The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-06-28 00:00:00

THE AGITATION IN THE COAL TRADE.

A mass meting was held on Wednesday even-
ing, on a piece of ground near the Earl of Dudley's
Arms, Wellington .raad, Dudley. A collier presided,
and there were als, present Messrs. S. Hartill
(Kate's Hill) and S. H. Whitehouse (West Brom.
The Chairman explained that they had met to
consider the best means to prevent a f,urpence per
day reduction. What did they; intend doing ?
(Voices :We mean striking). Would they be good
soldiers or bad on. s 'Good uns."
Mr. Hartill said the men really could not stand
a 4cl a day reduction, yet some of the newspapers
had accused the men's leaders of trying to induce
the men to strike from selfish motives. He wished
they had all read the article which had recently ap-
peared in the Star— (" We can't afford to pay for
it ") which stated that if the miners would only be
loyal to each other they would so: n have the
"good old days" back again. That was a fact, for
it was their disunion that was at the bottom of all
thei: evils. The public were well aware that they
ought to abide by the award of the President of
the Coal Trade ; but they would have been willing
to abide by it had it been a just award, and tad
they been told on what basis the award was based.
The men had been served with notices of the reduc-
tion at many of the pits, but in some cases the
notices were not legal not having been served on
pay-day, and he hoped the men at these pits would
present themselves ready for work at the expiry of
the notices. In conclusion he said it was only a
section of the coalowners who wished to enforce the
reduction, and if the men showed a bold front be
believed they would gain the day.
Mr. Whitehouse the addro-sed the meeting. dis-
claiming the title af "leader," and remarking that
he worked for his living as hard as any of his
hearcrs. If there was a sttike it meant that X 1,601
less a week would go into the pockets of the trades-
men of the district. He heped, before a strike was
declared, the men word t weigh well the consequence
of such a step. They were called a degraded class ;
but if they were, it was oppression that had made
them so. The miner and the puddler were looked
at as if they were not worth the ground they walked
upon. He then proceeded to detail at length the
circumstances which led to the formation of the
Wages Board, which he considered would prove a
blessing to Use miners if it-were rightly managed.
Since thc'dast meeting of t 0 Board the umpire h rd
decided that there should be a reclumion in Wage,
and he s•,c;uld ask the meeing whether they should
accept. this award—(Vices: We shan't have it at
no price). He contended that the award was un-
fair, inasmuch as the umpire, instead of inspecting
the books of the collieries selected, had taken as
gospel the figures that were sent to him by the
masters. Again the umpire had (.I,.clined to hold
another meeting of the Board. Under these cir-
cumstances, h a strike was declared it would not
.be the men's fault. He then addressed a striking
appeal to the teen to join the union—the grand old
ship which had till n )w wsathNe I the ~o ms of op-
pression. Hot et; went on to spe tk of the notices
of the reduction which had been served on Tuesday
and Wednesday in last week, stating that, not
having been served on pay day, the notio,s were
not legal. He contended that the uteti ware as
willing to submit to arbitration as ever, but it must
be a fair and just arbitration. The masters, he
went on to say, had broken the award quite as
much as the men, inasmuch as they did not enforce
it from the 14th of June. It was resolved: (I)l.That
we shall not submit to the reduction of 4d per Lay e
(2) "That all who can get the old rate of Wages
shall continue at work?' After the resolutions
had been put and carried, Mr. Hartill said it was
not the coalowners at all but the ironmasters who
wanted a drop. In fact some of the bona fide coal-
owners ware of opinion that wages and the price of
coal were far too low.