The dispute in the South Wales coalfields was officially ended
on Wednesday morning, when the delegates of the South Wales Miners' Federation at Cardiff agreed to accept the terms agreed on at the negotiations carried on in London. The trouble arose out of the claim of certain classes of workers to the bonus granted to night workers—five turns to be paid as six. These classes, not being regularly on the night shifts, had been exempted from the bonus. Their claim having been conceded in the compact arranged between the representatives of the parties interested and Messrs. Lloyd George, Runciman, and Henderson on July 20th, the men's delegates went back to announce that the dispute had been ended. It broke out again on the demand of another class of workers—the engine- men, stokers, and mechanical staff employed on the night and afternoon shifts, but loft out of the agreement—to share in the bonus. The question was accordingly submitted to the arbitration of Mr. Runciman, who, having obtained the pledge of both miners and owners to abide by his interpretation of the agreement, gave his award against the fresh claim. On this the men at once renewed the agitation; the strike spread until some forty thousand men were out ; and it has now been ended by a further concession which extends the bonus turn to the enginemen, stokers, and mechanical staff.
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