Mexborough and Swinton Times November 21, 1902

Denaby and Cadeby Strike

Beginning of The Sixth Month Of The Stoppage.

No Prospect of Settlement

At the present moment there is every prospect that the struggle at Denaby and Cadeby will be prolonged for a considerable time.

The stoppage has now extended to the twenty-first week, and a person of a sarcastic turn of mind might say that so far as it goes we are weeks nearer settlement. But that means very little.

A great deal has been said and printed during the past few days concerning the condition of things at Denaby Main and New Conisborough. It is well-known that the notices issued by the colliery company to their tenants to leave the houses expired on Saturday. Up to yesterday there had been no forcible ejectments, and it is not expected that such extreme measures will occur before the early part of December. A great many loads of furniture have been removed from the colliery village, but this does not mean that a family has left with every load. Nor does it follow that the late tenants of the company, who have thus given up possession of their houses, have left the district. Some miners there are, it is true, who have obtained employment elsewhere, but these are few compared with the great bulk of the men. In the vast majority of cases when a man applies for a job at a local colliery, and states that he last worked at Denaby and Cadeby his application is at once refused and he is sent away unsatisfied.

It has been stated that there are 400 houses empty at Denaby Main and New Conisboro’. A close examination of the streets of the place gives one the impression that the statement is exaggerated. There are a great many unoccupied, but it will require a considerable number more to make up 400. The fact that so many people have left rather than accept the company’s offer and return to work on the old term may be taken as indicative of a determination not to remain on former conditions. Of those who have left a number have crowded into Mexborough, taking up lodgings with friends and relatives, while a few have secured houses, waiting in the neighbourhood in the hope that seen settlement of an acceptable character will he arrived at before very long. This

Notwithstanding these removals, a great majority of those who received notice to quit still stay on in their houses, and it is expected that the Colliery Company, adopting the usual course as between landlord and tenant, will tomorrow (Saturday) cause application to be made at the Doncaster West Riding Police Court for orders giving them power to forcibly eject their tenants. Should such orders be granted the tenants be called upon to leave the houses within 91 days. By that time we shall be within a very few weeks of Christmas, so that there is not much prospect of a season of peace and goodwill for a vast majority of Denaby Main and New Conisboro’ people.

Before forcible ejectment takes place there is, we understand, a meeting to be held which may have an important bearing on the result, inasmuch as officials of the Yorkshire Miners’ Association, who have not yet publicly spoken on the subject of the strike, are expected to make known their views.

The news of the settlement at Thrybergh Hall and Warren Vale has been received with satisfaction by the Denaby and Cadeby miners, and it has served to stimulate the wish that an end would come to their own strike. Up to the present the Denaby and Cadeby Collieries Limited have shown no desire whatever to meet the men. The company have taken the fullest advantage of the one false step made at the beginning of the stoppage, when the men set the pits down without giving the legal fourteen days’ notice. There has been no attempt made by the company to consider the merits of the dispute or to go into the causes which led the men, after they had been on strike a week, to declare by ballot, almost unanimously that they were prepared to hand in notices in order to secure a fresh price list. When the men desired to return to the pits for the purpose of working a fortnight’s notice, the company refused to allow them to do so. It was hardly to be expected that the company would re-start the pits for so short a time. The company now demand that the men shall go back to work on the old terms, so that all grievances may be remedied afterwards. It is hardly reasonable to expect the men to accede to such a request.

Mr. J. Buckingham Pope. in his pamphlet, practically invites the men back to work, and says in almost as many words: If you find that you don’t like the conditions and the wages you may leave at any time by giving fourteen days’ notice.” On the other hand, Mr. Chambers says it is “impossible” to interfere with the price lists. The men know that to go back on the old conditions would not be satisfactory. They are already out of the pit. Is it likely they will be induced to go in merely to leave again in a few weeks?

It now seems certain that an effort will be made to start the pits before long with a few of those who are wit to go back on any terms, and some imported labour. The present tenants are being cleared out of the houses for the purpose of making room for others. That is the ostensible object of the colliery company. Apparently the company are willing to forego the arrears of rent that has accumulated during the last twenty-one weeks if the tenants will give up possession of the houses, but this is as assumption which ought not to be accepted as conclusive. The company have given no public insurance on the point. It is certain that those who remain and resume work in the future will have to pay up the arrears; therefore, it in hardly likely that those who leave will be allowed to escape.

Up to the present the men have given up observance to the watchword. “Be calm,” and since the pits were closed by the announcement of the company there have been no disturbances. Even the removal of large number of loads of furniture has not aroused anything in the nature of a demonstration. Indeed everything is quiet at Denaby, and the “scenes of distress ‘ which have been alluded to in some newspapers are conspicuous by their absence. It is true that the people are not having the same quantity of food as they usually have in times of industrial peace, and the children suffer in this respect.

The frosty weather of the last few days has caused some inconvenience owing to lack of fuel, and in some homes the want of adequate bed covering has been keenly felt at nights. But still the people are not literally starving, and the men especially, being of a hardy nature, it is possible that the cold weather may not inconvenience them as much as it would some other people. The children that one sees in the streets are full of life and play, and appear to be in good health. It has been pointed out that there are families where “strike pay” may be sufficient for present needs.

For instance, a family of seven, including a working father, an adult son, a working lad, and three younger children, would receive a weekly sum at the present rate of strike pay as under:—

Father’s strike pay…. 9s 0d

Elder son’s strike pay…. 9s 0d

Younger son’s strike pay…. 4s 6d

Three children…. 3s 0d

Total…. 25s 6d

That is not a large amount for a family of seven, but it should be remembered that no rent is being paid. The condition of each family will, of course, be greatly changed for the worse if the people are forcibly turned out of houses. Their lot will indeed be hard if they are cast out on the world without shelter or fire in the very depth of winter. Before ‘ an extreme and drastic course is adopted the men’s representatives should at least be given an opportunity of interviewing the management, but there is not much hope for that, as the managements have now on two occasions definitely refused to meet a deputation.

On Teasley there appeared in a Leeds contemporary an article on the Denaby and Cadeby strike. bearing the somewhat cold-blood headline: “The first turns of the screw.” The whole tone of the article indicates that the writer is of the belief that the miners are indeed very naughty children who ought to be whipped most severely until they consent to do as their stepmother (the colliery company) wishes them. The article concludes with the significant words: “Nothing can be hoped for from direst negotiations between the men’s leaden and the masters—at any rate, not yet.” From this it appears that the colliery company intend to make use of the presence of starving women and children as a means to induce the men to go back to work, under a price list which is admittedly badly worded and capable of being misinterpreted in many ways. This may be business, but it is not the kind of feeling that ought to exist between employers and employed at this time of day.