News of the Week W HATEVER the exact figures of the
miners' voting in the districts may turn out to be, the coal dispute is practically at its, dismal end. When we write the voting is much less -favourable to the GOvernment's proposals than had been expected, but the miners who are already at work are, of course, not voting. Moreover, most of the men will return to work even if the settlement now offered is rejected. On Thursday, November 11th, the Delegate Conference of the Miners' Federation wisely decided to give the Executive Committee full powers to negotiate. Everybody except the Executive itself supposed that these full powers had been granted a week. before. However, this time there was no doubt about it. The immediate result of the decision was that the Executive visited the Government and the negotiations were resumed on a basis that could not possibly be misunderstood. The Executive admitted at last that the Government's terms meant district agreements involving longer hours of work though the agreements would- be kept within- the limits of certain-national conditions.
