If the miners are wise they will think less of
Mr. Cook's exhortations, and more of the appalling results of hS policy. The colliery owners now have a great opportunity for removing bitterness from the minds of all reasonable men. If prosperity returns to the mines- Mr. Cook will soon be forgotten. And there is no reason why prosperity should not return. At present the elation of the coal market is, of course, artificial—the result of a long scarcity. But artificial though the present comparative boom is, it is likely to last for at least a year. Meanwhile the Government-and the colliery owners ought to make a point of proceeding with the necessary reconstitution of the mines, not forgetting the enormous advantages which will come from turning coal into oil and all its by-products. Research is seldom wasted, but here • research has a magnificent prospect before it. The object ought to be to have the conditions of permanent prosperity already established when the term of artificial prosperity conies to an end. * * * *
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