Meanwhile the recovery of the Ruhr saw the falling of of thei British coal trade, with the result that acute depression followed with large increase in the percentage
notice of one month to terminate the temporary agreement of 1924, submitting at the same time a new wages proposal, which was suma ily rejected. The miners were still insisting upon a national minimum, They were not prepared to agree to any reduction of wages, and were insistent that the only remedy for the then existing state of affairs was the nationalization of the coal mines.
In order to avert a strike which appeared to be pending Mr. Baldwin intervened, but without success so far as reaching an agreement was concerned, but he succeeded thus} far:—the old arrangements woud b2 continued, pending the appointment of a Royal Commission to consider the whole question of the mining industry and in the meantime t2 Government would grant a subs'y.
It will be remembered that the Commission, after prolonged deiberations, condemned the subsidy in unmeasured terms, and recommended that it should not be re. peated, was strongly against natiorization, and practically stated that} if the industry were to be made stable again, the men would have to accept reduced "wages, or work longer hours—an eight hour day instead of seven—while schemes for reorganization of the whole business were being perfected. This the men. would not accept, and hence the present strike,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.