ABSTRACT
The claim of the associated owners that the Eight Hours Act would abrogate the Conciliation Board Agreement and their insistence that they must be reimbursed for their hypothetical if not prospective losses by a series of immediate concessions, had aroused a spirit of resistance in the coalfield. The M.F.G.B. Special Conference on the “South Wales Dispute” met in the Westminster Palace Hotel with a relatively small attendance, over a quarter of the 125 delegates coming from the Welsh valleys. Back in Cardiff, the Executive Council, on Friday, April 1st, decided to issue a Circular “Recommending the Workmen to accept the proposals for a continuance of the Conciliation Board Agreement.” By the end of 1908 the South Wales Miners’ Federation had been in existence for ten years. The subjects taught so far are Sociology (Spencer), Economics (Marshall), Logic and Public Administration.
