Not that 'the mine-owners, so far as we can see,
have begun to recognize the necessity for departing from their ancient habits and methods. The term " unbending refusal used by Mr. Graham the other day, with regard to the mine-owners' rejection of the Government's Conference proposal, seems hardly exaggerated. It is no use waiting any longer for respect and confidence to grow as between owners and miners, and a recent letter by the Prime Minister to a- Labour candidate leads us to hope that the Government will be bold, where boldness is needed. A letter from Sir G. B. Hunter in the Times of Monday, attributing the woes of the coal trade to Government and Commission interference, is dismally revealing. While protesting sagely enough• against the setting up of coal-rings to increase the price of coal to the consumer, he ignOres altogether the basic fact that at present there is over-production in the industry, and that there are already too many persons employed in it. It is emphatically not a case of " selling and producing more of it " (coal). The coal-owners are still thinking in terms of laissez-faire economics, and they continue to ignore the findings of the League of Nations Committee.
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