that notice was given terminating it at the end of June, and that their request was for a new agreement quite separate from the old. The employers desired that any terms in the old agreement not affected by the new terms should continue to be operative; but the men argued that nothing under the old agreement should be considered to be still prevailing, and that the present conditions should not be governed by those previously in operation. The draft agreement was settled in regard to a number of points, and these were duly incorporated; but as to certain other points on which the committee had failed to agree, these now came before the full Board for discussion. Ultimately it was arranged that the President of the Board of Trade should be desired to assist the two sides in reaching ■a final settlement; and Mr. Runciman will, it is stated, be asked to preside at an early meeting of the Conciliation Board for that purpose. The Western Valleys council of miners was addressed on Monday by Mr. George Barker (agent of the men in that district), who asserted that there was dissatisfaction in their neighbourhood with regard to the signing of the agreement. Although it was three weeks since the men resumed work, yet the terms were still in abeyance; and he asserted that thousands of pounds due to the men “ were still swelling the banking accounts of the employers.” Although the terms of settlement with regard to the bonus turn were plain and explicit, the owners wanted to twist them, so as to deprive thousands of men of the benefit. The payment of six turns for five applied to men on afternoon and night shifts, and that was plain language; but the owners were trying to make out that it said something different. Then again, the owners wanted the Sunday night shifts to be eight hours, and that only one shift be paid for. This was a monstrous pro- position in face of the terms made by the Government. That proposition meant that men were to work on Sunday night and be paid 20 per cent, less than they were paid on week nights. It was sheer nonsense. As to the machinery for settling disputes, it seemed to be designed to make a con- ciliatory working of the agreement impossible, for no matter how great the wrong, men would be compelled to work four months before they were entitled 'to tender notices. The machinery of the agreement had been brought before the Government, but they declined to deal with it, asking the workmen first to deal with the owners, with a view to getting the matter settled. Every controversial point in the machinery had been left unsettled, and there seemed no prospect of early agreement. It was to the pecuniary interest of the owners to defer matters as long as possible. In regard to the men’s desire for an advance of wages, this had been due to them since June 30; and he hoped they would not continue to defer the matter, because it was unjust to the workmen, and might eventually have disastrous results in the coal field. The workmen at Senghenydd, at a meeting on Saturday, decided that they would not work Sunday nights except on a six hours’ shift. The miners of the Rhymney Valley have also dealt with the question of the Sunday night shift, and have passed a resolution that the week-end period commenc- ing Saturday at 2 p.m. shall, until 7 a.m. on Monday, be regarded as overtime. Among the requirements of the workmen to be embodied in a new agreement is one that their meal time should be extended from 20 minutes to half-an-hour; that the working hours of surface men should be reduced to 8| hours per day, and that the customary privilege as to the supply of house coal should be operative in respect of sick and injured work- men and also workmen living in apartments. The Swansea Chamber of Commerce has appealed to the Board of Trade to intervene in the dispute between the tippers and the railway companies at the port, and Mr. Geo. Twomey, secretary of the Labourers’ Union, received a tele- gram from Sir George Askwith on the matter. He communi- cated the contents to a mass meeting of the men, who replied that they were quite willing to meet the companies, and to discuss the merits of the scheme which the men had sug- gested — to pool their earnings and equalise the hours of labour for the men employed at the various tips. The men are, it is said, willing to submit the matter to arbitration. Swansea Harbour Trustees, at their monthly meeting on Monday, had before them the question of the strike, Mr. Roger Beck stating that it had been largely responsible for the diminishing trade of the past month. The export of coal, coke, and patent fuel had declined 162,000 tons; and just now Swansea had another dispute of its own. A large proportion of their coal was being sent to France, needed there for the production of munitions of war; and anything which checked that export was practically playing into the hands of the enemy. A Labour representative on the Council (Aid. Merrells), who followed, said he felt bound to say a word in defence of the tippers, who were evidently referred to by Mr.’ Beck. He challenged the assertion that the men stopped work. On the contrary, they presented themselves for work every day, being ready and willing to work; but the railway companies were not prepared to let them work under the conditions the men desired. If their suggested method of work was not the best one, why did not the employers come forward to prove that it was not the best; and, on the other hand, if it were the best, it ought to be adopted. North of England. The Durham Coal Trade Conciliation Board for the regula- tion of wages met in Newcastle on Saturday last and decided that wages should remain unaltered—at 68f per cent, above the basis of 1879—for the ensuing three months. Messrs. J. W. Taylor, M.P., W. B. Charlton, J. Ogg and T. H. Cann have issued to the members of the Durham County Mining Federation Board a circular explanatory of what occurred at last Saturday’s meeting of the Conciliation Board for the regulation of wages in the Durham coal field. They state that, in view of the extremely high prices which have been quoted, it will, no doubt, appear greatly sur- prising and equally disappointing to find that the selling price for the quarter ended June was only 10s. 9d. per ton, or Is. 2d. per ton in excess of the previous quarter’s figures. That may, however, be accounted for to some extent by the fact that a good many of the contracts were not renewable until July, with the result that the miners will not be able to reap the benefit of the enhanced prices until next ascer- tainment. “ As you are aware, we had a matter of 13| per cent, (war bonus) still in pawn and, even on the present figure* we felt justified in asking that such amount should be wiped off the slate. Our justification was based on the extremely moderate and perfectly reasonable grounds that, for .a number of years, the Conciliation Board has established a certain relationship that had, to some degree, departed from the obsolete formality of the old sliding scale methods and endeavoured, by doing so, to prove that the term ’ conciliation ’ was not a meaningless word, but a real, live sentiment. further reason was that those owners whose contracts were re-made in July would be enjoying the enhanced prices, which we are certain will have been secured for at least three months before we can reap any advantage from them. After lodging our most emphatic protest, with the distinct understanding that the fact' of our giving way 'on this occasion should not be taken to form any prejudicial precedent for the future, we eventually agreed to accept the 8| per cent., which, added to the 1} per cent, of last quarter-, makes 10 per cent, of the war bonus redeemed, leaving 5 per cent, still floating.” The circular adds that, but for the necessity of sacrifice in the interests of industrial peace, the signatories are confident that the settlement would not have been accepted. Mr. W. T. Richardson, hewer, of Washington, and Mr. Jos. Batey, checkweighman, of South Shields, have been elected, on the third ballot, as agents of the Durham Miners’ Association, to fill vacancies consequent on the death of Mr. John Wilson, M.P., and the resignation of Aid. S. Galbraith, M.P. Their election is regarded as a victory for the “ advanced ” Labour party, of which both gentlemen are . members. On behalf of the executive committee of the Northumber- land Miners’ Association, Mr. Wm. Straker has issued a circular—to which we made brief reference last week—to the lodges, stating :—“ I am instructed to call your attention to unconstitutional and illegal attempts by colliery managers and agents to induce our workmen to violate our county arrangement of recognised holidays and the conditions laid down by the Coal Mines Eight Hours Act. General holidays.—We have received no application from the Coal Owners’ Association to abandon during the war any of our general holidays recognised under our association rules; therefore, it is