17 APRIL 1926, Page 1

On the whole, however, we are sure that the leaders

are not in any doubt as to what the results of rejecting the Report would be. The Industrial Committee of the Trade Union Congress, which is in constant touch with the miners'- leaders, is, we believe, wisely inspired and is working for peace. Behind all the clamour of the war cries and behind the terrible Chinese fighting faces there is a good deal secretly going on that makes for peace. One trouble is that the miners throughout the districts have not been given clear guidance by their leaders. When a miner is asked simply whether he will consent to having his wages reduced he naturally says no. The leaders were distinctly at fault in not explaining to the men in a short and easily understood message how closely the proposal for a temporary reduction of the wages of the higher paid men is interlocked with a great many other proposals which are the very things the miners have been striving after for a generation.

* * * *