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22 MAY 1926

In their reply to the Government’s mining proposals the coalowners urged the need for a return to the eight hour day and for freedom from political interference.

At a joint meeting of railway companies and railway Unions in London arrangements satisfactory to both parties were made for suspension of the guaranteed week. These arrangements, it is stated, will enable the companies to spread out work so as to remove the difficulties which have arisen as to reinstatement of the staff who were recently on strike.

Replying in a speech at Bournemouth to criticism directed against the Trade Union leaders who called off the general strike, Mr J. R. Clynes, M.P., said the whole idea of trying to settle anything by such a method was a delusion; but out of the result they could gather a most profitable experience if the leaders maintained anything like the unity and loyalty of the rank and file.

Mr Philip Snowden writes to the Socialist candidate in the Hammersmith by-election that the great lesson of the recent deplorable industrial stoppage is the need of increased Labour representation in Parliament, so that industrial questions may be settled by peaceful methods and without resort to steps which inflict injury on the country.

21 MAY 1926

At a sitting in London the miners’ delegate conference passed a resolution submitted by the Executive that, while agreeing with the legislative and administrative proposals in Mr Baldwin’s suggested basis for a settlement of the coal dispute, they objected to the proposed wages reduction. A special meeting of the Cabinet was held to consider the situation.

The Chancellor wound up the debate on the Finance Bill in the House of Commons, replying at length to Mr Snowden’s criticisms earlier in the sitting, and dealing with the general strike and the coal deadlock in their effect upon the finance and trade of the country. He emphasised the seriousness of a continuance of the last-named trouble and the futility of further subsidy to the industry. The Bill passed second reading by 324 to 117.

The Secretary for Home Affairs stated in Parliament that during the general strike he stopped £100,000 intended by Russian Trade Unionists as a gift to the British workers; but a payment in aid of the miners, who were engaged in a genuine trade dispute, stood on a different footing.

Attention was drawn in the House of Commons to Major Stemp’s statement at the inquiry into the recent railway accident at St Margaret’s, Edinburgh, reflecting on the humanity of a strike picket in the vicinity.

The Home Secretary, Sir W. Joynson-Hicks, speaking on the general strike and the future, said that no attempt would be made to destroy the legitimate position and influence in the country of Trade Unions. They wished them to continue their beneficent work, but they did not intend that the country should be exposed again to the risks of a lightning universal strike. They would not legislate in a hurry, but would consider carefully what could be done to protect the country and not to injure the legitimate work of the Trade Unions.

20 MAY 1926

It is understood that the Executive of the Miners’ Federation have decided to recommend the delegate conference to-day to endorse the reorganisation proposals in the report of the Royal Commission, but to reject the immediate wage reduction implications in the Government’s proposals and the report of the Commission.

The Secretary for India, in reply to Lord Olivier in the House of Lords, made a statement with regard to the conference agreed upon by the Governments of South Africa and India for the discussion and, if possible, amicable solution of problems connected with the colour bar legislation of the first-named Government.

The House of Commons discussed the Finance Bill on the motion for second reading. Mr William Graham moved the rejection of the Bill. He urged that greater attention should be paid to Income-tax evasion, suggested that £15,000,000 could be saved in three years on armaments by overhead cuts on the three Departments concerned, and that the task of relating finance year by year to financial and industrial conditions might be delegated to a body representative of the House. The debate was adjourned.

Statements said to have been made by Zinoviev, Radek, Trotsky, and other Russian members of the Soviet Government, that the general strike in Britain was political, and an important stage towards the Communist revolution, and that contributions from Russian workmen would enable the lie to be given to the denial of the British Labour leaders that it had a political complexion, formed the subject of questions in the House of Commons.

In reply to questions in Parliament, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs said his attention had been called to the fact that three British subjects had been sentenced to imprisonment on charges of espionage in France. He laid stress on the denial issued by Lord Crewe, on instructions from His Majesty’s Government, when the accused were arrested in December. He had not seen a report of the trial, but he had no reason to suppose that the judgment of the tribunal indicated any doubt of the truth of the statements by His Majesty’s Government.

Their Majesties the King and Queen have found it necessary to cancel their projected visit to Edinburgh.

Publication of the King’s Birthday Honours List is postponed until the 3rd of July.

19 MAY 1926

An official announcement by the three railway Trade Unions states that further trouble has arisen over the failure of the companies to reinstate large numbers of their employees under the terms of settlement.

Further consideration was given by the Executive of the Miners’ Federation to the Prime Minister’s proposals. So that there could be no ambiguity about the terms, and that a clear-cut issue could be placed before the delegates, a further meeting with the Premier was arranged, at which a general discussion in explanation of the Government’s proposal took place.

Mr Frank Hodges, secretary of the Miners’ International, interviewed on the coal situation, said:—“The disaster, for such will be its description for many a long year, arises from the noticeable disposition in recent years to drift away from economic facts.”

Mr Ramsay MacDonald, speaking at Shepherd’s Bush, referred to the general strike, and said that during its meetings he never heard a single member of the Trade Union Congress General Committee whisper an idea, give a piece of advice, or suggest a move or policy that was aimed at a political issue.

The General Council of the Trade Union Congress, urging affiliated Unions and their representatives not to be led into public controversy in relation to the recent strike, states that the Council will take an early opportunity to justify its policy to the authority from which it received its mandate.

Viscount Astor moved in the House of Lords the second reading of the Education (Employment of Children and Young Persons) Bill, which empowers local Education Authorities to make by-laws regulating the employment of children up to the age of 18. Lord Desborough, having given an assurance that the Government meant to deal with this question at the earliest opportunity, and by better and surer methods than that now proposed, Lord Astor withdrew his Bill.

18 MAY 1926

The Chancellor of the Exchequer stated in the House of Commons that the effect of the general strike upon direct taxation would mainly appear in next year’s assessments. He saw no reason at present to propose additional taxation.

The state of the nation’s trade was discussed in the House of Commons on a Board of Trade Vote. Sir Robert Horne gave his views on the question of industrial output and efficiency, and laid weight upon recent testimony to American methods. Replying to criticism of the Safeguarding of Industries policy, the President of the Board of Trade declared that there is not the least likelihood of its reversal by the Government.

The Midwives and Maternity Homes Bill, which has passed the Commons, and which, it was stated, had been taken up as a Government measure, was read a second time in the House of Lords. The Economy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill was read a third time and passed, and the Local Authorities (Emergency Provisions) Bill was read a second time.

In the Finance Bill, the text of which was issued, particulars are given of the machinery for the collection of the betting duties, and of the penalties to be imposed in the case of non-compliance with the regulations.

It is officially stated that, in consequence of the recent emergency, all Territorial Army training camps due to assemble on or before 15th June are cancelled.

Mr Winston Churchill was in negotiation in London with M. Péret on the question of France’s war debt to Britain.

Open water at the North Pole was observed by the Amundsen Expedition.

17 MAY 1926

The return to work following the General Strike continues. A settlement of the dockers’ dispute in London has been reached. Provisional arrangements have been made for the resumption of work in the general printing trade, and an agreement has been framed by London newspaper proprietors and the Unions concerned.

The dockers’ strike has been settled.

The Government’s coal proposals have been considered by a miners’ delegate conference. The Conference was adjourned till Thursday, representatives of the miners are in the meantime to ask the Government to explain certain points in the proposals. The Central Committee of Coalowners is to meet again to-day for further consideration of the Government’s plan. A Cardiff message says that miners are opposed to the proposals.

Raoul Péret, French Finance Minister, arrived in London to discuss with the British Government matters relating to the settlement of the French debt.

Marshal Pilsudski has assumed power in Poland, and a new Government has been formed.

Amundsen’s airship, the Norge, has successfully concluded her trans-Polar flight.

Mohammed VI., ex-Sultan of Turkey, has died in exile at San Remo.

The French National Council of the Miners’ Federation have threatened to promote a general strike unless agreement has been reached before the end of the month on their proposals for higher wages.

Lord Lloyd unveiled at Port Tewfik the memorial to the men of the Indian units of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force who fell during the war.

16 MAY 1926

The Prime Minister’s proposals for settling the coal dispute were reported to have been well received, but miners were still outside the wider industrial peace and coal rationing was expected to continue.

Railway companies hoped services would improve quickly after the end of the strike, although many railwaymen were said to be dissatisfied with the terms agreed between managers and union representatives.

Marshal Józef Piłsudski’s forces were reported to have secured control after fighting in Warsaw, with the country’s president resigning and a new Polish Government being formed.

15 MAY 1926

The railway strike was ended at a conference between the managers and the representatives of the men, and work will be resumed to-day as far as possible. The Unions admit that the strike was a wrongful act. A settlement was also reached in a number of other industries, the Prime Minister’s advice to both sides to get together having been acted on.

The Prime Minister announced in the House of Commons the progress made in the negotiations for a resumption of work by the principal services involved in the industrial dispute, and made known his decision to step between the parties to the mining dispute with a plan of his own.

Mr Baldwin has submitted to the mine owners and the Miners’ Federation proposals which he considers would lead to a reasonable and fair settlement of the mining problem. He has asked them to consider them carefully over the week-end.

The text is given of the agreement reached between the Scottish Alliance of Master Printers and the Executive Council of the Scottish Typographical Association.

Some anxiety is felt for the safety of Captain Amundsen and his fellow-adventurers in the Polar airship Norge. Wireless touch with them has been lost, and they are said to have encountered bad weather.

14 MAY 1926

A hitch has occurred in the resumption of work after the cessation of the general strike. As a consequence the railway Trade Unions have ordered their men to remain out. The Trade Union Congress General Committee also counsel men not to sign individual agreements. Peace, they say, depends on the employers abstaining from attempts at victimisation.

A debate on the industrial crisis took place in the House of Commons.

The airship Norge, returning from its Polar flight, has, it is reported, been sighted off Alaska. Scraps of wireless messages from the airship have been picked up.

It is reported that Marshal Pilsudski’s troops have occupied Warsaw, and that the Marshal has become President of Poland.