MINERS' WAGES (SCOTLAND). (Hansard, 3 March 1922)

§ Mr. ADAMSON
I desire to call the attention of the Secretary for Mines to the serious condition of affairs that exists in the Scottish mining industry. In the course of the present week another reduction has been imposed upon the miners in the Scottish mines, amounting to 9d. a day, or roughly 4s. a week. This would have been bad enough if it had represented the only reduction that had taken place within recent months, but this is one of a series of reductions in the course, of the last year, amounting in the aggregate to no less than 12s. 1d. This brings the wages of the men down to 8s. 4.8d.,. or a weekly wage of little over £2, which is less than the wage that is being paid to the lowest class of labourer in this country. When one takes into account the degree of skill required in mining, and the enormous risks run by these men,, that is treatment into which, I think, the Government are bound to look, 815 and, if they possibly can, remedy. This reduction brings the wages down to 35 per cent, over the 1914 wage, whereas the cost of living at the moment still stands at 88 per cent, over that of 1914. It shows that the mining community in Scotland must be in a serious and deplorable condition.
In certain districts, particularly with regard to lower paid men, there are men, working the whole of the time they can get during the week, and having to apply to the parochial authorities for as much money as will enable them to supplement the meagre income wherewith they are able to buy sufficient food for their families. This is at a time when there are still substantial profits being made by certain of the mining companies. In one case, in my own district, the other day, a dividend was declared of 10 per cent. free of Income Tax. This company represents a third of the output in my own district. That is not a solitary instance. One could quote instances in every part of the mining districts where there are still substantial profits being made. I had my attention drawn the other day to another instance, in another part of the country, where one of the mining companies was still able to pay a dividend of 20 per cent, free of Income Tax. The Secretary for Mines may ask me, What have the Government got to do with this question? My answer to that is that the Government are responsible for the policy that has brought the mining industry of the country to its present deplorable condition. It was their policy that forced the miners, not only in Scotland, but in the other parts of the British coalfield, to accept the present agreement by which their wages have been steadily run down to starvation point. This policy the Prime Minister was so enamoured of at the time that he said it was the greatest profit-sharing scheme that had even been applied to British industry. The view that the miners have of this scheme that the Prime Minister spoke of in such glowing terms is that it has been an instrument for bringing down their wages, as I have said, to starvation point.
Under the Agreement the men have no say in the selling price, or in running the industry. The mineowners, too, have recently said that they are not even going to be consenting parties to Part II of the 816 Act of 1920. They, by this Agreement, are simply gambling with the wages of the men. Are the Government prepared to do anything by way of remedying this deplorable condition of affairs in the Scottish mining industry? My suggestion is that they should at once institute an independent inquiry. It is neither to their credit nor to the credit of the country that the industry upon which the whole of the rest of British industry depends should be as it is, and that the men should be working for wages less than is paid to any other single industry. In view of the dangers of their calling, such treatment should not be meted out to the miners.

§ Mr. DUNCAN GRAHAM
In supporting this request for an inquiry, may I say that it is one of the curious positions in which we happen to find ourselves that where the men work hardest, and produce more coal than in any other part of the coalfield, they should get less wages, and that the converse should be the case also? The conditions are even worse than they have been pictured by my right hon. Friend. I had occasion to meet colliery managers before the present reduction came into operation and to discuss the claim for a reduction of 10s. per day. Apart from the present general reduction, there is a system in Scotland of "partial reduction." I have had, as a result of this, many instances to deal with in the last few months where men have had reductions of anything from 9s. to 10s. per day. The result is that you are getting an atmosphere created in the Northern part of the coalfield which is not likely to conduce to peaceful working. This afternoon we are attempting to approach this matter from a constitutional standpoint. We approach the Government, who are largely responsible for the conditions now obtaining, perhaps more so in Scotland because the Government pursued a policy during the controlled period and the time of the War which absolutely destroyed the Scottish coal-export trade. That trade had to be won back again, and I cannot say that I am pleased that it has been won back. It has been won back because the Scottish coal owners are willing to sell coal to our late German enemies for considerably less than they are willing to sell it to their compatriots at home. In the districts which supply the home trade the wages 817 are nearly double those paid in the districts which supply the foreign trade. If coal is being sold at its economic value in the home market then it is being sold at considerable less than its economic value abroad. We want coal sold at such a price as will secure for the men engaged in the industry a decent livelihood, which they are not getting just now.
If the Government fail to take some action you will have trouble in the Scottish mining districts, and rightly so. I speak not only as a Member of Parliament but also as a miners' official, and I am not prepared to advise the men to continue working under the conditions which obtain at the present time. I do not want war and nobody on these benches wants it, but peace can only be secured and maintained on such a basis as will enable the miners to have fair and equitable conditions. I agree that the Government cannot do much under the agreement, but they can at least institute some sort of inquiry, and then they will find that the conditions are such that they never dreamed of when the agreement was entered into. That agreement is not worth the paper it is written on as far as Scotland is concerned. Possibly the Scottish coalmasters are in a worse position than the others, but we do not get any information and our wages have gone down until the men are beginning to feel that they would be just as well off if they were simply depending on parish relief. That is a horrible state of things which may lead to trouble. Some good might be got out of the agreement if it is carried out, and I appeal to the Government in the interests of peace and, I hope, far more prosperous conditions in the future, to set up some sort of inquiry into the conditions obtaining in the Scottish coalfields and to endeavour to provide a system which will enable the men in the mining industry to work under better conditions.

§ Mr. ROBERTSON
I want to join my voice to that of my two colleagues in pressing the absolute and urgent necessity for some inquiry into the conditions of the miners' wages in the Scottish mining districts. The wages have been brought to this position undoubtedly by the Government policy. It is bad to find dividends being paid by colliery companies and workmen's wages being subsidised out of the rates. Surely it is something calling for inquiry. Under the old agree- 818 ments we had some access to prices and profits, but under the existing agreements we have no such access. Most of the coalowners are also manufacturers of steel and iron, and it is in their interest to get cheap coal. We have an agreement which was practically forced upon us, and our men, and especially the lower paid men, are in a position of semi-starvation. I am a man of peace, and, if the Government want to prevent trouble, now is the time for them to intervene and give some lead. I hope that the request for an inquiry will be granted and that we shall be able to clear up some of the difficulties that exist at the present time.

§ The SECRETARY for MINES (Mr. Bridgeman)
Nobody regrets more than I do the low rate of wages in the colliery districts, whether in Scotland or elsewhere, but I am afraid that it is only one of a large number of cases of distress, and that other industries are sometimes even worse and more hardly hit. Hon. Members have spoken as if Scotland required some special treatment, as distinct from the rest of the coalfields in these islands.

§ Mr. ROBERTSON
The wages are much lower.

§ Mr. BRIDGEMAN
I am not quite sure about that point. I should like to look at the South Wales wages. It is rather difficult to consider this question as it applies to Scotland without considering other districts as well, and I have not had any appeal from the other districts for any kind of inquiry such as that suggested. This is not the time for me to go into the question as to how far the Government are to blame for the present state of things. I will merely content myself by saying that I entirely disagree with that view and that I cannot for a moment accept it. I do not understand that it is claimed that there is any violation of the settlement arrived at in July, but that it is merely the result of bad trade. Of course, if there is any special case in which, owing to the terms of settlement not being observed, hardship is being caused, I shall be glad to look into it; but I do not think it is quite correct to say that the terms of settlement arrived at are not open to the inspection of the representatives of the Federation.

§ Mr. D. GRAHAM
The auditors have access to the books, but they are sworn to secrecy, and they give us no information.

§ Mr. BRIDGEMAN
There are auditors representing both sides, and therefore the complaint is against your own auditors rather than the Government. The real cause of this trouble is the slump in trade in this country, though I am glad to say there are signs of some slight improvement. Certainly the export trade is improving, and hon. Gentlemen know perfectly well that owners do not sell their coal abroad cheaper than they need because they want to sell it cheaply, but because they want to recover the market. There is some hope that when they have recovered the market which they lost during the two stoppages of work in this country, prices may improve. The number of people who are working short time is less than it was in October, and so I hope there is a little less suffering in that direction. I trust, too, that the effect of cheaper coal will have an influence on the cost of living generally. At the same time, I quite admit that the position is a very gloomy one, and that the position of many miners in Scotland and elsewhere is very sad, and is being borne with very great patience all over the country. But, after all, we are all going through a very bad 820 time. It is no use blaming each other for what I do not think is the fault of any particular industry or any particular person. I should be very glad to hear any evidence that either of the three hon. Gentlemen who have spoken can produce which would give me any basis for an inquiry, but I do not want them or the House to think that it is possible for my Department to provide relief, or for me to go behind or alter the terms of settlement, which must run its full course. But if there are any cases in which it is thought that the agreement is not being observed, or if there is anything I can do by consultation with owners in Scotland to mitigate the situation, I shall be very glad to put the matter before them; but I would like, before I do so, to have some concrete cases on which I can base any appeal I might make to them.