four months from Dec. 1920 reflect the changes in the current demand. In the five weeks ended Dec. 25 the output for Great Britain was 25,406,700 tons; while in the five weeks ended Jan. 29 1921, it was 21,803,600 tons. In the four weeks ended Jan. 29 it was 18,540,500 tons; while in the four weeks ended Feb. 26 it was 17,369,100 tons, and in the four weeks ended March 26, 16,435,200 tons. An incidental result of this decreased output was the disappearance as from Feb. 28 of the wages advances granted under the settlement of Nov. 1920. In so far as the position, as affected both by the decreased output and by the reduction in values of export coal, may be judged from the Mines Department statistics, in Feb. 1921 the average loss over the whole of the collieries of Great Britain on every ton of coal disposed of commercially was 55. nfd. In two districts, namely Yorkshire, and Derby, Nottingham and Leicester, there were small credits of 3|d. and id. per ton respectively; while the debit balances ranged from 45. of d. per ton in Durham to i8s. ifd. per ton in South Wales.
In these circumstances the Government decided to terminate their control of the mining industry on March 31. This was the date at which the agreed scheme for the future regulation of wages in the industry was to be ready, but it was five months earlier than the date at which decontrol had been expected. On the one hand, the fall in the price of export coal to such an extent that there was no appreciable difference between the export price and the inland price, made it no longer necessary to regulate the pit head prices and the distribution of coal, and all such regulation was withdrawn as from March i. On the other hand, the continuance of financial control, which had been a corollary of the regulation of prices and distribution was only involving the Government in heavy financial liabilities. The Coal Mines (Decontrol) Act, 1921, " an act to curtail the duration of and amend the Coal Mines (Emergency) Act, 1920," was therefore passed. The Act received Royal Assent on March 24, and its effect was to terminate the special interest the Government had hitherto had in the Mining Industry, as regards, for example, output and prices, wages and profits. Control at that moment meant financial assistance to the industry, and the removal of that financial assistance on March 31 made the formulation of a new wages agreement a matter of imperative urgency, if the work of the mines was to be continued after decontrol.
The decision of the Government to decontrol was communi- cated by the president of the board of trade to the mine-owners and miners, i.e. the Mining Association and the Miners' Fed- eration of Great Britain, on Feb. 23. At the time the an- nouncement was made, the Mining Association and the Miners' Federation were in the midst of negotiations with regard to the permanent scheme for the regulation of wages, which under the agreement of Nov. 1920, they were to complete by March 31 1921. On Feb. 25 the two bodies met again, and agreement was reached upon a considerable number of important points. But on one fundamental issue it was found impossible to agree. The representatives of the Miners' Federation insisted upon the necessity of a national wages scheme, with some form of a na- tional pool, for the industry. The representatives of the owners insisted that wages must be based upon the wage-paying capa- city of the districts, national discussion being confined to the enunciation of certain general principles which might provide the districts with some uniform method of determining their wage-paying capacity.
A definite conflict of principle had thus occurred. It was clear however that no scheme designed to be permanent would be applicable without modification to the abnormal position in which the industry would find itself on decontrol on April i. It was therefore conceivable that agreement might be reached on a temporary scheme applicable strictly to the emergency period, leaving the points of difference on the permanent scheme for further discussion. In this way the occurrence of a dispute immediately upon the cessation of control might be avoided. Following upon a joint meeting of the two sides held on March 17, the National Delegate Conference of the Miners' Federation decided to ascertain the opinion of the districts as to whether or
not they were prepared to abandon temporarily the policy of a national wages board and a national pool, and to empower the national executive to proceed with the negotiations with a view to establishing a temporary agreement on a district basis. On March 24 the Conference reassembled to receive the replies of the several districts, and these indicated that a very large majority of the Federation were against the proposal to enter into any temporary agreement on a district basis. There was thus no movement towards the owners' position. Notices terminating on March 31 contracts of employment at the existing rates having already been issued by the owners, the Executive Committee of the Miners' Federation met on March 30, and sent out the fol- lowing instruction to the districts: " That all notices must take effect regardless of occupation in every mine and plant in the Miners' Federation." Practically the whole of the men ceased work in accordance with this instruction at the close of the last shift on March 31. There was, however, some divergence in the districts on the question of withdrawing the pumpmen and en- ginemen who were covered by the official instruction of the Federation. These men were not withdrawn in all cases.
At this stage it may be noted that there were some points of agreement between the owners and miners. The agreement of Nov. 1920, envisaged a permanent scheme for the regulation of wages which would have regard " to the profits of the industry and to the principles upon which any surplus profits are to be dealt with." Working from this basis, by the time of the joint meeting of Feb. 25, four further principles had been agreed upon as follows:
1. Wages must conform to the capacity of the industry to pay.
2. The receipt of a standard wage should justify a corresponding minimum profit to the colliery undertakings.
3. Any surplus remaining after these, and, of course, the usual working costs, had been met, should be divided between the men and the owners in agreed proportions, the workpeople's share to be an addition to their standard wages.
4. Joint audits of the owners' books by accountants representing each side should be made to ascertain all the data necessary for the periodical determination of wages.
On all other matters arising out of the proposed permanent scheme there were differences of considerable importance between the two sides. The following account of the main differences is based upon the draft agreement approved by the Delegate Con- ference of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain on March 10 (i.e. at the first available opportunity after the joint meeting of Feb. 25), and the report of the mine owners on the situation which was submitted after approval by the Central Council of the Mining Association, to the president of the board of trade on March 25 (i.e. immediately after the refusal of the miners to enter upon negotiations with a view to a temporary settlement on a district basis) :
1. The miners proposed that there should be established a National Board, consisting of 16 representatives of each side, which should determine all questions of wages and profits affecting the mining industry as a whole, i.e. the national regulation and dis- tribution of wages. The National Board would take over the powers and duties of the existing district conciliation boards with regard to the fixing of general rates of wages. The owners would agree to maintain in production by the means of a national profits fund all existing collieries, and all collieries developed subsequently, until such times as the National Board might decide to the contrary.
On these points, the owners' position was that the idea of a " national profits fund " was abhorrent to them, that they wished district conciliation boards to be the sole authorities for fixing wages, and that national discussions should only deal with ques- tions of principle, so as to provide the districts with a uniform method of determining wages.
2. The miners proposed that the new standard wage should be made up by incorporating all the existing percentage additions to district basis rates with those district basis rates, special allowance being made in favour of the men who were benefitting under the Hat rate minimum advance which was guaranteed with the 20% wages advances of March 1920. The owners proposed that the new standard wages should be the district basis rates, plus the percentage additions prevailing in July 1914, plus the percentage additions made consequent upon the reduction in hours from 8 to 7.
3. The miners proposed that against their standard wages should be set, as minimum profits to the owners, a sum amounting in the aggregate to 10% of the sum paid as standard wages. The owners proposed that this figure should be 17%.
