Evening star., 1947-11-09

100 per cent 1t Will be unprontabe 10 mine III alte
three or four years.
Extra Money No Incentive
At these mines it said that money was no longer
strong enough incentive to make miners work harder
and longer because there little to buy with the
textra money There also 50 per cent income tax
on the extra money, known at PAVE (pay as you
earn that could be avoided at this time OF the
wear if the miner and his family picked potatoes at
30 shillings $6) day. Miners sons are no longer
invariably going into the mines as they did In the
old days The schoo-leavng age recently raised
from IA to IS years. cutting down another immediate
supply of labor and many-not all-returnlng soolerS
who had been miners finding easier work to do
Food apparently is not the problem for the British
miners as is in the Ruhr and in France had the
regular miners ration at luncheon with Sir Ben
Smith chairman of West Midland Division of the
National Coal Board which has supervision OF STAFFORD
shire, Shropshire and Warwickshire mines, and his
divisional associates Sir Ben is old trade union and
government official He started out as ptboy when
he was 13 years old and in the wartime coalition
government he was Parliamentary secretary of the
Ministry of Aircraft Production before going to Wash
ngton Minister Resident for Supply On his return
to England he for year Minister of Food He
IS So years old, but his fine health makes him look
of about so.
His headquarters are in HimSey Hall, of the
former estates of Lord Dudley the friend of the Duke
of Windsor Sir Ben sharply sEitzed in the Con-
servatve press for buying the fine old Georgian coun-
try house with its 70acre park and lake but he insists
that he made good bargain at s220,OO0 because an
office building for his staff would have cost $50000O.
Meals Substantial
And besides" he remarks, there is several mil
lion dollars worth of coal right under this estate We
could tear down the house and start mining. But
we'll save that for later years
The meal was substantial and filling, with slice
to Americans thin slice-of beef There were plenty
of potatoes, green vegetables and cheese.
That evening had pthead supper the same the
miners are given after their eight-hour shift. There
was double portion of meat, the working miners
ration Despite this substantial food only 80 per cent of
the miners avail themselves of this canteen. Their
wives are not eligible and want their men to come
home To provide food is the miners wife traditional
duty and pleasure. The pithead baths and meals en-
courage absenteeism from home.
The good" mine employed 5000 workers and was
supervised by "Mr. Cope" the he was called
by everybody. He about IS years DID, had started
as pitboy at 49, when he walked miles to and
from the coery every day and then bicycled 10 miles
| to night school. Under private ownership, he had
managed single mine the Coal Board had assigned
him two more. He receives the same salary, f2,ooo
! 49, 00O) year as under the old system When I
observed that this looked like the stretch OUT he
replied that he was negotiating for increased COM
pensation Whether he will get it is probematlcal.
Higher Coal Board officials had said that there was
tendency to level out" equalize the pay of the
their own union for bargaining purposes. Heretofore
they regarded themselves part of management and
had not unions but engineering societies
More Faults Than u. S. Mines
! Mr. Cope knew every one of his old employees by
name and work. He proud OF the improvements
he had made in his mine under private ownership
and the improvements that had been laid out and
were stopped when the Labor government. having a
mandate for coal naturalization, came into power
The Coal Board will carry out the old plans with this
difference. In the old days the three mines Cope
now supervises had three different owners. Now the
work above and below ground will be consolidated
This it is hoped will bring more economical operation
and higher output and better distribution The expec-
tation if realized, will be one of the great Dement'S
of naturalization.
The trip to the coal face and return was an ordeal
for one not used to sucA rgors. Dressed in miner
clothes with 3-pound helmet and 5-pound shoes
we went half mile underground, then rode on the
small coal cars carried by endless cable and then
we walked British coal seams narrower and have
more faults than those of American mines. Where
in the United States. the seam would be thick and