Those who follow the valuable but dry spade-work done at
Geneva can now get from Messrs. P. S. King and Son, for Os., the English version of the International Labour Office's Report on Wages and Hours of Work in the Coal Mining Industry. It is the answer to a request of the International Miner's Federation, and deals with masses of statistics for the year 1925, ingeniously brought into the best forms of " comparability " possible. The statistics show that British earnings per " manshift," per year or per hour, are the highest in Europe. The nearest, the Dutch, are only three-quarters of the British per hour and per day ; the Polish are about one- third. The British wages per ton are only equalled in Belgium and Saxony. The output here per " manshift " is equalled in the Ruhr Valley and Poland and exceeded by 26 per cent. in Upper Silesia, where the seams are much more favourable. The standard of living in Great Britain and the Netherlands is the highest in Europe. The figures are valuable, but as no account is taken of markets they give no idea of the plight of the British miner to-day. The increasing use of oil and the progress of coal-mining in India, Australia, and South Africa do not make happier the prospects of the miner in this island. • *
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