Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Images
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Disaster
- 2 The Village
- 3 The Coalfield
- 4 The Industry
- 5 The Colliery
- 6 The Aftermath
- 7 Sir Stafford Cripps
- 8 The Working Mine
- 9 The Inquiry
- 10 The Management
- 11 The Firemen
- 12 The Inspectorate
- 13 The Miners
- 14 The Union
- 15 The Reports
- 16 The Last Rites
- Epilogue
- Appendix A Nationalisation
- Appendix B The Davy Lamp
- Appendix C Butties
- Appendix D Owners
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - The Industry
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Images
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Disaster
- 2 The Village
- 3 The Coalfield
- 4 The Industry
- 5 The Colliery
- 6 The Aftermath
- 7 Sir Stafford Cripps
- 8 The Working Mine
- 9 The Inquiry
- 10 The Management
- 11 The Firemen
- 12 The Inspectorate
- 13 The Miners
- 14 The Union
- 15 The Reports
- 16 The Last Rites
- Epilogue
- Appendix A Nationalisation
- Appendix B The Davy Lamp
- Appendix C Butties
- Appendix D Owners
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
By the end of the war Gresford Lodge was, in terms of membership, the second largest in North Wales, but the coalfield of which the colliery was one of the major hopes was not in good shape. During the war the government had set up the ‘Pool’, an arrangement under which the proceeds of the more profitable coalfields were used to support earnings in the less profitable—as the agent of the North Wales miners later reminded his members, ‘to make it impossible for one miner in Nottingham to receive a minimum of 16s.3d. per shift while the miner in North Wales can only get 8s.8¼d.’ But the Pool failed to remove all the anomalies, as another message from the same agent to his disgruntled members in 1917 makes plain.
The reason … that South Wales and Yorkshire miners are better paid than you are is first (I am sorry to admit) that they have better pits: secondly, Yorkshire started off in the year 1898 with 1s.6d. per day more than you … If it had not been for the war, South Wales would possibly have to suffer a reduction in wages. It was the Government that came to the rescue of both Northumberland and South Wales, or they would very likely be worse off than you.
There were thus many on the trade union side of the industry who had benefited in one way or another from government control and were hoping to see it continue indefinitely. There was therefore consternation when, following a sharp but shortlived boom in the immediate post-war years, the government announced early in 1920 that it proposed to hand the mines back to the owners. The consequences for North Wales were starkly spelled out by the agent:
This coalfield is in a very precarious position. If this precious Government (which a large number of you have gone out of your way to create) mean what they say, viz, to decontrol the coal industry on 31st March this year, and financial control on August 31st, who knows how serious it would be. I am told there is a loss on every ton raised in this coalfield. I leave it to you to imagine whether one half of our collieries can be carried on for one week at a loss.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- GresfordThe Anatomy of a Disaster, pp. 27 - 39Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 1999