There seems a definite move to restart some of the great mines which have been lying idle for several months primarily on account of the low price of base metals, and the huge accumulated stocks of them in various parts of the world. The miners themselves have flatly refused to recognize the economic facts, and have persisted in demanding that the rates of wages which thay secured in the days of prosperity must continue in those of leanness.
At Broken Hill, the great mining centre in the southwest of New South Wales, located practically in the middle of desert country, the men have always claimed excoptional consideration on account of the ill-effects of mining upon the healths of the employees. Technical commissions have sat, examined thousands of cases, and have led to provision being made on a liberal scale for men who succumb to miners' diseases. It is estimated that the total cost to the mining companies on the Barrier, as the field is called, would approximate £80,000 a year.
"But," say the companies, "if we must pay this we mrrist see that men are not suffering from disease, or are of such a physique that they are practically sure not to contract disease, before we employ them." And it is upon this point now that the leaders of the men are urging them not to allow themselves to be medically examined by the officers of the companies. The latter say that: they are willing to see if they can make the mines pay under the wages awards, and many hundred men have been enrolled. Work is actually being started, and there is a prospect during the next few weeks of several thousand men being taken off the unemployed list.
At Mount Morgan in Queensland the Arbitration or Industrial Court has lowered the wages slightly, the
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