INTERNATIONAL CAPITALIST CUSTOM
"The gas explosion in the Yamano colliery in Fukuoka Prefecture took the lives of 236 coal miners Wednesday," the June 4 Japan Times reports the Tokyo Shimbun as saying in an editorial, "The mine, since it parted from its former parent firm in 1962, doubled production per head in 1963 and 1964, which surpassed by far the nation's average in that period. The high production, however, was attained through a greater number of casualties, which was also doubled. The fact indicates that management had failed to take adequate safety measures in pushing the policy to increase produc-~ tion. The Yamano mine blast was the third of its kind this year. These disasters can hardly be called accidents as they were all caused by explosions of gas deposits in the colliery. We regret to notice that despite the safety measures that were established since the Mike mine disaster in 1963, which killed 458 miners, nee improvements had been made to ensure the safety of coal miners.
DEPRESSION HITS JAPAN