14 MAY 1921, Page 2

The coal strike, judged by the ordinary signs, seems to

be no nearer an end, and yet, as we have tried to show elsewhere, the end is probably not so far off as many people think. On Friday, May 6th, the owners issued an official statement to the effect that they could not abide by any arbi- tration on the subject of a national pool. Mr. Lloyd George, speaking at Maidstone last Saturday, emphatically declared that there must be no " patched-up settlement," and that a profits pool was thoroughly pernicious and could not be con- sidered. The duty of the Government was to protect the nation from being starved into surrender, and that duty would be discharged.