On Monday morning the Prime Minister met the delegates of
the coal-owners and miners. The Government, he said, was perfectly impartial as between them, but must safeguard the interests of the taxpayer. For the coal trade it was now a question of sharing losses instead of profits. The export trade had collapsed. Coal that was selling at nearly 80s. a ton at the pithead could scarcely be sold now for 33s. 6d. Profits and wages could only be maintained at the recent level by means of a State subsidy, but that was a vicious principle which could not be applied any longer. The two parties to the dispute must try to devise " a permanent method of adjusting the wages of the miners to the capacity of the mines." The Government would not contribute to " the permanent maintenance " of this or any other great industry. Nor would they advise Parliament to abrogate the Aot freeing the coal trade from State control. The Prime Minister advised the coal-owners to explain why they announced their intention to revise the scale of wages when the men's contracts expired, under notice from their employers, on March 31st. The coal-owners should try to justify the proposed reductions. Then the miners' delegates should put forward their own proposals. A small committee should then report on the two sets of proposals.
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