NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE prospects in the coal trade are as dark as they can
be when we go to press on Thursday, yet we do not exclude the hope that before matters have gone much further common sense will come to the rescue even though it may be too late to prevent the strike nominally beginning. Perhaps the only reason for our hope is that the strike—such a strike !- seems too mad to happen. If the miners persist they will commit industrial suicide. Some of the mines will never recover. On Wednesday night the Miners' Federation gave instructions that all notices to cease work must take effect on Thursday at midnight regardless of occupation. That means that even the safety staffs will be withdrawn. The pumps will cease working and the pits will be flooded. During the last strilre in Yorkshire men were sent from the Navy to man the pumps, but to find emergency men to man the pumps all over the country is another matter altogether. We will now take the events in their proper order.
