NEWS OF THE WEEK
WHEN the Miners' Delegate Conference met on Wed- nesday there was only one question before them which mattered. Should they or should they not accept the Government's offer of a National Arbitration Tribunal which (when district settlements were completed) would have power to review all disputed cases involving both hours and wages ? It is important to emphasize the fact that hours as well as wages would come under review, as When we wrote last week it was assumed from what had been said on the subject by the Government that the Tribunal would have no authority to touch hours. The assumption was a natural one, as it had been stated that the Tribunal was to serve in a " national " capacity, and hitherto. hours had not been a matter of national agree- ment. We are not quite sure now whether the assump- tion of last week that hours were excluded from review was merely an inadequate interpretation of the Govern- ment's first intention or whether Mr. Churchill subse- quently -.persuaded the Government to enlarge the functions -.of the Tribunal.
