Everyone admits that the industry must be saved, not crippled.
The Times correspondent says that the Government do not dream of an immediate restoration of the seven-hour day. What they are anxious to do is to secure that any improvement in the industry shall be reflected in the miners' conditions. They have in mind, for a beginning, an eight-hour day from bank to bank. That is a reasonable proposal, and the owners will make a great mistake in refusing to discuss it with the men. Nor need they be afraid of discussing a national agreement. The Government could not possibly compel by legislation a recognition of the Miners' Federation, because by so doing they would in effect be recognizing the principle, of a trade union for a whole industry—the very scheme which the General Council of the Trades Union Congress has declared to be impracticable. By discussing matters with the Miners' Federation the owners therefore would increase good will, which even now is not absent, without taking any special risk.
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