Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



521 



THE COAL STRIKE AND THE ROYALTY OWNERS. 

 By Sir Arthur JIarkham. 

 Sir Arthur B. Markham discusses the Coal Strike 

 in the Quarterly Reinew for April. He pays a warm 

 tribute to Mr. D. A. Thomas, who would have effected 

 a settlement long ago in South Wales if the owners 

 had not refused his proposal to arbitrate. One of the 

 chief sources of trouble in South Wales is the large 

 number of miners' agents. There are no less than forty, 

 besides other ofhcials, who have to justify their exis- 

 tence. The writer does not spare the minority of 

 F.nglish owners. He says : — 



As 10 the merits of the dispute, it is only fair to say thai, 



iierally speaking, the majority of owners, where abriormal 



laces have been met with in the mines, have treated their men 



i.iirly ; but a consi>lcrable minority have not done so. This 



<;imc minority have, during all the recent negotiations, .adopted 



1 irreconcilable attitude towards every proposal to improve the 



nditions of the men. I cannot too strongly press the point 



that the responsibility for the strike in the English area rests 



mainly on the owners of this class. They have persistently 



rifused to pay men a fair day's wage for a fair day's work ; and 



it is not to be wondered at that the men at last revolted against 



iliis unfair treatment. Though the relations between the 



Knglish employers and their men have as a rule been fairly 



satisfactory during recent years, on the other hand there has 



'run much unrest in mining districts owing to the reduction of 



irnings by the iMght Hours Bill, the refusal of some owners to 



net the admitted grievance of men working in abnormal places, 



id management ot mines, increased cost of living, and the rise 



::i house-rents. 



blackmail" levied by owners. 



Sir Arthur Markham points out that the landlords, 

 as royalty owners, receive nearly as much from the 

 working of the mines as the masters, who provide all 

 the capital and take the risks. He is espetiallv severe 

 on owners of wayleaves, and says: — 



There is no country in the world which confers on the owners 

 f property such right to bhickmail an industry as is possessed 

 iiy them in this. "Blackmail" is not a nice word, but I 

 submit the facis wholly justify its use. An owner of a few 

 acres of minerals leases his coal for, s.ay, a royalty of 6d. per 

 Ion. After he has been p.aid in full for his own coal, he never, 

 thclcss insists that every ton of other coal conveyed through the 

 underground workings— from which his own coal has already 

 been worked— shall pay him a wayleave for the exercise of this 

 privilege. 



Many owners avail themselves of their legal right, a right 

 which Continental countries abolished many years ago in the 

 interests of "commerce." These wayleave rents are a direct 

 lax on the industry. The public complain of the high price of 

 oal, and blame the miners for asking for improved conditions, 

 ■. ■ I against this scandal of legal blackmail hardly a word is said. 

 Ill many cases the amount paid by colliery comp.anics for way- 

 leaves would exceed the additional cost of paying their men a 

 minimum wage. 



THE MINK.RS SUFFER ; THE OWNERS ONLY CRUMBLE. 



Sir Arthur also exposes the unfounded alarms circu- 

 lated by the owners. He says :— 



When the Eight Hours Bill was Iwfore Parliament, we 

 wi-re told by the chief spokesman of the Mining A«ocin- 

 titm of Great Britain that the additional cost would be Is. 6d. 

 per ton. In point of fact, practically the whole burden has 

 fillen on the miners ; and the .additional cost incurred by the 

 wurrs is extremely umall. Taking nil the pits of the l'nitc<l 



Kingdom together, I doubt whether the cost has been increased 

 on an aver.age by more than id. to 2d. per ton. 



The owners have so often cried "Wolf that even the 

 House of Commons is coming to perceive the exaggeration of 

 their statements. 



TWO SHILLINGS RISE — NINEPENCE FOR MEN, ONE AND 

 THREEPENCE FOR MASTERS. 



In the prospective rise of coals the owners again are 

 shown up. .'\ftcr saying that the extra cost occasioned 

 by paying a minimum wage will be comparatively 

 small, amounting at the most to 2d. or 3d. per ton, Sir 

 Arthur says it is the owners themselves who are in 

 fault in this respect ; for whenever the demand is 

 ahead of the supply, they do not hesitate to raise the 

 price of coal, regardless whether trade is damaged or 

 not. He goes on : — 



When this strike is over, the coal-owners will exact from the 

 consumer the utmost sum they can till the supply is again equal 

 to the demand. It is already settled by the owners that for 

 contr.acts extending over the next year the merchants will have 

 to pay an additional 2s. per ton. The coal-owners' reason for 

 asking this increase is that they h.avc to meet (i) the costs of 

 insurance under the Insurance Act (calculated at Jd. per ton), 

 (2) additional expenses under the Mines Act, ign (?.iy id. per 

 ton), .(3) those under the Minimum Wage Act (say 2id. per 

 ton), "and (4) the increase of wages (due to the agreement made 

 in the old Federated area) to take place when the price of coal 

 reaches 8s. per ton ; this would mean an 'additional cost ol 

 4d. to 5d. per ton. The whole additional cost will therefore 

 not exceed gd. per ton, leaving the owners a clear additional 

 profit of IS. 3d. per ton. The public will do well to remember 

 this fact, for they have been told by the coal-owners that they 

 have been fighting the battle of the) poor consumer. 



CHINESE INDIFFERENCE TO DEATH. 



In the Dublin Review Mr. C. J. L. Gilson, writing on 

 " The Destiny of China," calls attention to the extra- 

 ordinary disregard of human life shown by the 

 Chinese : — 



The Chinese were ever a race much addicted to suicide. In 

 spite of a marked scepticism with regard to the prospect of a 

 life hereafter, they meet death with stoical unconcern. High 

 officials lake poison in their yamens at the bidding of Imperial 

 edicts. Criminals are led to execution talking pleasantly with 

 their friends. The writer knows of a case in point, of a long 

 string of victims to be beheaded in that terrible potter's yard 

 that the tourist can sec in Canton, one of whom askeil serenely 

 of the executioner that he miglil be placed at the end of the 

 line in order to have Icisuri to finish his cigarette. There, 

 enjoying his final smoke, unmoved and scarcely interested, he 

 witnessed the death of his comrades. To the Chinese in 

 bondage life is no more than a scries of troubles, a riddle that 

 is barely worth the guessing; ; and death, the shortest and 

 simplest solution. There are many native proverbs to that 

 effect, of which "every man must be possessed of lice" is 

 highly representative. Only to those who understand— as far 

 as they are comprehensible to the Occidental mind — Chinese 

 temperament and character is it credible that the payment 

 of compensation for lives lost on the railway became, to many, 

 an immediate inducement to commit suicide. Nor were these 

 suicides confined 10 the inhabitants of the northern provinces of 

 Chili and .Shangtung, but nun walked humlrcds of miles in 

 order to get themselves killed that their families might thereby 

 profit. 



Tliui the initial expense of the railway mmpany became 

 tremendous. The directors were obligcti to stop payment for 

 lives lost, and the suicidcn immcdialcly ceased 



