A VERY UGLY POSITION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3466, 5 March 1912, Page 5

A VERY UGLY POSITION.

BRITISH MANUFACTORIES SILENT. TRADE GOING TO OTHER COUNTRIES. WHAT WILL THE END BE? [UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION COPYRIGHT) (Received Mar. 5. 12.50 a.m.) LONDON, Mar. 4. The miners’ leaders are making speeches in different parts of the country. They firmly adhere to the proposed schedule of minimum rates. The London trains are seriously reduced. A merchant trading with Australia has been compelled to place an order in Germany instead of at Wolverhampton for baling hoops for wool. Other orders usually executed in Staffordshire have gone to Germany, Belgium, the United States, and Canada. Many maunfacturers in Manchester are availing themselves of electricity instead of coal. Outward chartering of vessels is at a standstill at Liverpool, Cardiff, Glasgow and Newcastle. Sixty thousand steel and other workers are idle in the West of Scotland. “MUST BE SETTLED.” THE GOVERNMENT’S ATTITUDE. LONDON, March 3. Mr Ure (Lord Advocate of Scotland) s[leaking at Exet-er, said the strike must be ultimately settled, otherwise the Government would not shirk its responsibility to give legislative effect to a minimum wage. The real difficulty was that of the men fixing a certain amount and refusing to discuss the situation. He thought that on reflection they would not adhere to that position, lest- they lose the country’s support. The Great Central Railway Company has yielded to the Sheffield manufacturers’ appeal, and has delivered coal to them. Owing to the strike, the steamer Orontes arranged to ship 1000 toils of coal at Plymouth. Tlie local porters demanded double pay, and the concession was granted. A feature of the strike in South Whiles and -elsewhere -is the miners’ determination to maintain order. A holiday spirit prevails. There are 23,000 industrial workers idle at Swansea. Yesterday the Newcastle branch ot Railway Servants asked the Society to decline to handle trains conveying troops during the strike. . The duration of the strike is. estimated at from a week to a fortnight. Mr Williams (M.P. for Carmarthen) said that he expected the strike to be mutually settled on Thursday. Mr Harvey (Financial Secretary of the Derbyshire Miners’ Association) speaking at Clowne, said that lie would always fight against compulsory arbitratiofi, which had absolutely failed in Australia. THE EFFECT ABROAD. 6 CHRISTIANA, March 3. Two thousand industrial workers at Sarpsborg have been rendered idle through the British coal strike.