It was believed at the beginning of the week that
the South Wales strike was coming to an end, Mr. Brogden, the Chairman of the Llynvi, Tondu, and Ogmore Company, having made a compromise with his men which yields much of the bone of con- tention. The men go in for fourteen days at 5 per cent. reduc- tion, then get the old rates till 31st March, and then get an in- crease of 5 per cent. The theory is that this works off old con- tracts at low prices, but clearly the men have won, the Companies not liking to lose the present high prices. The individual proprietors, however, hold out, Mr. Crawshay-, of Cyfarthfa, in particular, utterly repudiating any conces- sion while strangers—i.e., Union delegates—interfere. The• men were so excited by this declaration, that in a burst of enthu- siasm they resolved that they would never go in till Mr. Crawshay asked them in writing, if they stood out for two years. That is absurd and oppressive. Suppose Mr. Crawshay to- demand all their signatures to a petition to be re-employed, a petition which would be virtually an apology for daring to ask for more, what would they say ? Why should he be humbler
than they He will not do it, and affairs are blacker in. Cyfarthfa than before.
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