At the same time a National Mining Board consisting of representatives
of all the interested elements, colliery-owners, managerial and
technical staffs, miners, and other grades of workers, and coal
consumers would be formed (the Mines Department already has a National
Advisory Committee); the mining engineering element must be strongly
represented, and provision must be made for first-class technical advice
being always available. It would then be the business of the National
Mining Board to work out its policy and decide upon the broad principles
which it wishes to weave into the existing structure of the coal-mining
industry by means of its power of granting leases. The following
principles will readily occur to most people, and are supported by
evidence which is, in my humble judgment, convincing, given before the
various commissions and committees which have inquired into this
industry during recent years.
Firstly, More Amalgamation or Unification of Collieries. At present
there are about 3000 pits owned by about 1500 companies or individuals,
and producing an aggregate output of about 250 million tons per annum.
Already there have been many large amalgamations. (i) Many fortunately
situated small pits making a good profit will be found, but on the whole
small collieries are economically unsound. In many cases at present the
units are too small, having regard to the class of work being done, to
the cost of up-to-date machinery and upkeep and to the variableness of
the trade. Broadly I believe it to be true that the larger collieries
are as a general rule more efficient than the smaller ones. (ii) In
respect of co-operation in pumping, larger units would frequently make
for efficiency and reduced cost; Sir Richard Redmayne, speaking of South
Staffordshire before the Sankey Commission, said that we had already
lost a large part of that coalfield through disagreement between
neighbouring owners as to pumping. (iii) The advantages of larger units
in facilitating the advantageous buying of timber, ponies, rails,
machinery and the vast amount of other materials required in a colliery
will be obvious to most business men.
I do not propose to chop up the coalfields into mathematical sections
and compulsorily unify the collieries in those sections. I am merely
laying down the broad principle that to get the best out of our national
asset the National Mining Board must bring about through its power of
granting leases the formation of larger working units than at present
usually exist. The geological and other conditions in the different
coalfields vary enormously, and these form a very relevant factor in
deciding upon the ideal unit of size. It is conceivable that in certain
districts all the colliery-owners in the district, with the aid of the
National Mining Board, would form a statutory company on the lines of
the District Coal Board, described in the Report made by Sir Arthur
Duckham as a member of the Sankey Commission. One advantage accruing
from unification (to which recent events have given more prominence) is
that it mitigates the tendency for the wages of the district to be just
those which the worst situated and the worst managed colliery can pay
and yet keep going, and no more. This tendency seems to be recognised
and mitigated in the Agreement of June, 1921, on which the mines are now
being worked. Secondly, Provision for Progressive Joint Control, that
is, for enabling all the persons engaged in the mining industry either
in money, in brains, or in manual labour, or a combination of those
interests, gradually to exercise an effective voice in the direction of
their industry.
Some of the arguments for this principle appear to me to be (i) that, as
indicated in my opening remarks, a sufficiently large number of the
manual or mainly manual workers in the industry ardently desire a
progressively effective share in the control of the industry; (ii) that
this desire is natural and legitimate, having regard to the great
increase in the education of the workers and the improvement in their
status as citizens, and that so far from being repressed it should be
encouraged; (iii) that it is the natural development of the system of
Conciliation Boards and (occasionally) Pit Committees which has
prevailed in the industry for many years, though more highly developed
in some parts of the country than others. So far, these organs have been
mainly used for purposes of consultation and negotiation; the time has
come when with a more representative personnel, while not usurping the
functions of a mine manager or, on a larger scale, the managing
director, they must be developed so as to exercise some effective share
in controlling the industry. (iv) While working conditions are not so
dangerous and unpleasant as the public are sometimes asked to believe,
the workers in this industry are exposed to an unusually high risk of
injury and loss of life, and thus have a very direct interest in
devising and adopting measures for increased safety. These measures
nearly always mean expenditure, and thus an increased cost of working,
and so long as their adoption (except in so far as made compulsory by
the Mines Department) rests solely with bodies on which capital alone is
represented and labour not at all, there will be fruitful cause for
suspicion and discontent. The miners are apt to argue that dividends and
safety precautions are mutually antipathetic, and will continue to do so
as long as they have no part or lot in the reconciliation of these
competing obligations. The question is not whether this argument of the
miners is well-founded or not: the point is that their suspicion is
natural, and any excuse for it should be removed. (v) The exceptionally
large items which wages form in the total cost of coal production
indicates the important contribution made by the miners to the welfare
of the industry and justifies some share in the direction of that
industry.
Upon the basis of typical pre-war years, the value of the labour put
into the coal mining industry is 70 per cent. of the capital employed,
and 70 per cent. of the annual saleable value of the coal, and yet this
large labour interest has no share in the management of the industry.