The coal crisis remains acute, the outlook having been reudercd
less hopeful by the failure of the National Con- ference between owners and workmen on Wednesday. The South Wales coal owners withdrew from the Conference on ascertaining that the miners would not be deterred from striking by any existing agreement, and the general body of owners, while ready to make concessions on the question of "abnormal places," refused to accept the principle of an in- dividual minimum wage. Unless, then, some agreement is arrived at in the meantime, the miners employed in the 3,200 coal pits of Great Britain will cease work on February 29th. Negotiations, however, have not been abandoned in the area of the English Board, but so long as the Miners' Federation present a "national programme" no sectional settlement can be regarded is effective. The number of men and boys who would be thrown out by a general strike is estimated at over a million and the miners' funds at well over 21,500,000, which would provide strike pay for four or five weeks if equally divided.
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