The ballot of the miners last week on- the coal-owners'
terms yielded an unwelcome surprise for the country and, it would seem, for the Miners' Federation Executive. Every district showed a majority for rejecting the terms. In all, 435,-614 men voted for continuing the strike, while 180,724 voted for a settlement. The hostile majorities. were largest in South Wales, Scotland, mad Lancashire. it is to be noted, however, that over a third of the minors did not vote. The 341,272 men who abstained, especially in Yorkshire, the Midlands, and Scotland, were presumably disgusted with the had leadership that had brought them into a prolonged and ruinous strike. Had they voted, as they ought to have done, the majority for fighting on would probably have been small. The ballot, moreover, seems to have been taken in the usual disorderly way. In some places, it is said, the ballot-papers weregivea out publicly to any persons, whether miners eruct, who-cared to fill them up.
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