The actual wages offered by the coal-owners seem to have
been much underrated by the miners' leaders. Mr. Finlay Gibson, the secretary of the South Wales Coal-owners' Asso- ciation, gives the weekly pay that might be earned by men working as they did in March. Out of 270 typical piece-workers, only two would receive as little as £3 8s. ; all but 33 would earn at least £4 8s. ; 177 would earn at least £5, and a few would earn £9, £10, or even £11 a week. The earnings of 77 hauliers would range from £2 14s. Ils. up to £5 10s. ; 45 of them would earn at least £3 3s. Further, 26 rippers would earn from £2 16s. 11d. to £5 10s. The statement illustrates the exceeding complexity of the wages question in the coal trade, which cannot be fairly judged by averages, manipulated as they are by Labour propagandists. It shows, too, that even in South Wales, which is most severely affected by trade depression, the wages offered are not nearly so low as hasty readers of the newspapers have supposed. The piece-workers would, of course, earn much more if they cared to work a trifle harder, and the men who are paid by the day would, under the coal-owners' scheme, receive higher wages as soon as the trade began to improve.
Previous page
