* * Coal In t ha Coal industry there are
welcome signs that the Government—and also responsible miners' leaders— are going about the problem in the right way. Last week the executive of the Miners' Federation conferred in Downing Street, and on Monday representatives of the mine-owners were summoned to state their views. Of particular significance was the speech of Lord Gainford, on June 25th, to the shareholders of Pease and Partners, Ltd. He agrees with other colliery owners in emphasizing the economic dislocation which would be caused by a return to the seven-hour day, but he argues, quite rightly, that hours of work cannot be divorced from rates of pay, and that the only practical method of meeting the miners' "reasonable aspirations" is to work primarily for international agreement. Lord Gainford is the first of the coal-owners who has publicly recognized the essentially international character of the coal problem. It is equally refreshing to hear his advocacy of a national committee of owners, representative of district schemes, and co-ordinating output and prices for all the exporting coal-fields, On Monday, moreover, the Economic Committee of the League blessed the pro- posal of the Coal Sub-Committee to continue their inquiry by consulting a mixed group of experts from consuming countries capable of giving useful evidence of the feeling among employers' and workers' organizations.
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