Llais Llafur

MINING CLASS INSPECTION. ———— A Tour Through Tarenni I Colliery. It is a we Il-eeta bUshcd fact that no amount of book-reading can supply the full knowledge gleaned by practical ex- perience, and this principle has now been accepted as forming an important part of technical instruction, and par- ticularly of mining. The Glamorgall Education Committee has therefore made arrangements for the pupils of the various mining classes to visit col- liories, so that difft-rent methods of coal-getting may be examined under j actual conditions. On Monday last a party consisting j almost entirdy of students from Cly- dach and Gwauucaegurwen, under Mr. J. Henri Da vies, M.E.,F.G.S., county mining lecturer, visited the Tarrcni- i Gleiaion Collieries, Ystalyfera, owned by the South Wales Primrose Coal Co. and made a tour of the red vein worked from the Tarreni pit. The party was met at at office by Mr. John Griffiths, M.E., undermanager, and prior to descending into the mine, well-drawn plans were examined and explanations of various phenomena given by Mr. Davies. It is interesting to note that according to geological evidence the Swansea and Neath Valleys, which now run parallel with the Caledonian Canal in Scotland, at one time ran due South and owing to the movement of a moun- tain in Scotland, the direction of the valleys was changed. It was A this time that the Penine Chain and mo tin-. tains were formed, and at the same time faults, or rolls in the coal measures in South Wales were formed, with the result that it was observed that practically all these faults, of which there are some at the Tarreni, run from north to south ,or parallel with this chain of mountains. The party v.i.s then conducted by Messrs. Beh' Lvddon and Gordon Wil- liams to the Tarreni shaft, which is 429 feel- deep, the pit head being 183 feet above 81';1, level and the bottom 246 feet below."The party was lowered into the mine and proceeded for a ehort distance along a parting at the -end of which, prior to coining to a turning, which led to the mail) 'bully' or deep. a halt was made to examine an electric haulage engine house that was being erected. The engine house, which was of arched brick, was 20 foet high at its highest point, and 21 feet wide. The engine to be accemmo- dated here is to be of 300 horse-power. The party then walked for about a. mile down an incline, and on the way saw three forms of air bridges or cross- ings. It was elicited that 63,000 cubic feet of .air was passing down the 'bully,' or road, at a speed of 800 feet. The levels were visited and the coal- face traversed, where it was found that the coal was got by the long wall system. The length of stalls and other data was also given. It was explained that there was a thickness of 25in. of large coal, above which was Oin. of ooiil of inferior quality, surmounted by clod, 2in. in thickness. The roof was good for a certain thickness, and for Chis reason the bottom was cut to allow of sufficient height. It was also observed that there was a number of treacherous "bells" in the roof. The number eight and nine districts were more especially examined, and Mr. Lvddon observed that there is still two miles to work to the boundary. On coming to the surface, a tour was made of the engine houses. At this col- liery the swam is not allowed to evapo- rate into the atmosphere, but is turned into a container which extracts the oil from the steam, the latter then being treated in a cooling tower and utilised to drh:0. a turbine which works an « lectric dynamo. Another object of in- terest was the boilers, which were automatically fed and cleaned; a man being only necessary to fill the bunkers of coal of a small grade, which is then conveyed to the fires and through as clinker. The whole tour was thoroughly en- joyed, and at the office a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Lvddon and Mr. Grif- fiths for their assistance, and especial- ly tAt the former for his excellent con- duct of the tour, was passed, Mr. Davies o bserving that he hat! been most ready to answer questions. A" expression of sympathy was also voiced with Mr. T. E. Slater, the manager. together with the hope that he would soon recover from his serious illness.

CWMGORSE HOUSEBREAKING CHARGE. A youth, n.med Frederick White, of Cwnigorse, was remanded for a WeAc hv the Swansea bench OR Wed- nesday on a charge of breaking and enerting a dwelling-housG at Nanty- garreg Lsaf, Cwmgorse on Sunday- last, and stealing £ 20 in two watches, a. gold brooch and chain, a gun, a set of false" teeth, and 3H). of tea.

BRFX0NSHIRE LABOCK PARTY ] Proposal ((8 u q Parliamentary Candidate The third meeting of the Breconshire Divisional Labour Party was held last Saturday at Brecon, under the presi- dency of Councillor Idris Davies. The following were pmsent as delegates re- presenting local Lalvour partiee Messrs W. Williams, Talvliyn W. D. Morgan, G. P. Danaher, W. G. Norbury, Brecon; D. Jenkins, Jas. Howells, Brynmawr; E. Jones, Coin; G. Cole- man, M. Thomas, Llanolly Hill: W. R. Williams, Harry Williams, Llew. E. Morgan, Miss E. M. King, Ystradgyn- lais; Messrs. Howell Watkins, Idris Davies, Abercrave; J. Brush, Hay: H. Lewis, Builth Wells, and D. Rees, Welsh organiser of the Agricultural Labourers and Rural Workers' Union. Councillor Idris Davies welcomed the delegates in a forceful speech, in which he dealt chiefly with the Nottingham Labour Conference, stating he was glad of the unanimous votes given at this conference in favour of the resolu- tions on Education, Ministry of Health, Secret Diplomacy, Housing, etc. He rejoiced at the masterful way in which Labour was tackling the questions of social and industrial reconstruction. Mr. D. Rees then dealt with the or- ganising of the agricultural labourers of Brecon and Radnor, and appealed for the co-operation of the Brecon Labour Party. A sub-committee was formed as a result of this to aid Mr. Rees in his work. The chief work of the meeting was the appointing of officers and execu- tive committee, and the drafting of rules and constitution. The following were elected officers for the ejisuing. year:—President, Councillor Idris Davies; vice-presidents, Messrs. James Howells and Howard Lewis treasurer, Mr. W. J. Beavan, Brecon; financial secretary, G. Danaher; general secre- tary, LIew. K. Morgan. Tlieee officers, together with the following, were ap- pointed on the executive committee: Messrs. J. Brush, W. Williams. G. Coleman, nd Williams, Cefn; and Miss E. M. King and Miss Minnie Palister. A scheme was suggested to provide the necessary finance, and a committee was appointed to draft it and submit same to the local bodies for approval. The question of Labour representation for the division secured the approval of all the delegates, and a strong desire to fight the seat at the next election was evinced. The matter was put down for discussion I't. the next meeting, which will be held soon, and the secre- tary was instructed to call the atten- tion of all the affiliated bodies to this urgent question. The next general weting will be held at Brecon on 16th March.

PONTARDAWE POLICE COURT Frid,t.y. -Before Messrs. H. N. Miers J. H. P. Lloyd, F. R. Phillips, H. J. Powell, D. T. Wil- j liams, and D. T. Jones. Superintendent Letheren, submitting tho annual licensing report, said there were 78 licensed houses in the division, and it was satisfactory to note that only three licensees had been proceed- ed against during the year, and as tho cases were not serious, and the. public raised no objection, the licenses would be renewed. It was also satisfactory to remark that in 1913, 152 persons were, proceeded against for drunkenness, this was before the war. During 1917 only eight persons were proceeded against, This might be partly due to the fact that there were fewer police or the great improvement in the conduct of the people, or it might be both. There was one club in the district, the Mond Nickel Works, with a membership of 601. CWMTWRCH APPLICATIONS FOR BILLIARD LICENSES. Mr. A. Jestyn Jeffreys (Neath) ap- peared on behalf of Edwin Holt, Lower Cwmtwrch, to apply for billiard license. Applicant was unable to work, and had to support a widowed mother, J ¡. had lost his brother, the chief support of the family, in the war.. He applied in respect of a room over the old Golden Lion Inn, which he proposed to a lter extensively. Supt. Letheren objected, and said he had received complaints regarding the conduct at many billiard rooms. When the licenses were issued all the persons concerned promised to close at 10 o'clock. There was also considerable gambling going on. Mr Jeffreys (interposing): But we've had no chance sir, and it is not fair to burden us with the sins of the others (Laughter.) Daniel Thomas. C: >h Stores, also of Lower Cwmtwrch, W,iS represented by Mr. Morgan Davies (Pontardawe) also applied for a licence for billiard pre- mises he proposed to erect. The cases were deferred to allow proper plans to be submitted. Mr. H. N. Miers said these buildings were a nuisance in some cases, and in future if they were nit better conduct- ed the licenses would be withdrawn. D. AND D. Tom Maddock, Jilangyfelacl,, was summoned for being drunk and disor- derly at Clydach on Jan. 24 and was fined 20s. DAMAGE AT PONTARDAWE. Emlyn Davies (labtlrer) and Brinley Davies (blacksmith) two men of Pont- ardawe, were charge 1 t with breaking and damaging a. pap(; dbor at 69, Her- bert-street, Pontar(I "ve (the property of Mr. Robert ".C. Johns gave evidence of arresting defendants, who pleaded guilty. Emlyn was fined 25s., and 10s. cost, whilst Brinley was fined BI and 10s. d mage. Emlyn ad- mitted having pushed Brinley through the door "for fim." Four boys were clnrged with doing damage to the extent of £1 at the Rink, Pontardawe, on Jan. 24. Two of the lads were working as steel workers. Evidence by Inspector David was to the effect that in consequence of com- plaints received as to the damage done he found that the boys in question had tarred the railings and turnstiles. The damage was estimated at :Cl, and each of the boys was fined £ 1 5s. and 5s. damage. Two of the lads had been pre- viously prosecuted fi r stealing, whilst another was a waiting admission to a truant school. I CLYDACH CASES, A Clydaeh boy a as charged with stealing wood and ooal valued at 4d., the property of the Mond Mckel Co. Mr. Hv. Thompson prosecuted. The boy's 'at-her was a disolaarged soldier, and had an excellent character. P.S. Thomas said he had seen thA boy take the wood and coal and he followed him home and found the lad in hiding. He cautioned the Lad, who produced the wood he ha.d hidden under the stairs. The mother said she kJaow nothing about it ns she had sent him with his father's dinner. The boy had dropped the eoal. The officer said he had cau- tioned the boy on two occasions and his father (who did not appear) was aware of it. Tho property was valued at 4d. The father was fined 20s.

FINED FOR SELLING HORSE FLESH. A finev of £ 20. with four guineas costs, min-m imposed on a Berkba m stead .butcher. named Edwin Young, jor tlie illegal sale of horse flesh. He sold a woman a. pound and a half, charging her 2s.10d. Not liking the look of the meat, he we-man took it to the local food office. and it was f;e.lfi red to he horsg fl-esh. Defend- ant admitted killing his pony and selling about 381h. of it. t

.,IN PLACE OF WELSH COAL j SUGGESTED USE (OF SCOTCH j FUEL FOR THE FLEET. I The third report of the Select ( o;u- mi aen on National ICxpenxi.tutv was j issued on Tuteday. Dealing with d. lays in the use of ships owing to eon- tfst0n .at homte iwwts, the Com- mittee report favourably on the work done by the b.,tt- talk>i\s, and recommended that more he made availabl e for thejn. In regard to certain problems con- nectOO with Labour employed bv the A,ii!),Iradtv, Committee draw at- tention to the practice of paying over tinio rates from a certain hour, Ir respective otf whether the men had worked full normal day. This prac- t,¡(, thev >ay, is ostravagant, as there is a direct .induc-crm-nt to t-i? titt?,?t, 1.,i I direct initu(.kfllvnt t(? dinary working hours. On the practice of men employed in shipyards to abstain front* work on one or even two week days, and to j work on Sunday, for which double J retes aire paid, the Committee under- stand that, so far ar slnpouWing work controlled hv the Admiralty was c-n- cerned, instructions ha.d given to discontinue systematic Sunday laixnir j entirely and to confine such work to urgeoit cases. In taking this course the Committee think the Admiralty was entirely justified, and shoTild en- force this polk-y with vigour. The Committee have also considered whether it might not he possible to niake savings in several (lim,tion.-i through the greater use of coal tained from Scotch coal mines, having j regard to the enormous strain on the railwav resources of the country in supplying the ffe-et with coal from the Welsh coalfields, and they recommend j that the matter 1», further considered bv the Admiralty, in (x),n,iuncticn with the Coal Controller, with a view to determining whether existing supplies are used to the fullest extent, or whether in the alternative the output from the mines can be imieased. fr4c)ni the |

ANTHRACITE HAULIERS' DEMANDS. At the Anthracite miners' delegate meeting on Saturday it was reported the chairman had received a letter in- timating on behalf of the Coal Con- troller, that the proposal to send Welsh miners out to work in oollieries in France had. after minute considera- tion, been abandoned. As a matter of fact, no Welshmen have been sent to France under that scheme. The question of supporting the de- mands Ci the colliery hauhers for cer- tain improved terms of employment was considered, and it was decided to support its submission to the council of the Federation at Cardiff. Although termed for brevity's sake, "the hauliers' demands," the claims put forward are on behalf of riders, hauliers, shacklers, and trammers. The main points put forward are-:—(a) To claim not less than 7s. 6d. per day standard and current percentages; (b) where two hauliers working to the same parting, half a shift per week to be paid for dividing iffie turn where there are more than two haul- iers driving to the same parting, one turn per week to be paid, etc. (c) whom riders, hauliers, trammers, and shacklers have to work in water, a turn extra per week shall be paid; (d) a lump sum of £1 to be paid for breaking horse in; (e) turn a week to be paid for a horse that is a kicker.

MINER'S RESOLUTIONS. At a mooting of the Executive Com- mittee of the Miners' Federation in London on Wednesday resolutions were submittod from South Wales dealing with questions of income tax and wagk-S, food supplies and prices, a-nd a" the question of the in- sufficiency off food obtaina-ble for the proper nourishment of children. After some' diwussion it was agreed to send the resolutions to the various districts of the Miners' F-ed-eratiot., and to re- quest thorn to instruct their delegates thereoni so they may be further con- sidered by the Miners' Conference to be held on the 27th in London. The Executi ve also recommended that a conference of the Triple Labour Alli- ance should be called to consider these questins witho a view to approaching the Govofftment upon them.

TO OPPOSE MR. CLEM. EDWARDS It wais stated that a confernce of the South Glamorgan Labour Party at Cardiff on Saturday that the Lab- our Party would oppose Mr Clem-ent Edwards, as the workers were deter- mined tha.t he should not again be returned to Parliament unchallenged.

Y.iT RADGYNLAi S WORKMEN DliMA^D ttVMOM SCHEME. Grocers and We:kJy Whole Holiday. i'rai.e tor Executive Food Oiticer. The workmen employed at ti- various local l'ollieri( have taken uip the matter of the provision of food for the district, and a serie-s of meeting have been held at the Ystradgynla>8 Institute during the earlier part of the week. Mr. Lewis Thomas has taken the chair at these meetings, and 0-11 Monday tho hall was crowded. A pro- longed discussion took place on the proposed rationing scheme, and it was decided to send a deputation to the Food Control Committee sitting that. day at Ystradgynlais, with a view to pressing forward a rationing schcnK., and also for the purpose of obtaining an explanation on the question of th: election of Úø executive officer. \Vheu the deputation returned Councillors Ben Williams and David Lewis accom- panied them to explain the position. Councillor Ben Williains gave a de- tailed account of what had been don;" in regard to the rationing scheme, an said they now had a butter and mar- gariue scheme under consideration, which they hoped to bring into opera- tion at an early date. He pointed ou, the difficulty in having a central dump for such a large area, and said that three dumps at Ystradgynlais, Aber- crave, and Cwmtwrch would be triec. Mr. Williams vindicated the action of the committee in appointing MJ. Tavlor as food executive officer, and said he was at present ill, and he (Mr. Williams) was doing the work to? c few davs. He admitted that th'" ap- pointment was not a dcmocntic one, but Mr. Tavlor was not to blame for that. He bad only been appointed t-!) deal with the sugar scheme, and thav had now developed into a very large undertaking. They had had trouble i;] the district as to the place of reaidenf of their educational staff, but h. thought a man should live where he chose. Mr. Dd. Lewis said he could not se-r his way clear to ask Mr. Taylor ton resign. < It was decided to adjourn the meet- ing, and it was also resolved that the Food Committee be asked to fix the wholesale and. retail prices of milk. LOCAL GROCERS DECIDE UPON EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION. A meeting of the grocers in uv Ystradgynlais area waa held at Ystrad- gynlais on Thursday, when Mr. Tom W illiams, Cynlajs Stores, presided over a good attendance. It was resolved that the grocery establishments in tho district should in future close for the whole of Thursday; and it was decided that every grocer should make an ef- fort to distribute equitably the avail- able food supplies, taking into ooJt- sicteration the size of the cliffereni, families of their customers. The sugar ticket system was suggested as a work- ing basis. In view of the untiring energy of the secretary, Mr. D. J. Jenkins, Col- leoe-J-ow, and of his excellent serviees for many years, it was decided to pre- sent him with a beautiful self-filling fountain pen. The following resolution was also passed: "We desire to place on record our high appreciation of the splendid services rendered by Mr. Victor Taylor as food executive officer. The proIDp manner in which ho has supplied u*. with various trade forms and the cour- teous assistance which he haa always given, havo, we feel sure, done muck to overcome our difficulties, and at tho same time to secure for the district J. very share of the constantly diminish- ing supplies." A similar resolution was passed by the members of the Co-operative Society on Tuesday evening. At a meeting of the Ystradgynlais Food Control Committee on Monday, it was decided to prepare three dumps in the district as centres from which the available food supplies could be distributed.

GOVERNMENT TEA AT 2s.8d. A POUND. The Food Controller has ck-eidcd *• place on the market a. Governmen; tea at the flat rate of 2s.8d. per lb. All this tea. will be of a. fixed bKmo^ of goo4 anci lf.ar more economical tea. than that which is at present being sold at aJJJ t, hip.,r from 2s.(xl. t.o 3s.8d. IAr IV. accoiding to the whim or henestv of the retailer. Government tea will be supplied to the in paek-et- stampe-i with an offirial label.