Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 17 November 1893
The Coal War
The Outlook Less Gloomy. Hopes of a Settlement Renewed.
Terms of the Last Conference Rejected.
Meetings in the District. Denaby Main Again.
Another Richmond in the Field.
Relief.
The despondency which characterised the close of last week is by no means so marked at the present moment. Hope has in a measure been revived, and much is expected from Lord Rosebery’s mediation. When the news reached the district that the Government had offered to endeavour to bring the parties together again, the liveliest interest was shown in the fate of the proposal. Lord Rosebery’s nomination as go-between gave general satisfaction, and the prompt acceptance of the offer by the owners and the men served to increase the belief that something would come of the conference. From the very first this belief was openly expressed, and the hope that a settlement is near at hand is very strong all over the district. Should no definite result be obtained from the conference, the reaction of feeling is sure to create greater despair than ever, but this is a contingency which the majority of miners refuse to discuss, and the majority of them prefer to speculate as to how long they will be before they start work after the settlement is arranged. On what terms Lord Rosebery will be able to patch up a peace no one pretends to say, and no one has any idea beyond that he will “find a road” somewhere.
While the arrangement to have been in progress for a conference at the Foreign Office, the miners of the district have been finishing the task of refusing to accept the offer made by the coalowners at the last conference. This has been an almost automatic proceeding. Meetings have been held purely as a matter of form, and the terms rejected entirely as a matter of course.
On Friday a meeting of the Denaby miners was held at the Lodge-room, and resolutions were passed refusing the terms, and recommending the Federation officials for their action. At Elsecar, on Friday evening, the Earl Fitzwilliam miners went through a similar programme, and the Council of the Yorkshire Miners’ Association met on Saturday at Barnsley to consider the owners’ proposals of settlement, and passed a resolution expressing confidence in and approval of the services of the whole of the miners’ representatives at the London conference. It was decided to re-affirm the previous resolutions, and to decline the offer of the coalowners’ suggested terms of settlement, but to express a willingness to return to work at the old rates, the reduction of 10 per cent. off the 40 per cent. to be dealt with by the Conciliation Board when formed.
A conference of the Federation was held at Manchester on Tuesday, and the first business transacted was the consideration of the proposals made by the owners to the joint conference on the 3rd of November, for the men to resume work at the full rate, of which 15 per cent. should be paid into the bank to await the decision of a board of conciliation. The representatives of various districts reported that pit-head meetings had been held, and that in every case the men had rejected by overwhelming majorities the coalowners’ proposals. Under the circumstances and the marked unanimity of the men against the proposals, it was not considered necessary to submit any formal resolution of rejection to the conference, the vote of the men being regarded as sufficient. Thus, with a rapidity that would equal a cheap-jack Doncaster auction, the coalowners’ proposals have come down with a run until the Federation has finally laid them aside as unsaleable.
During the week Denaby Main Colliery has been the subject of considerable discussion, particularly in the immediate neighbourhood, on account of certain statements as to the wages earned by the miners there having been published in the Sheffield papers. It leaked out that Mr. Abraham Lee was responsible for statements contained in one of the papers, and that gentlemen happening to be present at a meeting of unemployed on Wednesday, a large number of miners attended the meeting, and “went at him” on the subject. A breezy debate ensued, the miners accusing him of unwarrantable interference, while Mr. Lee defended himself on the ground that the question was a public one, and he had merely taken steps to get at the truth of it. Of course the meeting did nothing either to prove or falsify the statements, and Mr. Lee did not go so far as to assert that the figures were correct, merely advancing them as the Colliery Company’s version of the question. The wrangle served no particular purpose, except to pass away an hour that might have been even less profitably spent, and excepting also that it gave another local gentleman an opportunity to ingratiate himself with the miners at Mr. Lee’s expense.
The latest figure to appear on the scene in connection with the dispute is that of Mr. E. Beckett, the member for Whitby, who stated in a newspaper correspondence that if he could address a few miners’ meetings in the county, he would be able to convince the miners that they were wrong in their attitude on the wage question. Mr. Pickard promptly offered him the opportunity to try, and on Saturday the council meeting at Barnsley mapped out a programme for Mr. Beckett, and meetings were ordered to be arranged at Church Field, Barnsley, Wombwell, Rotherham, Castleford, Normanton, Hunslet Moor, and Wakefield; while to enable Mr. Beckett to get away from Parliament, Mr. Pickard offered to pair with him for the week. The member for Whitby, however, declared himself unable to address more than one meeting, and that in the middle of the week, and desired that the meeting might be arranged through the editor of the Yorkshire Post. Eventually a meeting was arranged for yesterday.
The Mexborough Relief Committee have carried out their resolution, as reported last week, for the distribution of relief during the present week, and a report of their last night’s meetings and intentions for the forthcoming week will be found elsewhere. The subscriptions are dropping off, and the committee has received more than one letter from late subscribers withdrawing their contributions on the ground that the men might return to work on good wages if they would. The feeding of the children at the schools has been continued, and the Mexborough Co-operative Store has made its weekly liberal distribution of bread and potatoes. Messrs. Goodall’s Drug Stores have given away 250 loaves of bread again this week, and other instances of private benevolence are recorded.
Church Lane Colliery, Dodworth, near Barnsley, recommenced work yesterday on the old terms. The colliery employs 1,200 hands.