[TO TINE ED/TOR OF THE " SPHOT1TOR. " ] Sin,—In all manifestations
of labour unrest the one thing which receives utterly inadequate consideration is the welfare of the community. It is time for the community to take steps, not merely to restore normal conditions, but per- manently to lower prices and ensure really cheap coal in the future ; to that end the profits of owners, men, carriers, and dealers should all abate. The trust legislation in America and the prosecution of strike leaders in Australia show that people are beginning to perceive that the community is not bound to suffer every wrong a trade may wish to inflict. For the supposed advantage of trade our ancestors stopped the exportation of wool. A partly prohibitive duty on exportation would probably not only cheapen coal at the pit's mouth but have other advantages. Apart from labour troubles is it not possible to revolutionize the mode and lessen the cost of distribution P Co-operation would do much. Would it not also be possible to have automatic weighing in one or two hundredweights into sacks at the pit's mouth, packing in one-ton orates or boxes, multiples of which could be transferred by crane to and from railway wagon, canal boat, motor lorry, or cart, and so eliminate the cost of much handling, the carriers even collecting money on delivery P—I
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