The Aberdare Leader

Presentation to Mr Jesse Manley, Aberdare. At Kirkcaldy on Saturday week, Mr Jesse Manley, conductor of the Kirk- en Idy Trades Band until he came to Aberdare a few weeks ago, was pre- sented with a gold watch and Mrs. Man- ley with a gold brooch. The presenta- tion was made by the Rev. Wm. Milne, president of the Trades Band. Mr. Manley, in acknowledging the gifts, "aid he was glad to see so many of the members present, including several of the older players. He could assure them that he felt deeply grateful to them for the very nice presents they had given him, not for their intrinsic value so much as for the kind motive that prompted the giving of them. (Applause.) When he wanted to know the time he would always feel in look- ing at the watch he was consulting his Kirkcaldy friends. He would always remember Kirkcaldy, and ho trusted they would see each other often. (Ap- plause.) He had not been long enough in Kirkcaldy to share the fruits of his labours there, but he hoped whoever fol- lowed him would receive some assist- ance from the work he had begun. His connection with the band had always been one of hard work, but he thought 1k> had only done his duty. He also thanked them \ery kindly for their kind expressions and gift to Mrs. Man- ley-—The President and Mr. Sinclair, sub-conductor, spoke very highly of Mr Manlev's services, and expressed their profound regret at his departure for Aberdare. Mr. Sinclair remarked that they all knew the honours which Mr. Manley had already secured in Aber- dare, and he wished him a successful future with his new Band. (Applause.) —Pipe-Major Wallace, of the Forth Works Band, also spoke in appreciation ol Mr. Manlev's work. The Cynon Valley Band. The committee of the above Band. whose headquarters are at the old I.L.P. Institute, Cardiff Street, Aber- dare, are issuing an appeal for funds. and hope to get the support of the townspeople. They state that the Aberdare Town Band, after a useful and honourable career extending over 20 years, was wound up owing to ndverse circumstances last year. The commit- ter further state that the Hand is now re-established under the name of the Cynon Valley Band, with Mr. Jesse Manley as teacher and conductor. The cost of equipping the Band with instru- ments, etc., will be about £ 4o0. It is hoped that the public will readily re- spond to this appeal and help the Band to regain its former proficiency and use- fulness.

§&fedtya Shadow THE VICTIM OF YOUR NERVES. Deplorable, indeed, is your condition when you become so nervous that you start at the very shadow of yourself. Owing largely to the conditions of life to-day and to the fact that the burden of the breadwinner has now to be borne by brain and nerves, nervous disorders are very common among men, and victims are found in both sexes at all ages. Lost nerve is not easy to regain. The digestive system becomes inert, and the system lacks driving power—that is, nervous energy. To recruit your weakened nervous force it is imper- ative 1. That the food you eat should be readily assimilated. 2. That your blood should be re- charged with red corpuscles to enrich it. You' must find the way to promote digestion, and nothing will do that so thoroughly as Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People. You must also find the way to fill the blood channels of the body with the tiny red corpuscles so necessary to health. Here again, Dr. Williams' Pink Pills refresh the blood and bring the roses of health to pale cheeks. When your blood is rich and red your nerves are strong and steady and the light of health sparkles in your eyes. Dr. Williams' Pink Pills will give you, as they have given thousands before you, a healthy digestion, rich red blood and strong steady nerves to carry you successfully through the battle of life. Ever since they were first sold these Pills have earned the reputation of being the world's best Tonic for pale, aiuemic, nervous men and women. Mr. John Williamson, 25 years of age, residing at 179 Beersbridge Road, Belfast, states: "A year ago I was completely run down. My blood was weak, and I suffered from nervousness and dreadful headaches. I lost weight and became so nerve-wrecked that I dreaded going outside my home. "Then a chemist in Belfast advised me to trv a course of Dr. Williams' Pink Pills. "So I began to take Dr. Williams' Pink Pills, and had only taken the Pills for a while when the fagged feeling left me. In time my nerves were steady, and a good appetite came to me. Dr. Williams' Pink Pills renewed my blood, toned up my nerves, and made a strong Hum of me." All about Your Nerves.—Write toll) • Hoihorn Viaduct, London, for the free book on "Diseases of the Nervous Sys- tem." sent post free. Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Palp People are curing every day cases of Distressed Nerves, General Weakness, Neuralgia, Neurasthenia, St. Vitus' Dance, and other Disorders of the Wood and Nervous System. Obtain- able of dealers or direct, prize 2s. Del. for one box, or 13s. 9d. for six boxes, post free from Dr. Williams' Medicine Co., 46 Holborn Viaduct, London, E.C: You cannot afford to listen to shop- keeper's talk about "something just as good" have Dr. Williams' Pink Pills every time.

CWMAMAN SICK FUND. Sir,—I should like if the members of the above society took notice of the letter by "One Who Pays Poundage" in your valuable paper last week, when he draws attention to the payment of o per cent, for keeping the money back at the Colliery Oifiee last year. There was £ 00 paid for no service to the Fund. If the members are interested they will pay at the Registered Office or some other place and save all that (:(;(). When the members lose interest in a Sick Benefit Society it should be dissolved, and not allowed to be govern- ed by a clique, as the Cwmaman Fund seems to be ruled.—I am. etc., A MEMBEIJ.

ABERNANT PAHK. Dear Sir,—I don no the rite way to rite to you. I never had much skolin. I did hear my old man say that they was goin to ask Lord Merthyr to speak to that grate gentleman, the Marqus of Bute—to ask him to give the Aber- nant Park to the town insted of buying it Now my ole man do say it wont save a lot on the rates. My olt, man (I think about rates now cos we hav ben very savin and bought a house, and thinkin to have somethin against old age to help us, as we should not like to go to the Workhouse; but he do get cross sometimes, for he do say the rates eat up the rent, and where are Now, der sir, can you help poor work- in folk a bit:' I shall ever be thankful to you, with many good wishes. ANN JANE.

LIFE OF THE CHILDREN IN ABEÜ DARK Mr. Editor,—Yviii you kindly allow me to call the attention of the people of to a very important regu- lation with regard to the employment of children, which is coming to force on the first of next month. I refer to the operation of the Employment of Chil- dren's Act. The most unsatisfactory aspect in the adoption of the Children's Act is that the local authority, contra- ry to the new awakening of the social conscience regarding child life, has de- cided to put the enforcing of this Act in the hands of the police, Surely, this is a disappointing step for a progressive body like the Aberdare District Coun- cil to take. Why cannot they \eniure to break upon the custom oi other authorities, and initiate a new custom, thereby freeing the children as much as possible from the taint of the criminal taw. Let them put the operations of this Act in the hands of others rather than the police. [may say that in Aberdare, about six months ago. I saw the most grotesque scene I ever saw. I-witnessed a burly policeman eomluct- ing a wee bit of a boy. about 0 or 7 years of age, along High Street. I suppose the boy was to be taken to the Truant School. Poor little chap, he must have been nearly frightened out of his life. The Education Authority should take this work oi escorting the children to the Truant School out of the hands of the police. Hoping that the attention of those concerned will be directed to these phases of child life.— I am, yours etc., Aberaman. J.L.

TH E DOCTOA Y R EST ION. Dear Sir,—I arn glad to hear one voice crying in the wilderness on this important question. The letter by "One Who Pays Poundage" should at- tract some attention, and some action by the District Executive on this mat- ter. What are trvey doing:- Are they playing the workmen into the Itands of the Doctors r They arranged with the Doctors to keep the full poundage hack for the last month. as well as allow them to get the fJpaltJllnsllrance money at the same. time, and now they arrange to keep 2d. in the £ instead of 3d. I should like to know by what authority they could make such ar- rangement? Were they authorised by any body of. workmen to do sor I know the delegate from my lodge. was not authorised to vote on such a question. Alld where is our :g.>ot:- Where do his sympathies lie? He may remember that the Doctors were not his hpst sup- porters when in conflict with the masters, and it is time that he or some- one should speak out. for us to know where we are standing, or we are sure to have a rude awakening, when it will t v-'Il be too late to alter things. — I ,1111. in, T'RA DE UNIONIST. Dear sl me through the medium of your paper to ask the Aber- dare District Committee, which is now- considering the Doctor' Question in the Aberdare Valley, if they will keep strictly to the question of 'providing medical attendance for the wives and families of insured workmen, and leave out the question of inviting payment for that purpose tromsingtetner), who, according to the doctors themselves, constitute of) per cent, of all workmen. It should he no part of this committee's work to practically compel a hundred workmen to pay for benefit, which only ~) ) of them can ever receive. They may also consider thoroughly the question of paying weekly any deduction decided upon and not on any poundage scheme. Where is the Miners' Federation? They preach that they champion the poor workman and prevent him from being exploited. But here is an instance of the doctors working through all our lodges to compel the young and old, able and unable, to perpetuate a system that exploits them. Jf they have no families they are asked to pay for the medical attendance on the families of the other workmen. On the old basis of 3d. in the £ the doctors received on an average 30s. a week for all work- men, lbs. 9d. from every workman at the collieries yearly. Surely for the attendance the miners received in re- turn that was sufficient, if only heads of families paid it. But don't you see that 2, 3 or 4 in the same family paid it. Indeed, I have known 7 men from the same house paying it. Well now un- der the new order what will we do? I say we should offer the doctors 2d. in the t from the heads of families, which would give them 12s. Gd. yearly. also the capitation fees of tts. 6d. from the Health Insurance Act. That is £1 Is. yearly from the heads of families, and Ss. Gd. from all other insured persons, or pay 3d. weekly for heads of families. Then I say the Doctors will then do well fo the work they perform, as they only charge £1 Is. for attendance on trades- men's families and others not connect- ed with colllei-i(-s.i am, etc., f STRAIGHT DEALING.

MR. STANTON AND THE BWLLFA STRIKE. S' your report last week you state that the above strike is at an end. True, but the non-unionists are not at an end, nor shall we see the last of them while the present regime lasts. Mr. Stanton declared that the Feder- ationists were out to get all in, and that there would be no resumption un- til every man jack had joined. What are the facts now? At least 100 men are still out and who made no promise to re-join. Another 100 or so simply promised to join, and Mr. Stanton Ita been glad to accept- their I.O.U. III short, the strike was a failure, and no one knows that better than the agent. who seeks to create an impression abroad that he won all he went out to seek. He did not win, nor will he ever win- -in the Aberdare District. Two years of "lie low and say nothing" is not likely to rehabilitate him in the Aberdare workmen's favour. My suggestion is this: Mr. Stanton has said more than once that other districts would welcome him as a min- ers' agent. Well, why not exchange with some other agent? It would do Mr. Stanton and the Aberdare District an immense amount of good, and this would entail no financial hardship on Mr. Stanton. This seems to me the only solution to the success of the Federation locally, for while the bitter- ness felt towards the agent by so many hundreds of workmen lasts, we sliiii always have scores of non-unionists; always have men who prefer other or- ganisations to the Miners' Federation; always have discontent and rival unions, and always have collieries seeking a divorce from the Aberdare District. How many P.D. workmen gave notices in last Monday week at his behest? Not 200 out of about 4,000. This is the kind of obedience the men give to their "leader."—Yours truly. REFORM FROM WITHIN. Cwmdare. P.S.—We have lost between £ 4,>00 and £ 5,000 in wages over this strike, and gained practically nothing.

Temperance. Temperance meetings will he held next week, at which the speaker will In* Mr S. K. llu^iies. grand chief templar. \V rexham. He speaks at Bethlehem, I Abercwiiiboi, on Tuesday evening, and I at Bryri >Sfior>, Cwmbaeh, on Wednesday evening.

I Lantern Lectures. I < >u Monday. Tuesday, and Wednesday nights lantern lectures were delivered at Bethania (H.) Schoolroom. Y flys- cynon; Salem, Godreaman, and Beth- ania Chapel, Cwmbaeh, by Mr 1). T. Dough ton. of Messrs Doughton and Hughes, Aberaman. The subject was Peary and the North Pole," and the lantern was manipulated by Messrs Edgar fo and Kees Leach. The slides were kindly lent by Messrs Brown and Poison.

A Merciless Judge. A merciless judge is Father Time. Before him the weak and the want ing go to the wall. Only the truth can stand. For two years the fol lowing statement from a Merthyr resident has withstood this sternest of all tests. Mr. James Hees lives at 18 Dan-y Pare. near the Y.M.C.A. Institute. Merthyr. He says —" I think it was a cold that settled on my kid neys that gave me severe shooting pains across the back and round the loins some six months ago. These pains were like knife thrusts, par- ticularly after bending. Also I had a touch of rheumatism, together with bad attacks of headache. J had urinary troubles as well, but the medicine that gave me more relief than anything I had ever taken was Doan's backache kidney pills. J had heard of them as being a special medicine for the kidneys. and J proved this to be quite correct. They relieved me from the first, and after a short course of the pills, F was able to bend with ease, and I have kept well ever since. I always recommend the pills to my friends with confidence, for I have proved their worth. (Signed) James Kees." Over Two Years Later Mr. Kees said "I still enjoy good health, and confirm all I said before about Doan's backache kidney pills. I have great faith in them, and gener- ally have a box in the house in case of need. They are. in fact, a family medicine with me, and I heartily commend them to the notice of all who suffer with kidney complaint." Price 2/0 a box. 6 boxes 13/9 of all dealers, or from Foster-McClellan Co.. S Wells St.. Oxford St., London. W. Don't ask for backache and kid- ney pills,—ask distinctly for Doan's backache kidney pills, the same as Mr. Rees had.

The Tramps and the Poor Law. BY GUARDIAN J. PROWLE. For years Boards of Guardians and Conferences, both local and national, have been alarmed at the great num- ber of ti-iinips tIlat. seek shelter in the Tramp wards, and also receive tickets if)., the Ijougiug iiouses, but very little has been done in the matter. in tact, we have too many thoughtless and good for nothing Guardians, noiding seats in order to vote ior friends, and tne tew real Guardians, who are students of social problems, and have a desire to reform, cannot rind time or vitality to deal with even this one question. i am afraid that very few of the public real- ize tne eftect of this class of pauper, apart from the consideration of the cost to the ratepayers. When discussing this subject in Poor Law Conferences, it is universal condemnation of them all one hears. I must admit that a large number are "mouchers," who are no use to anyone and have no desire to rind work, but who exercise all means con- ceivable to deceive innocent and ignor- ant people into giving them food, etc. Their tricks are many. Some women even borrow babies to carry with them for alms-soliciting purposes. Only two weeks ago I saw a woman carrying two children supposed to be twins. Her tale was most pitiful, and her guise was so clever that only an expert could have detected it. I placed myself in a posi- tion to be approached, and L listened to her story, and took good stock of the supposed twins. Then 1 said, "Good day." A policeman, who had an eye on her, and whom I approached, knew her well. There had been an International Football Match that day, and she had specially borrowed these children for the occasion. I could give many more instances of borrowed children. Take again the "mouchers," with their pitiful tale of being unable to find employment, etc.; some carrying a workman's basket or box, and begging. Many of them have never done any work in their lives, and do not want any. I venture to state that fully To per cent. of the tramps are of the above type. It is not the object of this arti- cle to explain what are the causes of the existence of such a class. But a remedy for the evil must be found. These people tramp from town to town begging on the way. If the distance to the next destination is long they sleep out. There is a kind of Freemasonry among this fraternity. Those who are on their first visit ask for such and such a place, having been informed of it on the road. Then, after reaching the town, they apply to the police officer, who is a relieving officer for this pur- pose, and who grants them tickets. At Merthyr 12 are sent to the Tramp Wards at the Workhouse; the others are sent to the lodging-houses. At Aberdare and Bargoed they are all sent to lodging houses, but no person can spend more than one night in every month in the same Union. I will just give a few figures relating to our own Cnion, showing the number of persons who have been in the Workhouse Tramp Ward and paid for at the lodging- houses:—Week ending Jan. 17th, 674; for corresponding week in 1912, 570; an increase of 104. Week ending Jan. 24th, 671; corresponding week, 1912, 02S; increase, 43. [ use these figures to prove that they are nothing more than professional beggars and not peo- ple in seil i-ch"of work. Take the Board of Trade returns on unemployment; they are practically nil. Take the posi- tion locally. I am told that the con- tractors who are laying down the Car Track at Aberdare cannot get men. The same difficulty applies to the great Public Works in this district, such as Waterworks, etc. Yet we relieve about 100 every night. I am not complaining so much about the cost as the menace these people are to the community. The above figures do not represent all. I would venture to suggest that there are three times as many who do not seek the aid of the Poor Law. Many of them are confirmed criminals, and a good many fear to face the light of the police station and the keen eye of an observant police officer. I could occu- py many columns relating the dodges applied to evade the above process. If everybody do as I do these loafers would soon be compelled to do some honest labour. The only thing I give to them on the road is a match. If they ask for a copper to help paying for a night's "doss," as they call it, I direct them to the police station; then comes some unprintable language. Their lat- est dodge is worked when pressed to show what they call the "Lloyd George badge" (an Insurance card). I would ask the public to scrutinize it if they have a chance. I saw one the other day with only one stamp on, and it had « been purchased at a Post Office for the purpose of begging. At the same time it must be admitted that there are people who are compelled to tramp in search of work, hut there is now less need for it, since the Labour Exchanges can direct men where to find work, and even state the number of men wanted. I shall deal with this class in my next article, feeling as I do that all kinds of undesirables, both rich and poor, must not be allowed to become drones in any community. I have been prompted to draw attention to this problem, and I believe that now. -it this most prosperous period in the history of our country, from the indus- trial point of view, is the best time to do something. For some years in several counties, chiefly in the South of England, the various Boards of Guardians have joined together and formed what is called the "way ticket system." This has almost cleared beg- ging out of the counties where the scheme has been adopted. The Local Government Board have now issued under the powers they possess, an order urging Boards of Guardians to join to- gether in each county and formulate a scheme on those lines. I would have much preferred if the L.G.B. had made it compulsory upon Boards to do so. Next week I will deal with the order. and endeavour to show how it will affect and help to solve the problem of the vagrants. In the meantime1 I hope some would-be-Guardian will pledge himself to take this subject up if returned. AVe have yet room for the real live Guardian.

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