THE COAL MINERS’ STRIKE,

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 217, 3 November 1888, Page 3

THE COAL MINERS’ STRIKE,

[from our own correspondent. J Sydney, Oct. 24. The Newcastle strike has b.-eu pro<’u of fresh developments. A conference i b <g held between the representatives of the master» and of the men respectively, and, strange to say, they have made fair progress towards arriving at an agreement. The men accepted the masters’ definition of a minimum seam, and the masters withdrew their demand for a maximum seam. On Monday, the vexed question of “ Morgan ” and “ Jerry ” proved too much for the limited abilities of the Con-f-rence, and they have adjourned until to-day. It is, however, a distinct advance to find a mutual spirit of concession, and, although there are grave difficulties in the way, there is a reasonable prospect that they may be surmounted. Meanwhile, another strike has taken place at South Bulli, in the Wollongong district, and trouble is brewing at Lith gow, where the miners demand an allowance of small coal. The whole question of the relation between capital and labor is evidently in a state of flux, and very little stubbornness on one side or the other is sufficient to cause a disastrous rupture. Some prompt and fair method of settling disputes is urgently needed, but the most effective way of blending the rival interests would be found, I think, in a system of profit-sharing extended to the workers, a system which has been previously explained in these letters.