Crítica
- British Capitalists Propose to Help the Mine Owners
- Belgian Coal Miners Won a Five Percent Raise
- THE ANNOUNCED COCHABAMBA–LA PAZ LONG-DISTANCE FLIGHT WILL TAKE PLACE TODAY
Coal dominated the foreign cables on this page of Crítica for 28 October 1926. A London dispatch from Agencia Austral reported that leading British financiers and industrialists planned a private loan to support the mining industry as the miners' strike dragged on. The text breaks off just as it turns to what the strike meant for the nation. An Associated Press cable from Brussels said Belgian miners and mine owners had agreed a five percent pay rise from the first of December. The same conference put off a decision on lengthening the working day by half an hour, and its chairman blamed the coal shortage on the British strike. From Bolivia came word that a Curtiss aeroplane would fly from Cochabamba to La Paz by way of Santa Cruz, Trinidad and Riberalta, over a stretch of forest with nowhere to land if the engine failed.
Translation
British Capitalists Propose to Help the Mine Owners
LONDON, 28. – It is asserted in this capital that prominent British financiers and industrialists intend to arrange a private loan in order to help the mining industry in the present crisis. Merchants realize that, unless the strike ends shortly, the Nation…
Belgian Coal Miners Won a Five Percent Raise
BRUSSELS, 28. – At a conference held between the representatives of the miners and of the mine owners, it was agreed that from the first of December next the wages of Belgian miners will be raised by five percent. The conference postponed its decision on the request for an extra half hour of work per day. The chairman stressed the fact that the coal shortage has been a consequence of the British miners' strike.
THE ANNOUNCED COCHABAMBA–LA PAZ LONG-DISTANCE FLIGHT WILL TAKE PLACE TODAY
…the long-distance flight of the Curtiss airplane, which had already been announced, will be carried out. The stages will be as follows: Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Trinidad, Riberalta and La Paz. It is pointed out that between Santa Cruz and Riberalta there are no places to land in case of engine failure, since that whole region is forest.
Context
Why British mine owners needed outside money in October 1926
When the London cable was printed, the British coal stoppage was in its sixth month. The Trades Union Congress had called a general strike from 4 to 12 May 1926 in support of the miners, but once it was called off the miners carried on alone. The government had promised the industry a temporary subsidy only until 1 May 1926, and on 26 August ministers, Winston Churchill among them, told the miners' representatives that the coal industry would get no further subsidy. The private loan by financiers and industrialists described in the cable can be read as a plan to raise privately the money the state had refused. None of the records consulted mentions such a loan, so the Agencia Austral report is the only evidence that it existed. The outcome, though, is well documented. Between 27 and 30 November 1926, about a month after this paper appeared, the miners went back to work on lower pay and longer hours.
How the British stoppage reached Belgian pay talks
The Brussels dispatch links a Belgian wage award directly to the British dispute, and the wider record makes the connection plausible. British coal relied heavily on exports, and Britain had already lost ground abroad: it exported less coal during the First World War, which let other countries take over markets. Through the interwar years Britain's export trade kept shrinking, picking up only briefly when political events disrupted coal production in Europe. In 1926 the movement ran the other way. With British pits idle, the British government itself was reported on 25 May to be arranging imports of foreign coal. Continental producers therefore probably faced demand from Britain's old customers and from Britain at the same time, which helps explain how Belgian miners won a five percent rise from 1 December. The request for an extra half hour of work a day, which the conference put off, was the same kind of demand British owners were pressing at home. In June a bill went before the House of Commons to suspend the miners' Seven Hours Act and allow an eight-hour day. None of the sources consulted covers the Belgian negotiations, so the chairman's statement is known only from this Associated Press dispatch.
Bolivian aviation in 1926 and the Curtiss route
The Curtiss flight was planned barely a year after the Bolivian airline Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano began commercial flights. The airline was founded on 15 September 1925 by a consortium of German-Bolivian residents, and on 24 September it began commercial flights between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. The route in the dispatch would have extended that link on to Trinidad and Riberalta before turning to La Paz, crossing the forest the paper warned had nowhere to land if the engine failed. In the 1930s Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano still flew mostly domestic routes, each with several stopovers, which was normal at a time when aircraft range was very limited. The sources consulted do not record how the Curtiss flight was carried out or whether it was completed.
Original
Capitalistas Ingleses se Proponen Ayudar a los Dueños de Minas
LONDRES, 28. - Se asegura en esta capital que destacados financistas e industriales británicos tienen la intención de efectuar un empréstito privado con el fin de ayudar a la industria minera en la actual crisis. Los comerciantes se dan cuenta de que, a menos que la huelga termine en breve, la Nación
Los Carboneros Belgas Obtuvieron un Aumento del Cinco por Ciento
BRUSELAS, 28. - En una conferencia celebrada entre los representantes de los mineros y de los propietarios de minas, se llegó a convenir en que desde el primero de diciembre próximo se aumentarán los salarios de los. mineros belgas en un cinco por ciento. La conferencia postergó su decisión acerca del pedido hecho sobre aumento de media hora diaria de trabajo. El presidente puso de relieve el hecho de que la escasez de carbón ha sido una consecuencia de la huelga de los mineros británicos.
SE REALIZARA HOY EL ANUNCIADO RAID AEREO COCHABAMBA - LA PAZ
realizará el raid del aeroplano Curtiss, que ya se había anunciado. Las etapas serán las siguientes. Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Trinidad, Riberalta y La Paz. Se hace notar que entre Santa Cruz y Riberalta no hay lugares donde aterrizar en caso de falla del motor, pues toda esa región es boscosa.
Source: Source: Internet Archive / Biblioteca Nacional de la República Argentina