A General Staff for Coal In a speech delivered on
Monday to the Coal Industry Society, Mr. Ebby Edwards, General Secretary of the Mine- workers' Federation, made a suggestion that if adopted might well lead to more conciliatory methods of solving industrial questions. He suggested that a National Council, a" general staff," representing owners, workmen, consumers, dis- tributors and the Government, might be set up to offer guidance on matters affecting the coal industry. He based his suggestions on the spirit of co-operation now existing in the industry, which he described as greater than ever before. Gresford and Harworth do not exactly make for co-operation ; but Mr. Edwards' General Staff might well make such occur- rences less possible. In South Wales under the pressure of common necessity, representatives of all groups in the industry, including the Communist president of the South Wales Miners' Federation, are already co-operating, in the com- mittee set up by Sir Robert Home, on certain questions affecting the industry, in particular one mentioned by Mr. Edwards, that of assisting British coal exports at minimum prices. No doubt some conflicts are inevitable ; there are many, however, which can be avoided by genuinely pooling the ideas and experience of all parties.
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