Back to the Pits
The Grimethorpe miners having gone back to work on the 21-ft. stint, which is all that is possible in the present deranged state of the mine, the fact-finding committee is now ascertaining whether a 2-ft. extension is possible. It is expected to present its findings on September 27th, The dispute is thus not closed for good, but at least for the time being energy is being applied at the right point, which is the getting of coal. It is worth remembering that that always is the primary question—so much so that stoppage of work while some point of organisation is decided is little short of criminal. Despite a hope, expressed by both Sir Stafford Cripps and Lord Hyndley, that the target may still be reached, the chances of reaching 200,000,000 tons this year are smaller than ever and the penalties for not reaching it are heavier. The loss of some 65o,000 tons in the first two weeks of September is really of much more importance than the fact, to which Government spokesmen are never tired of referring, that stocks now are greater than they were last year. Anything which in any way relaxes the pressure for a greater effort is bad. There may not be a major breakdown this winter. The President of the Board of Trade's promise of 24,250,000 tons to industry in the six winter months may well be met, and the export industries are certain to get enough to keep them goine. But the danger that industry will slack off owing to tightness of coal supplies is no less disturbing than the prospect of general breakdown for being more insidious. Beyond these things is the urgent need for coal exports, by which, as Mr. Averell Harriman has rightly pointed out, Britain could reduce not only her own dollar needs but those of Europe as a whole. And beyond that again is the objective of an annual production of 250,000,000 at the end of four years laid down at the Paris Conference. These things alone should be enough to wipe out the threat of a further strike, this time of overmen, in the Yorkshire field. On the positive
side they should give encouragement to the Coal Board in its development programme and underline-the wisdom of its decision to concentrate for the time being on short-term improvements calculated to yield a quick return.
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