, 1912-03-06
MS
ST. CROIX STATION.

London, March 4th-An official return
states that one million fortyaiDe thousand
four hundred and seven miners are on strike,
nccessitatlng the idleness of many thousands.
One hundred thousand Scotch iron workers
will be idle to day, and one million cotton
operators in Lancashire will be SO within a
week.
One Italian gas works, which has never be-
fore bought coal outside Of England, has or
dered three hundred thousand tons from The
United States.
On Saturday Mr.. .Asquith informed the
House of Commons that the owners, except
those of Scotland and South Wales, had ac~
cepted the Governments minimum wage pro
pOsal, but the miners refused because they
were unwilling to subject their schedule to
any sort of revision, and under such condi-
tions the Government felt it was useless to
continue the Conferences. He promised an
other statement to-day.
The miners refused further Conferences,
and the owners having placed their schedule
upon the table, nothing remained except ac-
ceptance unless the miners altered in.truc-
tiuns, and the Delegates returned to their
districts for week end conferences. The
South Eastern and Chatham Railway Com
pany will crop half It's trains tomorrow,
other companies will reduce then services
one quarter, and q speed Of fifteen miles an
hour will be generally adopted to econom-
ize coal. The Amal9am"ted Society of Rail
way Servants has called a meeting to con.
slider assisting the miners by refusing to
handle troops trains or coal mined by the
Government. The Royal Engineers will man
the trains if necessary. Troops are ready
for instant entraining, but the violence, thus
far reported, is negligible, the strikers con
tinuing to show n holiday spirit. Foodstutfs
are diminishing and their replenishment is
a problem, and coal is de0rer IN the French
and German markets, The French miners
have sent offers, and a sympathetic message
promising to strike if necessary, to a5sist,and
in Germany sky four miners meetings were
held yesterday.
\ telegram from Norfolk, Virginia, says
foreign orders for coal exceed the possibility
of their acceptance. American prices are
rising.
Late on Friday afternoon Suffragettes
smashed five hundred windows II the Strand;
Newmarket, Piccadilly, Bond Street, Oxford
Street and Regent Street, Duveen's, Titfany's,
Liberty and Company, several Post Offices
~etcetera. Those on foot used hammers and
those in taxjcabs threw stones. The police
were bewildered by the suddenness Of the
attack, and the multiplicity of the invaders
Mrs -Pankhnrst, with two companions, i'll a
motor-car handed a letter in to Mr.. Asquith's
Downing Street residence, simultaneously
smashing the ball windows, and, while in
charge of constables, Mrs Pankhurst threw
vet another stone concealed III her mutt
through a window. One woman discharged
q revolver into the Colonial Office. One hun
dred and forty elght were arrested. Those
who smashed the most expensive are held
for the sessions, they refused to supply bail.
Upon Mrs. Fankhurst being arraigned, the
prosecutor said the total damage amounted
to five thousand pounds, and the time had
arrived for exemplary punishment. Mrs.
Pankhurst replied that the Suffragettes were
ready to do as much damage as the miners,
whose demands had been granted. "UntIl we
get the power to make law we will break
laws" The magistrate refused to allow her
10 nroceed. and sentenced her to two months
Imprisonment, one companion the same,
another ifty-one days and several others to
various terms down to a fortnight. The
Sufftaget.es, like the miners, are estranging