COLLIERY WHEELERS DISMISSED
The dismissal of two wheelers from United No. 8 Colliery, Rosewood, on Thursday, was followed by a part-day stoppage at the mine that day and a visit by a Q.C.E.U. check inspector (Mr. J. Pocock) yesterday.

Q.C.E.U. action on the issue has not been decided. Probably its attitude will be defined early next week. A company spokesman sald last night that the men dismissed were two who had come from the Collinsville field soon fter the coal strike last year. He stated that they had had difficulty in seeking employment In West Moreton, but that he had agreed to give them jobs.

The spokesman stated that the manager at No. 8 had given the men jobs as company wheelers. At the mine it had been the custom for company wheelers to wheel two at a time. The men had worked for one day wheeling the customary double, but the next day, the spokesman alleged, they had decided to wheel only one. Coal had piled up because of shortage of waggons at the face.

Asked by the manager why they were not wheeling two, the men allegedly stated that on principle they could not wheel more than one.

The men then were sent to the surface, said the spokesman, and the colliery ceased work. About three-quarters of a shift was lost.

Yesterday morning, the spokesman continued, Q.C.E.U. Check Inspector (Mr. J. Pocock) visited the colliery, inspected the workings and interviewed the manager. The company had decided to put the original wheelers back on the job, said the spokesman, and employees at the mine had agreed to that action.

Last night the Secretary of the Q.C.U. (Mr. C. Tucker) stated that he had been in Brisbane and had not received a report on the matter.

Soon after the two men involved arrived on the West Moreton coalfield from Collinsville after last year’s coal strike, proprietors, who claimed that the men were “agitators,” refused to employ them.

The matter was taken up by the Q.C.E.U. which dealt with it at a one-day stoppage of district mines. At that meeting the union described the owners’ refusal to employ the men as “victimisation,” and as a reprisal closed its books until the men were given jobs.

Closure of union books meant that collieries could not employ new labour.

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YOUNG SCOTTISH MINERS WIN COAL HERE
Young Scottish miners started this week in United No 8 Colliery. They came from Scotland because they felt there were more opportunities here than in Scotland and the towns they were living in were too small, anyway.

Four of them are Messrs. William Clegg, William McMurdo, Robert McDicken, and David Johnstone. Clegg worked at Fauldhead Colliery (Kirconnel, Ayrshire), and McMurdo and McDicken at New Cumnock, Ayrshire.

Clegg, who weighs 13.8 is a Soccer right full-back. “Another, Geordie Young in the making,” he said with a grin. (Geordie Young is Glasgow Rangers’ crack full-back.)

McMurdo is a right half, and Johnstone a right back, although Clegg says, “You canna be right back, too.” McDicken is a centre-forward.

Clegg yesterday praised the results of nationalisation of coal mines in Great Britain. The four, who had worked In the coal face in Scotland, are young, single men. Clegg plays a piano-accordion. Johnstone holds a deputy’s ticket. Yesterday they said they were pretty “broke,” and they were anxiously awaiting pay day.

Yesterday two of them, McMurdo and McDicken, ceased work about 9 o’clock as a result of an mis-shot. In Scotland, they said, there is a desperate need for coal, and miners would not be sent home under the same circumstances. Other work would have been found for them. Possibly other places on the face would be found.

Johnstone, wno came from Lanarkshire, said that miners were being withdrawn from that area because nearly all the coal had been worked out. Families were being transferred by the National Coal Board which guaranteed them homes, gave them free travel, and paid them for the time they lost in shifting. Lanarkshlre miners were going to Ayrshlre and Fifeshire.

Their first impressions of Australia were good, although they were surprised at the high cost of miners’ equipment.

Of Scottish Soccer football they said: “If you want to know the team which plays the best Soccer there it is. Motherwell. The coming team in Scottish football is Hearts of Midlothian.” They added: “We say that although we are Glasgow Rangers’ supporters.”

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Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld), Saturday 31 March 1951, page 6

Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld.) Thursday 19 April 1951, page 8

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Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld, Tuesday, 22 May 1951, page 2

COAL MINING LEASES
In the Mining Warden’s Court yesterday before the Acting Warden (Mr. C. Innes), applications by United Collieries Pty. Ltd., for coal mining lease numbers 390 (Rosewood), 391 (Tallegalla), 392 and 393 (Amberley), were recommended for approval. Evidence was given by Arnold Lambert Binnie. The Moreton Shire Council objected to workings being less than 150ft. under roads, and asked for an assurance that 60 per cent of the coal will be left in blocks of equal average size.