Pioneer

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si- Political Notes By F. W. Jowett. I IT'S AN ILL WIND," ETC. Captan Barnett is unhappy. Wire nails are being imported.' Seventy thousand tons were brought into this country soon after the signing of the armistice, and the price has dropped £ 10 a ton, and lie worries about it. SHIPPINC RINC AND FREICHT CHARGES. Not being a captain in the army, or a cou- poned Member of Parliament, but a mere La- bour member, Mr. Tyson Wilson is concerned with regard to a different point. He wants to know if, when bacon is freely imported into this country and private persons are allowed to pur- chase from America, they will be charged the Government freight rate of 42/6 per ton, or the North Atlantic shipping ring rate of 93/'4 per ton. This is an important matter so far as cheap food is concerned it also indicates what private owners of ships will do in the way of increasing the cost of living, if Government control of freight rates should cease. PREPARINC FOR MORE WAR. Mr. Winstone Chorclnll. the hero of the Dar- danelles "gamble," is in feather. He has always been at heart a n, i; arist of the Prussian order. Even when he was at the Home Office he was thinking of soldiers when he was dealing with policemen. His famous exploit at Sydney Street readily occurs to us in this connection, when lie strutted in the limelight and directed the attack on one or two desperate men who' had taken refuge in a house in a mean street. Now he is talking at large on the need to "Develop a new class of officer, who will make all war their province, and not merely a sea war or a land war or any other kind of departmental war and lie diçQurel) with evident relish on the "extremely interesting avenues which are now being pursued by the professional heads of the three great services into the systems of higher staff training and general war train- ing required for the fighting services of the crown," and tells us grandiloquently that "hy proceeding along these paths we may in the course of years evolve a class of oiffcers of high standing dr.iv.-n frrvrn c, r:'rwh of the Ser- (, f t i if, vice and every part of the Empire, armed with a body of doctrine, the result of searching and scientific thought, who will be able to advise the Cabinet and Prime Minister of the future from the point of view of war as a whole." Evident- ly Mr. Churchill shares the ambitions, with re- legard to the future, of the disowned and dis- credited Prussian militarists. But we thought we had spent the lives of eight hundred thou- sand men in a war to end 11:1 r SLEEPINC ROOMS! The Admiralty's idea of what is suitable in of housing accommodation for the workers may be gathered from information sup- plied by Colonel Wilson, for the Board of Ad- miralty, in the House of Commons on March 4th. He gave dimensions of the three bedrooms of one of the types of houses now bejng erected at Chepstow. The largest bedroom is sixteen and a-lialf feet by eight feet. The next is eleven feet by eight feet. The last is eight feet square. German prisoners, let it be noted, are employed on tire building of these houses. Trades Union- ists may be expected to express their opinion on the two points contained in the information given to Parliament — il) As to whether bedrooms of eight feet equare are lit for human beings to sleep in: f 2) A\ hether it is necessary to employ Ger- man prisoners on this work. LANDLORDS RELIEF BILL. Tlx■ effect of the Bill now before Parliament to prolong the Off the Rent Restric- tion Act is to contilive its opeiation until the expi ration of one year from the termination of the present war. it also provides that after the time- when the present Act will have expiied rents may be increased by not more than 10 per cent., and mortgage interest may be increased hv not mora than .J per cent., up to a limit o per cent. It also provides for the application • nf th<' A(,t to houses whose rateable value at the commencement of the war did not exceed too in London or t.t2 the provinces. There is a very dangerous clause in the Hill to enable a landlord, with the approval of the County Court, to ad- vance rent bevond the amount provided for in the Kill itself, if he can satisfy the Court that the rent of the house is substantially ]< 'ss than I the rent of similar hoii-e- in the saute locality. CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE SOVIET I REPUBLIC. Thernder-Sectttarvot Stale for ''ore?n J An?airs acknowledged last week that the A1hes were assisting General Denniken. in the South of Russia. He Mas a.ked whether General Den- nikcn was opo'atin? in favour of the rcstora-nou of the Monarchy, but refused to answer that part of the question. It is clear, of course, that the Allies are assisting every force ill Russia, which is ir^tpposition to the Soviet Republic, and all the opposition forces are in favour either of the restoration of the monarchy or the estab- lishment of some form of personal despotism. On this point the New Republic speaks with wisdom. The following is a quotation from the • journal in question, dated February loth, just- to hand :— The Russian Revolution i" moving along an unusually incalculable course, and we have no opinion to operas to the ability of the Rus sian revolutionaries to resist counter-revolu-. tion. or to establish a stable Government hut if they can convert the Russian Soviet Re- public into a genuine experiment in industrial democracy, that experiment will be worth all that it has already cost in suffering, bloodshed and hatred. It is because the New Republic' j has always believed in the supreme desirability of such an experiment that we have fought stuh- bornly against the conspiracy which has labour- ed ceaselessly to divert the course of the Russian Revolution, and to sacrifice its noble aspirations to the immediate establishment of a strung and orderly government. The Russian Revolution could not have mustered as much self-control as it needed to maintain order and to fight Ger- many to the bitter end, without sacrificing the uncompromising and immediate preoccupation with social justice which is its peculiar contro- hution to civilization. TEA PROFITS AND BREAD SUBSIDY. I The Government is not merely excluding cheap wheat from this country, and thereby making it necessary to maintain the heavy bread subsidy, but on the other hand it is refusing to give to the consumer the advantage of its pur- chase of tea. The Ministry of Food is buying tea at 7d. per 11). from tlie growers, and the Food Controller acknowledges that it was sold at public auction at prfees varying from 1/6 to l 'lOijd. Freight and oiilv accounts for per lb. of the difference between the buying price and the selling price. Why the Government should not give the public the bene- fit of all the tea it ca-n buy at 7d. per lb. from the grower, with the addition "of M. for freight and insurance and any other small costs incurred in distribution, is a question to which the public should remand a reply. SALE OF MUNITION FACTORIES. I The Government has itself 110 faith in private enterprise. Sir Robert Home, the Labour Min- ister, speaking on the subject of Government factories and their disposal, said If the Gov- ernment were regarded as a, competitor in the industries whicH private enterprise is at present running pri vate wor k would never be started again at all." Sir Eric Geddes,; Minister of Transport, has spoken to the 'same effect, and Mr. Kellaway ha.s also declared that the Gov- ernment do not intend to use national factories for private trading purposes. As Mr. Robert Youne'WLabour) rno-i^uie'I tlie House of Com- mons, the munition factories were started in 191 because private eiuei-pri.se had failed. Mr. Young put his finger Oil the spot when* lip "aid it was necessary for the Government to retain the factories in order to excercise control over monopolist prices. Mr. Kellaway made a great point, as he thought, by denying that the Gov- ernment could do anything to remove or dimin- ish employment by t lt the factories. He said that the cause of unemployment was the absence of any demand for work, but in the other course of the debate any number of opportunities for employment were enumerated, which, if Lhe u- tional Factories were retained and worked to their lull capacity, would be provided. The Gov- ernment, as Mr. Y oung showed, could use the I factories for the production of mate-rial required for housing schemes. The factories could also lie used for supplying motor vehicles for munici- pal and nattona) transport, they could be used for the production and sale at prices to cover cost, and of agricultural impliments, in order to help on the necessary work of agricultural pro- duction in this country. The production of these things is held back now not because there is no need for them, but because the private profiteer is not yet sure what profit he can get by funking them. When the private profiteer commences to make these things he will find that the demand is so great that high prices will be easily obtained. If the Government con- "piled till, interests of the public, and were not. so anxious to safeguard private enterprise, the National Factories would be used to their fullest capacity to turn out products such as Mr. Young enumerated, in order to meet the requirements of the public and at the same time protect the public from the payment of high prices. MR. BONAR LAW" HEDGINC." I Mr. Ho,, ;ii' Law is between two tires. On the I one hand there is Brig.-Gen. Page (.r<?t'<)?"H' him for tear the Government will not keep its promise to make Germany pay our War Debt. On the other band he is perfectly well aware thai the thing is impossible, and that sooner or later tie' Truth will have to ho revealed to ;) d'- luded electorate. H,. is Iherefore "hedging." He protests that he personally never held out ai\y hope that Germany would pay our war debt, and endeavours to console the critics of the Gov- ernment by assuring them that "payment in tliit would be demanded from Germany. FRAUDULENT OR—INCOMPETENT. Kvidently a large number of couponed mem- bers are uneasy regarding conscription. They were all of them party to the deception of the electorate. Even those of them who did not de- finitely state timt tlw Government would not maintain Conscription wore quite willing to al- low the public to believe the promises that were placarded un the walls and in the press. Some of these promises weVe re- peated in the course of the debate on the second reading of the Conscription Bill last week. One of them, a quotation from the Prime Minister, is of especial interest in view of the fact that the present Conscription Bill is defended on the grounds that it is necessary to occupy German territory. Mr. Lloyd George at Bristol on Dec- ember 11th last said: "It will not be necessary to have an army of occupation." Mr. Sydney did well in reminding the Government of this, and pressing the point that the Govern- ment must have known at the time of the elec- tion whether, in < their opinion, it was necessary to occupy any part of (iertnan territory. The Government cannot escape the charge of breach of faith by simply saying that Conscription 14 necessary because an army of occupation has to be provided, without at £ he same time implying their unfitness to be a government at all. WHY THE PRICE OF COAL IS HICH. Those newspapers that so foolishly attacked the miners on the grounds that coal profits, as they alleged, were only about 1/- per ton, look very foolish now that it is being revealed that in 191K the profits were actually 3/61d. per ton. IOpposition to nationalisation is also much more difficult in view of the revelations with regard to the increase of prices to the public for the purpose of obtaining coal from the more diffi- cult and less remunerative mines. If all the mines had been owned by the State it would not have been neoessary to pay enormous sums into the pockets of the rich mining companies by raising the price of coal np a level at which the poorer mines would pay. Then also the very direct questions put by Mr Smillie and his col- leagues respecting the payment of royalties and the high profits of steel manufaoturers, were exceedingly useful and informing. A BELATED ADMISSION. I It was acknowledged at the sitting on March 6tli, that by complete pooling of railway wagons used for carriage of coal the number of wagons could be reduced by one-third. It has required a Royal Commission to extract an adm ission as to the wasteful use of rolling stock on the rail- w.t N-. fn this connection I venture to put in a question and answer which T have extracted from the Official Report of Parliamentary Debates of June 12th, 1912, which proves that the Govern- ment was remi nded nearly seven years ago of the necessity for dealing with this matter:— MR. JOWETT asked the president of the Board of Trade if an estimate had been brought to his notice from which it would ap- pear that, taking the life of a railway goods wagon as being on the average 17 years, it is mobile six months and st,atianarv 16¡ years, and, if not, or if he disagrees with the esti- mate referred to, whether, before he recom- mends Parliament to give any further conces- sion to Railway Companies in regard to their statutory obligations or their charges for car- rying goods or passengers he will ascertain for how long a railway goods wa-gon is, in fact. mobile on the track, laden or unladen, as com- pared with the length of time it cumbers a plot of valuable land doing nothing. MR. ROBERTSON (Parliamentary Secre- tary of the Board of Trade) T have seen the estimate referred to, but f do not see that it has any particular bearing on the proposal of the Railway Hill now b'fore this House, to which I assume my hon. Friend refers. The object of the Railway Bill to which the question referred was to empower Railway Com- panies to increase their charges and the connec- tion was, of course, quite obvious. A RECKLESS SUGGESTION. "i The Government is now confronted with ..the praspect of a £1,200.000,000 Budget, and ft is suggested that the proceeds of the sale of Gov- ernment factories and Illatl l'i,lL-. may be applied to the purpose of making the annual balance- sheet meet fur a year or two. After then—the deluge.

Seven Out of Nine. SPLENDID COUNTY COUNCIL VICTORY AT PONTYPOOL. THE ATTEMPTS TO OUST JAS. WINSTONE.I The Ponrypool Labour Party on Saturday last contested nine seats for the Monmouthshire County Council, and have had a remarka hIt, vic- tory, w inning seven out of the nine. The fight has been stiff throughout, and even the I) i ost sanguine had not dared hope for so great a suc- cess. Our chief anxiety centred arouira our old friend and comrade James Winstone, of the S.W.M.F. He has been a member o fthe County Council for 12 years, winnillg at that time a notable and still talked of victory over I)ll(, of the local magnates, a colliery proprietor. in the recent contest the "powers that Iw" were determined to oust him because of his extreme* views on the war. They mustered all their forces— Tories, Libera Is, Prohibitionists, Tem- perance Advocates, and Chapel Deacons all join- ed hands to return a publican. Oh, they are sweetly conscientious when they want to defeat La bour. Hut in spite of all, in spite also of the fact that they issued a cir.'uhir on Saturday | morning which stated that Winstone must be opposed, because he has been against, his coun- trymen throughout the war and anxious for his German comrades." He has two sons who have served in this war. One is home on leave, the other is still out yonder. All their efforts proved of no avail, for James Winstone won with a 213 majority, and further- more. everyone of our voters walked to the poll. Our opponents had ears in plenty. We had 1 none. But our joy is great. Ave, even as great as their's would have been had he been defeated, j Well we know how they would have '"rung" I ElIgland with his defeat. Our other six candidates have also won! nnta v local magnates who] have held the sway for years. On Sunday even- .iiig.J. Winstone and Tom Morgan addressed a huge public meeting in the open-air at Pont- newynydd. Both speakers had a remarkable re- (ception. J.W. took the opportunity of replying to some of the accusations made by his oppo- jnents. It was a glorious meeting, full of en- j thusias|j)_, which augurs well for the forthcoming contests for the Guardians and Local Councils, for we are contesting every seat. We are deter- mined lo spring-clean both Guardians and Coun- cil. so once a^aj# comrades ail Be faithful and loyal to your own class and to your chil- dren. V' Our successful candidates were: James Win- stone. vice-president. Si^W.M.F. Tom Morgan, check weigher W. H. Blackmore. miner: AY. 'George, Check weigher H. (J. Stark, railway signalman Percy Da vies, railway-engine driver Augustus .Jenkins, miner. L. B,J),

Dowlais Strike Sequel 11 CONCILIATION BOARD MUST CO!" S.W.M.F. CONFERENCE DEMANDED. SOUTH WALES COALFIELD 6ECOMINC INVOLVED. From the Doii-lais in ners' strike is emanating a powerful agitation for the immediate overthrow of the Conciliation Board, whose breach of faith with the Dowlais men in the matter of the washery workmen's trade union status crowns the disrepute in which that obsolete institution is justly held throughout the coalfield. Through the South Wales Miners' Federation the miners hope to givin their objective, and they are pressing not only to secure redress of the grievances which caused the strike, but with a view of abolishing without further ado the Conciliation Board. A circular summarising the negotiations till-oligli the board is being distributed broadcast in the coalfield and support from members of the federation is solicited in it for the realisation of the appeal for a conference and assistance in the ending of the Conciliation Board's inglorious career. Attention is directed to the fact that the washery dispute was before the board originally at the behest of the colliery company (Messrs Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds, Ltd.) presumably r with a view of using the machinery and imposing the authority of that feody in securing a settle- ment and the return of the miners then on strike. Accepting the board's- rwommendation "that the matter should be placed first on the agenda of tlie next meeting of the Disputes Com- mittee," the men resumed work only to find afterwards that Di spu tes Com m i ttee not- withstanding the arrangement made immediate- ly threw out the matter, thereby betraying the board and deliberately using it to the advan- tage of the local owners." v "FUTILE AND FARCICAL." I The leaflet, appended to which are the names of Mr. S. O. Davies (miners' agent), Mr. E. J. Jenkins (chairman) and Mr. W. J. Ed- wards (secretary)—all of whom are acting as members of the Strike Committee—continues:— Nevertheless, we are not surprised by this glaring abuse of the antiquated Conciliation Board machinery. We have long since realised that its function is to retard +,i-- of tl,.e miners' movement in South Wales. The above ineidpllt has only deepened our conviction that the Conciliation Board is futile, untrustworthy, and, at this stage of our Trade Union develop- ment. farcical. WILFUL DISTORTION & MALADMINIS- I TRATION." "Reflect a moment: No agreeiiient I is ever entered into; no improved act of Parliament bearing on our industrial life is secured, until we, by our industrial power, have, often at great sacrifice, overcome the opposition of the Owners. The old Sliding Scale was discarded as the re- sult of our organised industrial power; similarly, the Eight Hours' Act, Minimum Wage Act, 1915 Agreement, Surface Workers' Hours' Agree- ment, etc. And the spectacle is that, after com- pelling the Owners to submit to Uiese changes, we call them in to assist' us m administrate what we have wrung from them! Hence innu- merable disputes arise as the result of the wil- ful distortion and maladministration of the above. These disputes, often involving just claims for money by the workmen, are allowed to wander for months and years within the pre- serves of 'Conciliation,' few ever returning, save to increase the profits of the Owners. This is the machinery of Conciliation,' so treacherous- ly bet-raved that the Dowlais miners are on strike. We can appeal now only to you for as- sistance to redress our grievances. We ask you to assist us in demanding forthwith a Conference of the South Wales Miners' Federation with a view not only of realising the demand s of the Dowlais miners, but of abolishing that obsolete institution known as 'the Conciliation Board.' Don't forget: Your new ideals and aspirations demand a new Constitution. Act upon the for- mer, and unless you change the latter you act uncon-st i tutionally. Demand a conference. We will readily ac- cept judgment on our case," is the final appeal. In addition the various mining districts in South Wales are being visited by a band of spea kers in order that the workers of the coa l- field may be fully conversant with the (liffet-ent phases of the strike at Dowlais. I" S.O." ON THE SITUATION. I Meanwhile the owners have presented to the best of tliel,- i defence of their attitude towards the miners. This is how Mr. S. 0. Davies replies:— The company, prior to any elaim Iwing mack. by the \rashpry workmen (who (teiiiiii(I I tion as members of t!? South Wales Miners' )?m')ationaudpnrticipatio)i inthchonrs and \m<? benefits taDin? to (lIi('ry surface- workers) in effect t'?.u'd?d them as members of Iji t?ff(,et tlit?iii of 'as miners' agent) in order to prevail upon them io forego participation in the general holiday of the miners on December 14th (election poll- day) of last year. 1 was informed definitely by the representative of the employers, on my put- ting a query to him as to why I was approached with reference to this class of workmen, that th( ow ners to tlij, of woi-k-111(?ii, that washery workers' accredited representative* No protest whatsoever had been made against these men becoming members of the Miners' federation prior to their claim to he advan- tages under the Collierv Surface Workers' Agreement. It should be pointed out that be- fore the acceptance of tii,, ll)tot,ll(, Miner. Federation and prior to my advent^ to? the district the Executive Council of the South -Fxe(.Ilt x- C!ollllt.ll of tilp S()Iltll through two of its members, an investigation into thf1- pros and cons of their membership ap-j plication. The findings of the two commission- ers chosen were wholly favourable to the election the federation of the washery workers, who. they added, should have been members long pre- viously. The workmen at the washery contend very strongly that they were not participators in the sliding-scale agreement (by whioh the oompany declare these men, in common with the other classes employed at the steelworks, are governed as to wages a.nd conditions) and they were never asked to sanction that scheme. A passing point of interest, too, is that the washeiy was princi- pally constructed by labour usually employed on the collieries, and although its establishment took place many years ago, there ds still one workman there who is paid on the colliery list. So is hande ddown the traditional link connect- ing the washery with the pits. Moreover, such washeries as the -general rule, are considered part and parcel of the collieris throughout the South Wales coalfield. AN ANACHRONISM." Bluntly, I disagree with the statement of the owners' representative that the Conciliation Board stated that it was not their intention to use the board's machinery to deal with the washery dispute. It is abundantly clear that the owners recommended the miners—then, it will be remembered, on strike for concessions which included the washery men's grievances— to return to work immediately, and promised that the question should have the first considera- tion of the Disputes Committee at their next meeting. Recollect, too, that the dispute was* placed originally on the agenda of the Concilia- tion Board at the behest of the company. That and the Conciliation Board's relegation of the matter to their committee was regarded by the miners as a tacit admission of authority over this body of workers involving the desired recog- nition. If the owners contend that the Concilia- tion Board had no authority over their washery group, how do they reconcile the facts that the dispute was placed on the board agenda by the employers themselves and afterwards on that of the Disputes Committee whilst the miners' agent and the company's representative were summoned before the Disputes Committee pre- sumably-to reach a. settlement. I refused to oountenance the committee's proposal to refer the differences to arbitration of any form and insisted that the board had admitted its power over these workmen already, and charged the owners with having used the board's machinery in getting the men hack to work and, having succeeded, then declining to conclude the dis- pute as a. beard. t The action of the coal-owners in so repudiating their agreement has certainly not deepened the confidence of the miners in the Conciliation Board, which is already in disrepute amongst most of the members of the South Wales Minexsf Federation. Their action has justified the com- mon conviction that it is untrustworthy, ineffec- tive and is long since, an anochronism. Person- ally, I shall never be able to regard them with confidence. I recognise that the board at one time responded to a phase in our trade union development, but that time is past. To-day it is obviously an encumbrance, its principle func- tion being to adopt blocking tactics in retarding the progress of the miners. I shall have no hesi- tation in advocating its entire repudiation by the South Wales Miners' Federation, and tho Dowlais miners at least will welcome its relega- tion to the limbo where effete institutions are in the process of tliiit, consigned. A MISLEADING STATEMENT." The statement by the company on the Mini- mum Wagt. dispute at the Nantwen Colliery is misleading. In fact, the minimum wage griev- ance* is not confined to this pit, much less to a particular district in it as the owners would have it understood. The cases at hand refer to practically every district in the Nantwen Col- liery, and not for the first time does such a grievance arise there, for some months ago and before my advent the workmen went on stop as a.protest against the refusal of the manage- ment to apply the terms of the Minimum Wage Act. There is no colliery in the Dowlais area, but from which minimum-wage grievances are constantly arising. So the employers' allegation that the present Minimum Wage dispute is a scqlwl to the stoppage of trams due to the pro- hibition of miners from deputising absent work- men in other grades of employment in accord- 1:111('8 with a resolution passed at a recent mass meeting is obviously incorrect. PIT COMMITTEES. A peculiar aspect of colliery management in Dowlai s is that the active1 supervision of all the pit.- lie.- in the hands of one colliery-agent, and all differences—however trivial— are thus re- ferred to him, each remedial measure desired must be effected through the district of miners. In this, petty grievances become mag- nified into serious dispute^ and the cause, often, of serious friction, whereas if the managers of the various collieries were given power to deal. individually with such differences—according to the general custom in the South Wales Coal- field-iiiaiiy disputes involving the whole district of miners would be avoided. In short, the posi- tion amounts to a refusal hy the colliery-agent to recognise pit-committees who could negotiate, as in other parts of the coalfield, with the man- agers of any collieries concerned on local dis- putes, and with an intimate knowledge of the prevailing conditions endeavour to arrive at mutual settlement. HOUSE COAL SCANDAL. Passing to the house-coal delivery demand the owners regard the acceptance of our pro- posed new scheme as being attendant by a vio- lation of a Conciliation Board Agreement. Here they ignore the fact that they (the company) have refused to carry out in practically every detail the conditions of the old scheme for sup- plying coal to the workmen. Scores of colliers' families have been waiting for periods ranging from five to thirteen weeks for (-oil, and in some cases supplies were natly d 11' by a repre- sentative of th. Flir ?liel-, the com- pany. upon their own initiative, and without (Continued on Page 4. Column JVL