t

January 3, 1913.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

29

it will be unwise to organise meetings for
advocating the nationalisation of the mines until
the proposed Bill is introduced in the House of
Commons.

On Saturday the Northumberland miners
authorised their leaders, by 16,000 votes to
13,950, to embark upon a campaign in favour of
abolishing the three-shift system. On February 28
the men will be balloted on the strike issue,
notices being handed in so as to permit a strike
at the end of March. It has also been decided
that the demand for inclusion of surface workers
under the Minimum Wage and Eight Hours Acts
shall be coupled with this agitation.

A meeting of the Scottish Coal Trade Concilia-
tion Board was held last week in Glasgow, for
the purpose of considering a new wages agree-
ment and the appointment of a neutral chairman.
No agreement was arrived at.

A national conference of miners, convened
by the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain, was
held at the Westminster Palace Hotel yesterday
to consider the attitude to be adopted at the
National Labour Conference in regard to the
Trade Unions Bill as it left the Standing Com-
mittee of the House of Commons. Mr. Robert
Smillie, the president was in the chair. The
following resolution was agreed to :—“ That no
measure or Bill can be accepted as satisfactory
that does not completely reverse the Osborne
decision, but we accept the present Bill for the
time being subject to any further improvements
or amendments that can be obtained during the
further progress of the measure.”

the end of the year, that trade movements
generally and the variations in price, although
at times considerable, have been more easily
attributable to their real causes and have not
given rise to the same agitation and perplexity.

The Strike.

Perhaps the best reason for this more restful
mood is to be found in the fact that a general
stoppage of the mines was, as regards its
immediate results, discovered to be more
supportable than had been anticipated. We
think it is correct to say that the strike lasted
twice as long as it was deemed, in the opinion
of those best|able to judge, possible for it to last,
without a complete breakdown of the social and
business life of the country. We know now
that this fabric never did break down; and the
rapid recovery of the national vigour, under the
stimulus of healthy surroundings, was no less
remarkable than the extraordinary powers of
endurance developed during the strike.

We should indeed be lacking in wisdom if we
failed to profit from the lesson: to appreciate
the advantages of producing all that is needed
by the community in the way of light, heat and
power, so as to give the maximum of economy
and adaptability and, at the same time, to
increase the capacity of our reservoirs of energy.
But if the community has been found to
possess powers of resistance that are bound to
impress the masses before they again run tilt
against its interests, there should also be a
strong determination to *be prepared for fresh
assaults equipped with new gins and engines,
and to render their occurrence more remote ; for
it would be folly to believe that the peace of
the moment, in an era of high prices and high
wages, is never again to be disturbed.

The Cost of the Strike.

Furthermore, the miners’ strike connotes a
distinct national loss and a depletion of reserves,
for a country in a state of idleness must live
largely on its capital. On the whole, however, the
direct loss has, we think, been over-estimated;
even now it is impossible to form anything like
an accurate assessment of it, for the prosperity
of the concluding half of the year renders a
comparison with former years somewhat illusory.
It was fortunate, indeed, that the strike failed
to reverse the current of trade, that the continuity
of business was never really broken, and orders
were in waiting as soon as the works and
factories were able to resume work. Had this
not been the case we should not now be enjoying
the conditions which seemed to be predestined
more than a year ago.

The Export Trade.

It was in the export branch that the first and
most telling effects of the strike were experienced,
and it provided an immediate opportunity for
our foreign competitors to raid our markets.
The testimony is to be found in the tale of lost
contracts recorded in the annual reports of our
trade correspondents appearing in this issue, but
the damage to the export trade has not been so
great as was in many quarters anticipated. We
were almost alone in believing that the export
figures for the complete year would be but little
if at all behind those of 1911, and this has
proved a true prophecy. The complete returns
for the year are not yet available, and they will
be discussed in a later issue, but it may be
observed that, notwithstanding the great falling
away during March and April, the total exports
of fuel for the 11 months were less than 166,000
tons behind those for the corresponding period
of 1911, and nearly 2 million tons in excess of
the quantity shipped during the first 11 months
of 1910; whilst there has been an increase in
value of over 3 J millions sterling.

THE COAL TRADE IN 1912.

To have to discuss with due proportion the
events of 1912 within the limits of a short article
and to leave nothing unsaid that should be said
would be an appalling task. The early months
of that year must occupy a long chapter in the
history of British industry, but this is neither
the place nor the season to give a true and
particular account of the events of that period.
At present the trade of the world, and
with it the coal trade, is riding upon a wave of
prosperity which in itself obscures for the time
being many of the troubled questions that, we
are assured, will again become prominent when
less ecstatic conditions return ; and it is fruitless
and ungenerous to hark back to these evils when
the immediate prospect is so promising. Never-
theless, it would be equally foolish to ignore the
existence of these troubles beneath the surface—
to opine that such cataclysmic upheavals as a
general strike of miners and the legislative
burdens that have been heaped upon us with so
lavish a hand during the past 12 months are as
the swords of Liliputs to the Gulliver of
industry, and will not bring wrack and ruin to
many when the horizon darkens. It is, indeed,
one of the gravest signs of the times that
many business men no longer have the courage
to strike an average in their affairs and
provide for the future, but rather lull
themselves to the sense of present benefits. On
the other hand, evils undoubtedly are more
terrific in the anticipation than in the realisation.
Thus if 1912 be compared with its forerunner,
1911, it will be found that, although last year’s
events dwarf to insignificance those of 1911, yet
the agitation in all branches of commerce was
much more acute in 1911; without apparent
cause abnormal situations arose persistently to
confound the judgments of buyers and sellers,
the capriciousness of the weather being only one
of many agencies. In 1912, although the disloca-
tions of trade have been infinitely greater and
more serious, it must be said, looking back from

The cause is to be found in the industrial
activity now prevailing throughout the world,
and more directly in the vigorous demand for
shipping, as indicated by the consistent rise in
freights. This again has found a reflection in the
animation of the engineering and shipbuilding
trades.

The Home Markets.

The most satisfactory feature of the year’s
trading, however, has been the heavy consump-
tion of manufacturing fuel and coke. Not only
does this bespeak prosperity in the very direc-
tions in which we should most desire it, but the
high prices obtained for small coal in the normal
way of business, have been of infinitely more
value to collieries than the famine prices obtained
for spot lots of rubbish during the strike. The
mild weather prevailing during the closing
months of the year has operated against any
boom in house coal, but here, as in the case of
gas and steam coal, the collieries have not found
great trouble in securing material advances on
new contracts.

Working Costs.

If colliery companies, however, have no
reason to be dissatisfied with the trading results
of 1912, the cost of working, which has been
steadily rising for several years past and has
received during the past twelvemonth a consider-
able permanent addition, fills those who look
ahead with much apprehension. The rise in
miners’ wages on standard rates on the year’s
working has, taking the industry as a whole,
been not less than 7 J per cent. In other words,
to adopt the figures given in the Labour Gazette,
in the 11 months ended with November, 927,310
workmen in the coalmining industry have re-
ceived advances in wages amounting in the
aggregate to a net weekly wage of £75,233,
which goes some distance to compensate for the
huge total of 31,567,000 working days lost
during the 11 months through trade disputes.
These figures, of course, do not include the altera-
tions in price lists, which generally redound
materially to the credit of the workmen.

In this category the chief changes are those
introduced by the awards under the Minimum
Wage Act. As its name implies, however, this
Act is principally operative when wages are
at the minimum rate; and although it has
in some cases increased the labour cost at all
points in the scale, its full weight has not been
experienced during the past year.

On the other hand, the Coal Mines Act, which
came into force at Midsummer, has considerably
increased the cost of working, and the National
Insurance Act has hit colliery enterprise with
exceptional severity, owing to the large propor-
tion of the selling price allocated to wages.
Again, the cost of wagons, stores and materials
has been inordinately high, and it is necessary to
anticipate a further rise in railway rates, so soon
as the sanction of Parliament has been secured
for this step.

The Future.

At present the collieries have been able to
transfer to the shoulders of the public a large
share, at least, of the increased cost of production.
Here fortune has been on their side, for “ c'est
le premier pas qui colate ”; and when trade
again begins to descend into the trough, the
onus will be placed upon the consumer of
transferring the burden—a task much more
difficult than that of resisting its imposition
under similar conditions of trade. The producer
of raw material, however, who obstinately grinds
down his customers without any regard for the
latter’s circumstances not only fails in his duty
to the State, but in the end must suffer himself.
Thus a permanent rise in the price of fuel is a
matter less for jubilation than for grave concern*