Labour for the Mines The recent shortage of coal for
household use, especially in the London area, has brought home to the ordinary consumer the fact that the urgent problem of the mines has not been solved. As war-industry comes nearer to the peak of production a sufficiency of coal for all its purposes becomes the supreme condition of full success. The Select Committee on National Expenditure finds that the mines are still short of their minimum man-power requirements by some thousands of men, and it it essential that reserve stocks should be built up during the coming summer against the needs of next winter. The Government have refused to release miners from the forces, and the Committee insists that, if that decision holds, more men must be with- drawn from other industries. It also suggests that plans should be made for the temporary release from the Army of men who may be still in this country during the summer months. Absenteeism is another cause of the loss of man-hours. Many miners were discouraged by the fact that after the collapse of France thousands of men were allowed to fall out of work through failure to foresee the necessity of going all out to build up reserves of coal ; and now it is not always easy to persuade them that their efforts are as necessary to victory as those of the servicemen. Absenteeism appears to have in- creased since the bonus conditional on attendance became an unconditional wage-increase. To diagnose the trouble is nut equivalent to correcting it. The maintenance of a coal-supply equal to all needs should be fundamental and must be treated as such.
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