February 11th
Reported Desire Of The Manager To Settle Matters.
The miners again met at the Mason´s Arms yesterday morning, it having been freely reported that Mr. Warburton was desirous of the men returning to work on the same terms as those in force before the pit was closed.
The men who had conveyed this intelligence to the Lodge were asked to state what they had heard on the matter, and from what was stated during the course of the meeting, it appeared that two or three of the officials had stopped some of the men and made the following observations :-
” If you will only send a `sensible´ deputation to the Manager, he will allow you to go back to work. He won´t let the `packing´ stand in the way.”
If this was done, the officials said, there was no doubt that the matter would settled.
The remark was also made that they might have been at work ten days ago.
The Chairman said if Mr. Warburton wished to see a deputation, so as to settle matters to their satisfaction – and they all knew that resolution had been passed – they would be very glad to let some of the men meet him. ( Hear, hear )
A Miner said he thought the deputation who had previously waited on the manager had been composed of `sensible´ men, and he did not like such a reflection.
The Chairman : If by our sending a deputation to him we can get him to let us go back on the same terms as those in vogue when we came out by all means let us do so. ( Hear, hear )
A Miner : It will be far better if we can settle matters ourselves without the aid of the delegates from the district. ( Hear, hear )
The Chairman : If the district deputation had kept away the last time we should have come to much better terms. We should have got the dispute settled at a half-penny per ton, but instead of that they took 5%. ( Hear, hear )
It was resolved that a deputation should meet the manager that morning, and the meeting was adjourned until the afternoon.