The President of the Board of Trade received the executive
of the Miners' Federation on Thursday week and vainly urged them to refer their demand for higher wages to the Industrial Court and to abandon their demand for a reduction in the price of " domestic coal," which is now sold for what it costs to raise. Sir Robert Home said that Parliament's decision not to sell coal at less than cost price must not be disputed by any section of the community. The State had the first claim on the exception. ally high profits derived from exported coal. Sir Robert Home emphasized the advantages of putting the wages question before an impartial court to which persons representing the coal industry could be co-opted. If the miners and the coal-owners could revise the methods of calculating wages—which are reckoned partly by time and partly by results—and base the wages on output, the industry would produce more and be able to pay higher wages. The Government were anxious to free the industry from control, but they must continue to regulate prices " for a considerable time," so as to " keep a supply of coal adequate to the country's needs at a reasonable price."
