There were on Friday signs that among the miners them-
selves there is a good deal of unrest and annoyance. In one or two small pits the men have returned to work, and it is said that in Lanarkshire, where there are a very considerable number of non-union miners who have bad no strike allowances, the men are showing no small inclination to go underground once more if the owners will open the mines. No doubt from one point of view such action would be a small matter. At the same time it is always possible that the strike may end by a sporadic and gradual return to work. Such a return to work over the heads of the unions would no doubt be facilitated if, should the conferences break down, the Government took in hand the work of adjudicating on the schedules and the owners were to let it be known that they would be willing to accept workers on the Government terms. The miners would feel that they could return to work on what would be in effect Government arbitration without loss of self-respect. Though possibly for the moment the union leaders express absolute confidence that the men will obey them, they are, we expect, quite aware of this possibility and of its dangers from their point of view.
