Pioneer

n IVl unicipal Finances. Ii ?EFLECT!ONS ON PREPOSTEROUS II CHARGES. I' BY "MEMO." I I have no doubt in my own mind that the articles of Merthyr Borough I ,FInancœ, a,ppearing in the Merthyr Express)' are written with the specific pur- poses: (1st) of intimidating local administrators Înto carrying out the orders of the writer-who  Personally regard as a puppet directed 'oy the nsfei1 hand of a bigger man standing in the ,background. (2) with & view to preventing the teach4erS fr having the promised discussion ?T +r ???tion of salaries with the Education ? AA?U? tnen?t. y, through the Sub-Committee appointed ■h^ a 1 with &e matter and, (3) with the pur- fI ,e. ?J?dicing th? local ratepayers against tti ?e c?list and Labour Parties in the Borough, '? ? n favour of the Ratepayers' Association, wh' i, the writer is striving strenuously to re- 'Bii ^Cl I have thought it necessary to state thSe plehrln.ar;r views so that my readers may 1 ?"? which angle I am regarding this Attack. °m W 11C aDgle I am regarding this course, the Express" expert (?) having ."P?? sen, The teachers must resign themselves to o .agoing the salary advance. I am a firm be- ]• Vex' that old adage which tells us that what js *106 for the goose is sauce for the gan der; J and ? Somg to ask why the same principle 'whi t ? to operate against the teachers—con- cas> whose applications an unusually strong "4-"an be made out—shotdd not operate against th' .IO(:el'S, butchers, scavenging and hauling con- tra ctors, coal suppliers, and last, but not least by ?S way, the master printers P The surprising ? am?y to me is that ??? proprietors of the txPTess have been so shortsighted as to 'A"IOW the?; ?-' articles to appear now when the war 11l1e d" h .c ? ?T)'. conditions have sent up the prices of com- )! ??"??s to such an unprecedented height. I j j shfv i ^ave thought that a perusal of the first .lcle ?'??d have led them to point out to the that once ?? objection to raising salaries %n? ? ?S? was given publicity someone w?as hn to shout "What abeut prices? and see- ??g t? hat ^ey themselves were contractors to the ^Ownporation that shout would be germane, ,?trac.tors are generally business men and the j !688 niotto s "Business as Usual—though the h,,?,, fall and patriotism nowhere, since er d't f 1 th ?'e !s no place in the annual audit for losses rough patriotically foregoing profits so that ?Positions on overblU'ded ratepayers may be ?' Though even such municipal devotion Mi? ? ,Se^^acrifice would not aSect. the question of ^ers' salaries, since what is true of the costs •of "?Poration contracts, is even more cruelly the domestic economy of the people. .{'"?k I bare stated fairly the creed of the j 'bu ^es,s 111 an in anything that he touches. Some t>e Pie I know want to make money out of ceme- i tejf3' an< some of them did they have the op- ■Sor■W0L1^(' collar the tombstones and monu- l'o'e'lt6 ?? place them upon their bespoken &ra? ? '? order that dley may be able to declare! ? ?j-?idend hi the spirit world. Y"" 'I'll. Editor, printers who are contractors "'l' ^O!'],0!'a'tinu will not wait until the Gov- ?.,j eiX^ g?ves a bigger grant ta loca l aut h orities "rllll ,c),er grant to loca I a-Lit h.. I to n the demands of high prices. They insist f "ij,, s^er Prices forthwith, or they won't "de- ? li? ? 1 g?ocir,. 1 have before me -a few fig-Lu-es S?°ds." i have before me a few figures t h e^10nery contracts with the proprietors of ?i for '!« Aertllyr Express, which ma e m ere-tmg ¡ read; v 1915 P?ent pnces. pnces. j >1.- £ s. d. £ s. d. Iscap (double) 0 2 6 0 5 0 Foolscap (double) 0 5 0 II 12 0) "Y?Pes, commercial, Man- illa? per I.,ooo 0 3 6 0?6 "tloi't?. 119 Paper, per ream 1 5 0 1 15 0 ??r Guard Books 0 14 0 1 0 0 Oimwter Letter Paper—die- ???ped 0' 6 3 0 15 0? Opes, commercial ? ??S 0 15 0 1 12 0 Ju "dical Certificates for ^°lars (50 books) 0 15 0 25 O? and Depositing ?ooks 2 12 6 7 0 0 ,th !Ve about 40 items such as the above, at | lilaihb' Iold prices they wark out at t  out p-nd at the present day prices ?62. 11 40 think that is \'NY far off 100 per cent., .is i?? ?? ?hat. ? ?sry far off 100 per cent., $,the ab ove example you will see how ridi- ??? the argument of the writer in your con- "'P'31-a- ?, appears. And what applies to print- 1% ^^tracte, applies to all other contracts, and ?4, +ife ^cept the Government can do anything ill th 'B ???er. But, If printers, and other |>6on]  cann0t wait-they admit by their action thai they --aiaiaot-wou l d it not b e.. we l l, seeing :that they lcamlOt-would it not be well, seeing ?at ? '? live i" glass houses that they discour- ? ?6 '?t'1'3e throwing? Before the writer goes ?6t-u ?uch further in his series I wordd suggest t?' ?ution is a quality that he could with ad- v "11t'ge it wauld teach him to study ti1,,l(?ip,al and kindred questions—so that he 11, 'gh-t be able to place before the ratepayers in af ??l" and truthful manner the problems which ( he Jn,ants to deal with. f 1st ? to this for a proof of deep thinking—  for a proof of deep tk* nkin1-1 ?nt?? <??ry 21st, 1917: "The teao?rs want tO throw the main responsibility of de- st CHng ??? transference to the State of the ?st  salaries upon the local authorities." Un- d?r  'he eXlstmg circumstances, of course, they Teachers are not civil servants, they are en- gao-e i b Y the Local Education Authority, who, V^th way, are their employers, and like all ?o?T? ??'?1 beg the teachers pardon, profes- sional ????—they put in an application for an aclvai1 ije ?? Wages—wrong again—I mean salaries. .,k 114 h'w successful they were! The simple teaeh o" f°^ 9d. per week war bonus and the Cor- pol-at '()'I ??'?u'ers (single meR) got 3s. per week. l I The u^ + has struck oil for once when he Writes'~la<^e Unionism has taught them, etc." s h cvn iri 1 lesson ld -? it has, and I do hope that the lesson ]yjvf gone home. As Carlyle once said, and Karl ]? -?'?Peated, In the organization of Labour (? ? ?? pick) lies the hope of the Workers. rat, epayers must have ,had very pc;t; rip ?'?tepayers must have had very tbat after reading the four articles 1 s, leei)]hnvA ssr^f n now in the "Merthyr txPi-ess," and will Aspect some fine morning to ,v Hall as thalld hIs men III possessIon of the ,!tF3c3 some b,ailiff ail,d Ills men in possession of the "wn Hall as theM'sult ? ?'' supine stupidity Of the Mortl-lyr rat?P.%Yers m sending so many "?iaH' ?? tn +h? ""???Sh Council. My word, ?b??t t .an i- magmat.ion th? writer has, who is he ? °int the wri1' is can be understood by '? thfe?lowing from this ??? Article (IV.):- W There is no question  Partiality to a particu- ?e ? ? ani yet ? cannot fail to exempt i Committee. Why? No, he has dis- %V',ered the •r^son fo ??thyr's approaching domination in local aSairs, ko,l,,adinI'llist-ration threatened, bankruptcy." 1 Smi^e thl_ f ?minative" Socialist The Borough Council is comprised of 32 [ is made up as fo l lows: -oapitai- m&de up as follows: -Oapital- ? isrn —Colliery Proprietors, 2; Mining Engin- eers, 2; Chemists, 2; Lawyers, 2; Auctioneers and Valuers, 2; company Cashiers, 2; Drapers, 2; Grocer, 1; Oil Merchant, etc., 1; Gentleman Farmer, 1; Insurance Expert, 1; Retired Moul- der, 1; Checkweigher, 1—total 20. Labour Re- presentatives, 12-1 from 32 leaves 20. How, in the name of commonsense, ean the writer of those absurd articles, agree about the "Socialist domination in local affairs" r Does he not see the gratuitous insult that he hurls at his own class—protectionists. Does he not point out that these pigmy 20 champions of his are not equal to the 12 giant Labour repre- sentatives ? Does he not know that, with the ex- ception of the Education Committee, every Com- mittee is presided over by one of his champions; men whom the Merthyr Express," praises at election times as men of great experience," un- blemished character, intellectual brilliance," owners, and men of exceptional business ability, qualified at all times to look after their varied and numerous enterprises and businesses. Why, the Scribe' must have "Lost'the Road" or taken the wrong turning. Here u have Merthyr going to the Devil and faced with bankruptcy because it has been mis- managed, maladministered, by the men who in other times have been pointed out as the saviours of the municipal and educational life of the Mer- thyr Municipal Borough. Will the writer in his next article point out any scheme brought for- ward by the representatives of Capitalism upon the Borough Council—"some" enterprise—that if adopted would bring about a reduction in the ¡ rates of Merthyr? And will he state when. the Labour Party, as a party, failed to support such a scheme? Enough for the present. I shall re- turn to this matter again. I

I Merthyr Miners' Agent. I MR. FRANK HODGES AND MABON I CRmC!SED. j Mr. John Williams (agent) reviewed Monday's conference of the Welsh miners at Cardiff with regard to combing-out certain classes of work- men from collieries in his speech to a mass meet- ing of the Merthyr miners, and incidentally cri- ticised Mr. Frank Hodges and Mabon. Mr. Williams said it was true they had been beaten by a vote at Monday's conference, but they were not disgraced. He was of the opinion that, the opposition thought of giving them a much more bumping blow. Anyhow, it did not come off. At the conference no discussion was allowed. His experience of these conferences was that there were a large number of men coming to these conferences without any definite mandates at all—to vote according to their discretion- and they depended very largely on the trend going Oil at the meeting. And he was positive that if debate were allowed on Monday tfie re- sult would have beam the reverse. The conference of Tuesday week decided on a certain course. Monday this was upset. Why ? This was why: the big men in this coalfield have been using the press and the press them for all they were worth in order to convert the men to the position into which they wished them to go. (Shame!) Mr. Frank Hodges had been writing to a newspaper that the attitude of those opposing the recommendations of the' E.C. of the South Wales Miners' Federation was anarchy. Mr. Hodges was a brilliant young man, but he thought he had gone wrong. (Hear, hear, and a cry of "Quite right.) He could have been a useful chap. He was not forgetting Mr. Hodges before he got his present position on the floor of the conference in South Wales. He was a down- right out-and-out rebel at that time. The Exe- cutive in all its dealings never did right to suit Mr. Frank Hodges. (Hear, hear.) But now he was on the Executive the Executive was right and he was all law and order and a constitu- tionalist." Mr. Hodges was 27 or 28 yetPrs of age, 5ft. lOins. in height, healthy and robust looking and a chap like that if he was shouting for this war ought to be the first to go there. (Applause.) It was true he went out there—for pleasure-(he.a.r, hear)—to see and to witness that awful slaughter for pleasure. Regarding Mabon, no doubt he had done his duty before some of them were born. But he had had cl years span of life-74 useful years- but what he could not understand was that a man who had had 74 years of good life could ask a boy of 18 to go out there to be slaughtered. (Applause.) Arrangements were made for people called be- fore Recruiting Medical Boards and passed for general service to be advised at the various lodges as to their position.

Short-Weight Loaves. 1, TREHARRIS BAKER TO PAY FINE. D. W. Fox, Victoria Bakery, Treharris was summoned at Merthyr on Tuesday for selling bread otherwise than by weight. Police-constable H. Jenkins, inspector of weights and measures, said that he saw defen- dant deliver two loaves of bread to a house in Edwardsville, Treharris. He asked the baker the weight of them, and the reply was, About four pounds." Witness then weighed the loaves on a scales in defendant's cart, and th4 weight of each was 31b. 14joz. When told he would be reported defendant said: "This bread dries so. You might find a few loaves overweight in the cart. A fine of 40s. was imposed.

Lamp Flashing. I MERTHYR STIPENDIARY SAYS IT IS NOT AN OBSTRUCTION. Does the flashing of an electric torch in the faces of pedestrians constitute an obstruction? This was a problem for the Merthyr magis- trates on Tuesday, when William Robefrts, Tre- harris, was summoned for an obstruction under the Town's Police Clauses Act by lamp-flashing. Mr. J. A. Wilson (chief constable): A person holding a flashlight before one-it has the same effect. as a bar in front. It temporarily stops a person walking along the road. Mr. R. A. Griffith (stipendiary): Rather straining the Act, is it not? It may be a great annoyance without becoming an obstruction. The Chief Constable remarked that he had re- frained from proceeding against defendant under the Defence of the Realm Act as the penalty (maximum fine- 2100) was too drastic. Mr. R. A. Griffith: I must hold it does not come under the Act. The case is dismissed.

Combing Out the Miners. SOUTH WALES MINERS' CQNFERENCES. BY NOAH TROMANS (MOUNTAIN ASH). No one will doubt the tremendous importance of the above conference to the miners of South Wales, and the great principles which were staked on the decision arrived at. The confer- ence convened for the 13th of February was, To receive a report from the Executive respect- ing the combing-out of colliery workmen." It is important to state the exact wording of the conference agenda, as quoted above. Prior to the conference being held, the executive used the public press as a medium to inform the various lodges in the coalfield on the nature of the report to be submitted to conference, with a view to the delegates having instructions to vote on the report. It is well to remember that after the report of the interviews between the Miners' Federation of Great Britain Executive, and the correspond- ence read by the president, Mr. James Win- stone, the conference fairly bombarded the plat- form with questions on the report, which proved to be almost word for word what had appeared in the press the previous week. The conference commenced its sitting at 10.45 and it was well on one o'clock before the debate on. the Executive's Report was begun. During the whole of the discussion which followed and which lasted without rising until 3.30, not one speech was delivered in favour of acceptance of the Report, but the whole of the speakers de- voted themselves to criticising the Government on their betrayal of promises made to the Miners' Federation Executive. The promises referred to were, that no new policy would be embarked upon, unless in conjunction with the above Fe- deration. The various speakers also criticised the South Wales leader's in accepting these pro- posals on their behalf, before consulting the men. These speeches contained the germ of dis- agreement with the war itself, and some fa- voured the demand for a peace by negotiations, and others claimed the policy should be to down tools if another man was taken from the mines, and protested against the leaders allowing the Government to split or divide the workers, sur- face-men against miners, skilled men against un- skilled men, and men who worked in or about the mines prior to August 14th, 1915, against men who commenced after August, 1915, and claimed that if we as a Conference agreed to this policy of dividing our forces, we would not be in a position to resist consistently any further demands which would be made later by the Governing Class, and pleaded if this policy was agreed to, that the miners, surfacemen, check- weighers, and miners' agents, should not be fur- ther considered as a barred class or industry. In reply to a question Mr. V. Hartshorn stated that if the report was adopted the Government would have the right to ask for another 50,000 men, and we could not help letting them go. These were the salient points of the speakers against the Executive Report, not one speech for its acceptance, not a protest even when the most extreme spirits condemned the war, and were prepared to take extreme measures to stop it. There was some doubt in the mind of some dele- gates as to their position to vote for or against as they stated they had only come there to hear the report. However, the vote was taken, and the result was a victory for freedom, which was nullified later, how we shall see:- For the acceptance of the Report 1,092 Against 1,626 Majority against **534 or 26,700 against being hurled iiato Industrial as well as military conscription. After the voting was announced the confer- ence was rebuked by Messrs. Hartshorn, Hodges, and Itichards for the course which it had taken, and it was decided to adjourn conference to con- sider future policy. This was too good an opportunity for the leaders, who do not lead, to lose. On Thursday a special correspondent of the South Wales Daily News talked at the miners in the same language as Mr. Hartshorn and T. Richards, M.P. On Saturday a full column article 1.!lJde, the name of Vernon Hartshorn appealing for sacrifices from the miners, for unity of purpose in winning the war, and he states that if this sacrifice is forthcoming we ought to win the war. Mabon also joins in the chorus, and in an in- terview says the conditions of the Report was accepted by the Miners' Federation of Great Britain Executive with gratitude, and unani- mously by the South Wales Executive. On Sunday, February 18, Mr. John Williams stated in addressing 2,000 miners that the South Wales Executive were divided by 12 votes to 5 on the acceptance of the Report, and stamps Mabon as a stranger to the truth. The bogey was raised as to conference halving no right to come to decisions without coming back to the men, and here I would point out the subterfuge these people will stoop to, when they want to sway a decision. At the first confer- ence there were present 281 delegates, represent- ing 133,000 miners, when the card vote was taken there was 2,718 votes cast, representing 135,000 miners, which shows that all the delegates used their vote for or against the acceptance of the Report, still they have the effrontery to æy the majority had no mandate, who gave them the mandate to vote for its acceptance. Some even went so far in their unscrupulous methods to de- mand the resignation of the president, and for- warded the resolution to conference to be voted on, although it had not been on the agenda, this is the type of slave mind one has to reason with. The second conference, which was held on the Monday (19th), proved that it was not equal to withstand the forces which had been working for a reversal of the previous decision. The con- ference showed a strong tendency to inquire into the detail of the combing-out scheme, several de- legates were in favour of pressing the conference to a division, strong in the belief that they had now secured a majority, and ultimately this was done, and the previqus decision reversed. The figures now being on a card vote: For the Report 1,828 Against 1,309 I Majority .For 519 or 91,400 in favour, and 65,450, majority 25,950. The total number represented in the last con- ference was 156,850, while in the first conference only 133,000 was recorded, or nearly 24,000 more votes cast in the adjourned conference, and I will accept these figure's as correct in both con- ferences and draw attention to the majority which reaction has secured, if you deduct the 24,000 excess votes of the last conference from the majority of 25,950 their triumph is a tragedy, for it shows less than 2,000 votes. Now we as a coalfield are committed to the policy as represented by Messrs. Hartshorn and Hodges, it will be as well to see if possible where we are likely to anchor. We are at present thrown into conflict with our fellow trade union- ist. The surface worker against the underground worker, we cannot agrue any longer that we are opposed to a South Wales coalfield against Con- scription when we allow the unskilled surface- man to be conscripted. The places of the un- skilled surface-man must be filled by substitutes, possibly by men in Class W Reserve, so we per- mit this too, some of the substitutions may be female labour, which will reduce men's wages. The next demand may not be for 20,000 men, but for 50,000 men, and you. cannot refuse to go down on this slippery slope which you have chosen as the. path to freedom. Your have refused to face the facts, as they are known, not to all of us, but to the miners' leaders. In the Anthracite and Western Valleys Coalfield scores of miners are idle or working on short time, the submarine menace, together with other factors has diminished tonnage to an alarming extent, and the wolf of hunger will soon be heard at the doors of our comrackes, and the force of economic circumstances wiil send them flooding into The army, and the Executive has tried to help on the time by locking up the funds of the Union to the extent of £ 50,000 in the Victory War Lean as an advertisement of their loyalty to the employing and the govern- ing class. The outlook is not hopeful for the workers when Labour leaders can contribute a column to the capitalist press, for which I assume they get at least Trade Union rates, imploring their class to make sacrifices, even of kfe itself, forgetting even to mention the shameful plundering which is taking place by the capitalist and distributing class in society, ignoring the fact that while the workers life is being conscripted, that the gov- erning class atre borrowing money at a large rate of interest, thereby plaeing the nation in pawn. That while collieries are idle for want of ton- nage people in this country are suffering for want of coal, the Labour leader knows that the nation is suffering from lack of cultivation, and he also is aware that the land is still: tied up by the landlord, the miners' leaders know these facts, they know the sacrifices made by the workers, is far greater than that made by the other section of society, and we say they should have insisted on making the Government understand that the country through its workers had met the greater share in the sacrifice ef life, and before the men should sacrifice his industrial liberty, or allow another life to be conscripted, the wealthy and landowning class should be shorn of their pos- sessions, and the whole of production should be used in common during the war, at least. That would be leading the workers, but that is not the funotion of our miners' leaders, there would be danger in doing so in the direction in- dicated above. In conclusion, the Government may take warn- ing that the coalfield is not so unanimous as they try to make out, the division is so even that a small diversion from the arrangement, or a lack of scope in the interpretation of some of the clauses by the military, may turn the present majority into a loig minority, they may notice that the men of the minority are the men who in the coalfield are the active men in industrial affairs, who are leading the men to realise that life should not be placed on a. lower level than money, that the peoples of a nation at war are expected to give, and should receive in return an equal share of the things produced, free of profits, to any one, and learning them also that leaders who think otherwise, should be free to go over to the class their views represent. N. TROMANS.

r"- 101'_011- It "_II"" 18' Is WHEN REQUIRING I SUITS, COSTUMES, or GENERAL DAPERY I » SEND A POST CARD TO Thomas St., 004k 28 Thomas St., S ) -M!f??n H rS? < RS?A MOM E3 ? Merthyr Tydfif; j I AND A REPRESENTATIVE WILL CALL. £ jt ?'°''?S'S'S?g?XIS2N!S'SS'*E!?S a Cash or instalment System. |  ???????s?M??? I SUITS and COSTU?E? to Measure a Speciality f L< -II  rw" JdIIIJL. I HH!t)MAL ?Mtsamate. UMBERS' UNION. SI I Registered C?cc -1 ST. DAVID'S PLACE, RUTLAND STREET SWANSEA I Tne Live Fighting Union for South Wales. II We Don't Merely List Benefits on Paper—We PAY Them. General Secretary: JOHN TWOMEY, S Organiser: "BOB" WILLIAMS, 220 Blackfriars Road, London, S.E. i I- D?stHct Secretaries: A. BARTON, 5 Stuart Street, Docks, Cardiff; JOHN O'L EARY Century if Institute. Winmill Street, Newport, Mon. Coun. J. POWLESLAND, 10 Picton Place, Swansea 1 I ALL CLASSES CATERED FOR-MALE AND FEMALE. 1 ? g Abated to the National Transport Workers' Federation, Trade Union Congress and I National Labour Party. B S Approved under the National Health Insurance Acts. S L "'1

Lost in the Fog. MERTHYR TRADESMAN FOUND DEAD ON MOUNTAIN-SIDE. David Haggerty (40), a coster, of Tudor-street, Merthyr, was fouiad dead on the mountain-side between Rhymney and Dowlais on Friday morn- ing. On Thursday night he was returning from his round with greengroceries and apparently lost his way in the darkness and fog, for he had no lamps to his cart whioh, the horse having ob- viously turned up a side-road leading off the highway, it appears, tumbled over an embank- ment, throwing him out, and rolled to the bot- tom. The cart was discovered uptusned along- side Haggerty and near by the horse was stand- ing freed from the broken shafts. Medical evidence at the inquest held on Mon- day was that Haggerty, rendered unooiiscious by his fall, died of exposure. Accidental death was the verdict.

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I The Theatre Royal. If the opening week of Mi-. C. Watson Mill's repertoire season at the Theatre Rcfral can be taken as a fair guide to what we are to expect from the rest of the series, then Merthyr patrons ought to be grateful and show their gratitude in an appreciative manner. In any other town I would have said positively that they would have done so, but I know nothing more dangerous than prophecy in connection with a Merthyr audience; though their politics are as easy to assess as a schoolboy's assets. Saints and Sin- ners," everyone who knows the stage, will ad- mit is one of the finest things that the better dramatists have given us, and though, as I an- ticipated, it proved too qwlet for the Gods, it has had an encouraging reception from all the other parts of the htfuse; and each night has proved better than its predecessor-the best sign of public approval that a manager can have. The playing has been unusually high, particular- ly so when one recalls the tremendous difficulty of securing men these days. We have been par- ticularly fortunate in overcoming Mr. Mills' personal resolve not to himself play, owing to. the pressure of work that is devolving upon him as a result of his Leamington theatrw, and other enterprises. Of course, the same difficulty of obtaining efficient actresses does not obtain; and Mr. Mills' experience and personal popularity, has attracted an unusually able caste of ladies; who play with real brilliance round the genius of Miss Lillian Hall-Davies, whose characterisation in "Letty Fletcher this week touches a very high mark in principal lady dramatisation. Taken all-round the company is running with a smoothness that speaks of the true esprit-de- corps, and spells successful houses more surely than anything else in a production. The settings, are excellent. Next week Mr. Mills has chosen his own mas- terpiece, The Love of a Princess," for preser tation. The play is an old favourite of mim and one in which I have admired Mr. Mills oi many previous occasions. It is a rollicking p12 of love and adventure, with a touch of tJ "Prisoner of Zenda" in its scenes and situ tions. It has a more rousing plot than th week's, but it never descends to the loathsom dregs of so much that tours, and all who have enjoyed the present show will find that enjoy- ment intensified; while the "Gods" will have no room to complain of tameness, with Mr. Mills I playing "Prince ttonrad. PLA YGOER.