Sir George Grey believed that the State might with advantage resume the possession and keep the control of all the coalfields and mines in the colony; that then, producing coal at the cheapest page 423 page 424possible rate, it would foster manufactures and increase all facilities for commerce. In this, as in other directions, he believed that a co-operative system of industry, adopted and supported by the Government, would be of incalculable advantage, and would possibly prepare the way for a wiser and better economy than that provided by the intense individualism and competition, which, while they have pushed our modern civilisation rapidly forward, have brought in their train the menacing host of labour difficulties which threaten the existence of society. And in this belief he was strengthened by his own personal observation of the circumstances attending the Australasian strike in 1890.