MINERS' OUTPUT [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sfit,--Mr. E.
T. Good comments on a statement I made as to relative output. My letter was in reply to one from Mr. Barnes-Austin and was intended to call attention to the facts as published on reputable authority. I am, of course, aware that the 25 per cent, decrease in France is capable of explana- tion. But so is the very much smaller decrease in this country. The one " hard fact" in connexion with the position Is that the output per person per shift remains higher for Great Britain than many other of the principal coal-producing countries except Upper Silesia and the United States, in which latter country the geological conditions are not comparable.
A point not without significance is that while wages have risen 96.92 per cent., managers, secretary, clerical and admin- istrative staff have risen 172.14 per cent. It is also perfectly clear from the Report of the Court of Inquiry that the "root cause of our industrial depression" is not what 1/Ir. E. T. Good suggests. As I said before, I live and practise in a mining district and can appreciate the harm that is done by merely abusive comments on the situation.—
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