* * Discussion on a national plane seems to us
to be essen- tial at a three-party conference, otherwise the miners would say that they had been given no opportunity of stating their case as a whole. It must not be forgotten that the owners gave a qualified assent to the Report of the Coal Commission and that at one time they went so far as to accept the principle of a new national settle- ment, although they afterwards withdrew from that position. Nothing could be clearer than the language of the Report on this subject. It says :- " Tho Ministry of Labour have supplied us with a list of thirty industries other than coal mining, each of which has some form of national organization for conducting wage-negotiations. They include, so far as we can see, every important body of wage-earners in the country. If the proposal of the Mining Association were accepted the mining industry, in respect of •wage-negotiations, would stand alone, a solitary exception to the settled practice of every other industry that need be considered."
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