§ Mr. HILLSasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can give the House any information on the dispute between the coal owners of Scotland and the Scottish Engine Keepers Collieries Associations, and if the Comptroller-General of the Labour Department has succeeded in effecting any agreement between the parties in the conference now being held at Glasgow and in averting an imminent strike which must involve, not only the engine keepers but also over 90,000 miners, the closing of all the mines and blast furnaces in Scotland, and dislocation of the whole trade of Scotland and possibly of the United Kingdom?
Mr. BUXTONThe Board of Trade have been in communication with the parties concerned, and, after negotiations, it was arranged that the Comptroller-General of the Labour Department should preside at joint conferences. As a result of these joint conferences I am glad to say that an agreement upon the points in dispute was arrived at late on Monday last. The agreement is subject to confirmation by the respective associations concerned, but it was adopted unanimously by the representatives present at the conferences, and I 1741W have every hope that it will be finally accepted. The notices to cease work which had been tendered by the men, and which would have matured yesterday, have been extended to the 1st April, and I understand that the result of the ballot of the men will be known on the afternoon of 28th March.