Mining Industry (Conditions and Wages).

Part of Orders of the Day — Consolidated Fund (Appropriation) Bill. – in the House of Commons at on 13 December 1922.

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Photo of Mr Bonar Law Mr Bonar Law , Glasgow Central

The hon. Member began with a remark which is obviously true, that no speech can be entirely satisfactory. I would congratulate him in one respect. When I filled his place as Leader of the Opposition, I always felt that my speech was moderately satisfactory if it excited the enthusiasm and won the whole-hearted support of those who sat behind me. The hon. Member's speech fulfilled those conditions. He referred, in a portion of it, to a deputation of miners' representatives which I received the other day. We spent a long time in discussing various aspects of the question. May I suggest to the hon. Gentleman that he did not quite show the amount of logic which I would have expected from one of his nationality, when he said that the statement that I had recommended the miners to come to me some time next Session and, if they then asked for an inquiry, I would consider it, was the real reason for this Debate? The real question which interests those who are engaged in the industry is, I am sure, not that of an inquiry. To that I will refer later on. It is not an inquiry going to the root of the evil. It is a question as to the best methods of having better conditions in the industry. That is the point aimed at. There is really, I think, no division of opinion in any part of the House as to the very deplorable conditions of this industry. I said so to the deputation, and I think the reason must be obvious to every Member of the House. It is this. Over and over again, during the War and subsequently, we urged upon the miners the importance of output as a remedy for the evils from which they were suffering. I do not know that there is anything to be gained by going back on past history and considering the mistakes that have been made. One hon. Member stated that all this trouble dated from the time when the Government decontrolled the industry. It happens that that action was taken after I had left the Government, but there was a very great deal to be said in favour of the view which the Government then took.

In introducing the Bill my right hon Friend who at the time occupied the position of President of the Board of Trade, made it perfectly plain that what was meant was to decontrol the industry at the moment when conditions became normal. Of course there will always be a difference of opinion as to what are normal conditions. I believe my right hon. Friend used more exact words than I have given, but the main point was that he said that control would cease when things became normal, and Lord Peel, who was speaking in the House of Lords at about the same time, declared that when export and home prices were brought together, then control would cease. Still, there is no object in going back on that. We have to look at facts as they are. In my view the reason why we are entitled to regard the condition of this trade as so bad is that the men have done precisely what everybody asked them to do. They have worked, undoubtedly, in such a way as to produce the best output. One hon. Member has declared that, with practically the same number of people employed, the same amount of coal is turned out with the seven-hour day as before the War was turned out with an eight-hour day. No one will deny that. Taking that into account, and taking into account also the belief—which I think is sound—that the only chance of prosperity for the coal industry is to get a big output at the lowest possible price, so as to enable the other trades which depend upon coal to nourish also, I do think that, when the miners have done so much, it is in the highest degree deplorable that we should have to admit that, taking their wages, even with the increased standard, and comparing them with the cost of living, they are something like 20 per cent, worse off than they were in the period immediately before the War.

I say that quite frankly, but hon. Gentlemen opposite will not complain if I make a little qualification. The year which is quoted was, as everyone knows, an exceedingly good year in the coal trade. Although I have not looked into the figures, yet, knowing that that was a good year, I am sure I am right in saying that, if you take the average of five or 10 years before, you would not find, taking the cost of living and wages together at this moment, they were much worse than during the period to which I refer. I think that is right, but I am not making a point of it, for, whatever the reason, after they have worked so well, it is in the highest degree deplorable that they should be worse off than before the War. There is another qualification that we have to make. We know that the coal miners run great risks in addition to the ordinary hardships of their life, and I am sure that there is no one in this House, on whatever bench he may sit, who would not have liked to see a real and permanent improvement in the coal miners' standard of living. But we have to take this into account, and it is undoubtedly true, that, bad as is the position of the coal mining industry, it is not nearly so bad as that of many other trades at the present time. Take, for instance, two trades which greatly concern and interest some of the new recruits in the present Parliament who have come from the city which I also represent— [An HON. MEMBER: "Misrepresent!"]— or misrepresent—there will always be a difference of opinion about that.

Take the shipbuilding and engineering trades. The wage increase is almost the same as in the case of the miners, and, therefore, the wage rate, as compared with the cost of living, is very much the same. The figure in the case of the miners, I think, is 43, as against 45 or some figure like that. Consider another factor, and it is a terrible one— unemployment. The coal mining trade is, I think, as free from unemployment as any industry in this country at the present moment. [Interruption.] I am talking of the trade as a whole. The unemployment in the trade as a whole is under 5 per cent. [HON. MEMBERS: "Oh, oh!"] Those are the figures, and I am sure that anyone who has examined them will agree. In the shipbuilding trade the unemployment is something like 36 per cent. It is obvious that, however bad the coal trade may be—though this is no comfort to those engaged in the industry—it is not nearly so bad as many other trades in this country.

We have to consider what can be done by way of remedy. I do not think it is much use my dealing with the different statements that have been made as to the cause of the bad trade. For example, it was pressed upon me, and I think it has been referred to in this Debate, that it was due to the reparation coal sent from Germany to France. I am sure it is obvious to anyone who has studied the question that that, at all events, is not a serious factor in the present situation. If coal from Germany goes to France, the coal trade is aware of it, and the gap which is left in one place is filled in another. As a matter of fact, we have been sending to Germany large quantities of coal during recent times. That, therefore, is not a factor. The hon. Member left out of account altogether the different remedies suggested by the miners who met me. I am going to try, quite fairly, to consider in what way they would help the position. The view taken by nearly every speaker to-day, and it was presented to me quite definitely at this conference, was this: "This is the position of our trade; it is up to you, the Government, to put it right" Does my hon. Friend really say that?