NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Government, aware that the revenue is sinking, has intervened, though very cautiously, in the coal crisis. On Tuesday, a letter was published, addressed by Mr. Gladstone to both the Miners' and Coalowners' Federations, in which he stated that the effect of the stoppage of industry was " extend- ing and increasing," and that "lasting, if not permanent, injury might be done to the trade of the country." Her Majesty's Government have therefore felt it their duty to try -to bring about a resumption of negotiations under the chairmanship of a member of their own body, and have requested Lord Rosebery to undertake the task. This ex- tremely judicious selection must be a little painful to other members of the Cabinet ; but it was received with delight by the public, and at once smoothed away all initial difficulties. Each Federation at once chose fourteen representatives; they met yesterday at the Foreign Office—a strange place for such a scene—and it is trusted that a compromise will at last be secured. If it is, the principle, though not the details, will be indicated in the morning papers of to-day. The basis must be apparently the old wages till April, when contracts can be revised ; but in so representative a body, somebody may have something original to suggest. Up to the meeting of the con- ference, matters were in deadlock,—the men insisting on the old wages, the masters insisting that the old wages ruined them.
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