Le Petit Matin
- English mining districts reject the Government's proposals by 4 to 1
- Cession of Angola to Italy by Portugal denied
- A terrible earthquake devastates Karachi
The front page led on Britain's coal dispute. A London dispatch reported that the mining districts had rejected the government's proposals by four to one, settling the question of a national tribunal on wages and hours, and that an alarmed government had asked the railway companies to cut traffic by almost half. A Geneva dispatch said Briand and Stresemann meant to put the Saar question to German and French experts at the League Council in December: the withdrawal of 2,000 French troops, dropping the 1927 plebiscite and a buyback of the mines put at about 250 million marks. The same column described a plan to abolish 1,700 posts. A short item passed on a report from Bombay of an earthquake and cyclone around Karachi causing 25 million rupees of damage. It followed a note on stones thrown at police and windows smashed at the homes of miners who had gone back to work. The page also carried a headline denying that Portugal had ceded Angola to Italy, but the text of that story is not part of this reading.
This reading covers three passages from the page: the London dispatch on the coal districts' vote, a column fragment on the abolition of 1,700 posts and the Saar question, and the end of a miners' item followed by the Karachi report. Most body text is too small and blurred to transcribe, and [?] marks where a passage breaks off. The text transcribed under the Angola headline does not contain the denial itself, so it does not show who denied the cession. The exchange-rate table, addresses and monetary amounts elsewhere on the page are not transcribed.
Translation
English mining districts reject the Government's proposals by 4 to 1
English mining districts reject the Government's proposals by 4 to 1
The Government is alarmed at the situation and asks the railway companies to cut their traffic by almost half
LONDON, 7 October. – The mining districts have decided, by a majority of 4 to 1, to reject the government's proposals. This decision definitively settles the question of the national tribunal which, as is known, was to hear disputes over wages and working hours. There is every reason to believe that the delegates' conference, to be held tomorrow, will confine itself to ratifying the districts' vote. It is probable that the resolution will be [?]
Cession of Angola to Italy by Portugal denied
…ble with the regular collection of taxes. Supplemented by a number of internal measures now being prepared concerning the running of the services, they make it possible to abolish 1,700 posts. These abolitions, already decided, will be carried out with all the consideration that respect for acquired rights entails, as quickly as vacancies and retirements allow. They are, moreover, separate from those concerning the 508 posts already mentioned in the 1927 draft budget.
The next session of the League of Nations
GENEVA, 7 October. – It is said here that M. Briand and M. Stresemann intend first to submit the Saar question to German and French experts at the meeting of the Council of the League of Nations next December. This question involves three points: the first concerns the evacuation of the 2,000 French troops stationed in the basin to guard the railways; the second, the abandonment of a plebiscite in 1927; the third, the buying back of the mines through a combination of German bankers and industrialists, a buyback estimated at about 250 million marks. The suggestion of M. Dariac is not regarded as serious; he would like [?]
A terrible earthquake devastates Karachi
…to prevent miners returning to work from going down the pits. The police, attacked with stones, dispersed the crowd. The windows of the houses of miners who have gone back to work were smashed.
A terrible earthquake devastates Karachi
PARIS, 7 October. – Le Matin learns from Bombay that a terrible earthquake accompanied by a cyclone has devastated the Karachi region. The damage amounts to 25 million rupees. Many inhabitants are homeless.
Context
How the 1926 coal lockout began
The dispute behind the London dispatch grew out of the Samuel Commission's report of March 1926. The report recommended reorganising the coal industry, rejected nationalisation, ended the government subsidy and proposed wage reductions. The coalowners then demanded a switch from national to district agreements, 13 per cent pay cuts and an eight-hour day from 1 May. When the subsidy ended on 30 April, more than one million miners were locked out at midnight. The fight over national versus district bargaining is the key to reading the article. The paper reported that the districts' 4-to-1 rejection of the government's proposals definitively settled the question of a national tribunal for wages and hours, a body that would have handled the industry's terms nationally rather than district by district.
Where the miners' dispute stood in October 1926
When this dispatch was filed, the lockout was in its sixth month, and it was not yet over. Talks between the government and the Miners' Federation reopened only on 5 November, as the lockout dragged into its seventh month. On 12 November the miners' leaders reached an agreement that essentially gave the owners what they had demanded, including a longer working day of eight hours instead of seven. By then some 300,000 miners had already gone back to work through local settlements. The page itself shows that drift back to work. The fragment before the Karachi item describes crowds trying to stop returning miners from going down the pits, police attacked with stones, and smashed windows at the homes of men who had resumed work. The report that the government asked the railway companies to cut their traffic by nearly half comes from the paper's London dispatch.
Angola, Portugal and Italy's African ambitions
Angola had been Portuguese since Portugal founded Luanda in 1575. Its boundaries were fixed by treaties and awards around the turn of the century, and its frontier with Barotseland was settled by the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1891 and a 1905 arbitration award by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. Italy had its own grievances in Africa. Its hopes for territory there were dashed at the post-war peace settlement, and Mussolini came to power in 1922 promising to restore Italy's former might and the glory of the Roman Empire. Márcia Gonçalves's study of colonial redistribution traces newspaper rumours of a sale or lease of Portuguese colonies in Europe, America and South Africa from the early 1930s. It also records Salazar's 1937 declaration that Portugal would not sell, lease, lend or share its colonies. The paper's headline shows that a denial of an Angola transfer to Italy was already news in October 1926, several years before the rumours examined in that study.
Karachi and the Arabian Sea cyclone season
Early October falls within the post-monsoon period, roughly 15 September to 15 December, when cyclonic storms can develop in the northern Arabian Sea. Most of them, however, head for Gujarat in India. One estimate puts the chance of a turn towards Gujarat at 98 per cent. A modern list of cyclones affecting present-day Pakistan records a storm that moved from Gujarat into Pakistan on 3 September 1926. The same list names 1895, 1902, 1907, 1944, 1948, 1964, 1985, 1999, 2007 and 2010 as the years in which cyclonic storms struck the coast, and 1926 is not among them. The earthquake, the damage put at 25 million rupees and the many people left homeless are therefore known here only from the Bombay information that Le Matin received and this paper relayed.
Original
Les districts miniers anglais repoussent par 4 contre 1 les propositions du Gouvernement
Les districts miniers anglais repoussent par 4 contre 1 les propositions du Gouvernement Celui-ci s'alarme de la situation et demande aux compagnies du rail de diminuer leur trafic de presque la moitié LONDRES, 7 octobre. - Les districts miniers ont décidé, par une majorité de 4 à 1, de repousser les propositions gouvernementales. Cette décision tranche définitivement la question du tribunal national appelé comme on le sait, à connaître des difficultés relatives aux salaires et aux heures de travail. On a tout lieu de croire que la conférence des délégués, qui doit se tenir demain, se bornera à entériner le vote des districts. Il est probable que la résolution sera [?]
On dément la cession d'Angola à l'Italie par le Portugal
ble avec la régulière perception de l'impôt. Complétée par un certain nombre de mesures d'ordre intérieur en cours de préparation et visant le fonctionnement des services, elles rendent possible la suppression de 1. 700 emplois. Ces suppressions d'ores et déjà arrêtées vont être réalisées avec tous les ménagements que comporte le respect des droits acquis, aussi rapidement que permettra le jeu des vacances et des retraites. Elles sont d'ailleurs indépendantes de celles portant sur les 508 emplois dont il fut déjà fait état dans le projet de budget de 1927. La prochaine session de la S. d. N. GENEVE, 7 octobre. - On dit ici que l'intention de M. Briand et de M. Stresemann est de soumettre d'abord aux experts allemands et français la question de la Sarre à la réunion du Conseil de la Société des Nations en décembre prochain. Cette question comporte trois points, dont le premier a trait à l'évacuation des 2. 000 hommes de troupes françaises qui stationnent dans les bassin pour garder les chemins de fer; le second, l'abandon d'un plébiscite en 1927; le troisième, le rachat des mines grâce à la combinaison de banquiers et d'industriels allemands, rachat estimé à environ 250 millions de marks. On ne considère pas comme sérieuse la suggestion de M. Dariac qui voudrait que [?]
Un terrible séisme ravage Karachi
pour empêcher la descente des mineurs reprenant le travail. La police, assaillie à coups de pierres, a dispersé la foule. Les fenêtres des maisons des mineurs qui ont repris le travail ont été brisées. Un terrible séisme ravage Karachi PARIS, 7 octobre. - Le «Matin» apprend de Bombay qu'un terrible séisme accompagné d'un cyclone a ravagé la région de Karachi. Il y a pour 25 millions de roupies de dégâts. De nombreux habitants sont sans abri.