3 AUGUST 1929, Page 2

Lancashire in Confusion The most serious industrial dispute since 1926

has plunged Lancashire into confusion—despite the strenuous efforts of mediation made by Sir Horace Wilson on behalf of the Ministry of Labour. The lock-out is effective in about 90 per cent. of the cotton mills, and that means that nearly half a million men are idle. The organized employers persist in their demand for a reduction of 121 per cent. in the men's wages, in order to meet their long-standing difficulties. The workers' associations as resolutely demand reorganization from above, and are able to show that small reductions in price (such as might possibly be caused by the proposed cut in wages) have not hitherto increased the sale of cotton goods.

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