30 APRIL 1926
Further negotiation took place in London for a settlement of the coal dispute. The discussions were carried on until 12.30 this morning, when it was announced that the owners will put specific proposals before the Prime Minister to-day, and he in turn will meet the Joint Committee of the Trades Union Congress and the miners.
Sir Wm. Joynson-Hicks, Home Secretary, at a meeting at Twickenham, said he was quite sure that the Prime Minister would not ask for a General Election on account of the coal trouble. The Government would be false to the trust reposed in them if they were to run away thus. He referred to the possibility even of a general strike, and asked his hearers to believe that if there was any man who could bring peace to-day it was the present Prime Minister.
Delegates of the London engineering trades, representing over 40,000 men, recommend strike action on the wages question. Indignation was expressed at the insulting proposals of the employers.
Measures taken for the protection of a number of ancient monuments were stated by Viscount Peel in the House of Lords to have been taken by the Office of Works. Ruins on an island off the Argyllshire coast, which contain the remains of early Christian monuments, were mentioned by the First Commissioner.
How best to develop trade with the rest of the Empire was the subject of discussion in the House of Commons. In Committee of Supply on the Civil Service Estimates, votes for expenditure in respect of various departmental buildings, Royal parks and pleasure grounds, Consular buildings, &c., were agreed to.