Miners' Wages The negotiations between the Cabinet, the Miners' Federation
and the Mining Association were temporarily suspended, but are to begin again. The International Labour Conference at Geneva will very soon be called upon to decide the question of a Convention to limit inter- nationally the hours of work in mines. Any maximum which is likely to be fixed, however, will probably exceed seven hours per day, and the Acts suspending this limit in this country expire this July. The negotiations at present seemed to have reached a deadlock, for the Mining Association refused to discuss the question of wages except by districts, and the Miners' Federation refused to discuss hours without wages. It seems to us that the Association might well discuss the question of a minimum wage on a national basis, while leaving the actual wages to be paid to be fixed in each district separately. If this could be done, the Federation might find it difficult to put their demands too high, since to do so might lead to the disregarding of their demands by the districts, a situation which has already arisen with regard to hours alone.
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