Coal Industry Commission Act 1919

The Coal Industry Commission Act 1919 (

nationalisation

of the coal mines. It also considered the issues of working conditions, wage and hours.

Background

A

R.H. Tawney

were the three economists on the commission, all broadly favourable to the miners. Others were appointed from business and the trade unions.

The commission offered compromises on wages and hours, and also recommended

nationalisation to continued private ownership. The government cited this disagreement as a reason to reject nationalisation.^[2]

The public impact of the report was such that, in Ben Travers' comic novel A Cuckoo in the Nest (1921), the Rev. Cathcart Sloley-Jones, under the illusion that he was addressing a Member of Parliament, "lowered his voice into a rather sinister whisper: 'What is Lloyd George's real view of the miners' report?'"^{[citation needed]}

^ "Labour legislation, The Sankey Committee 1919". The Cabinet Papers. The National Archives. Retrieved 12 June 2021. Lloyd George initiated the Sankey Commission, which included several miners' leaders, to consider wages and ownership. The Committee worked out a compromise on wages and hours, and recommended state ownership of the mines - but the government refused to accept nationalisation.
^ ^a ^b ^c Taylor, A. J. P. (2000). "IV: Post-war, 1918-22". England 1914 - 1945. London: The Folio Society. p. 122.