Pioneer

Merthyr Corporation Houses. LABOUR'S FICHT ACAINST INCREASED I RENTALS. TENANTS TO PAY ADDITIONAL DATES. I The Labour group made a vigorous protest at Tuesday's meeting of the Merthyr Town Coun- f-il against the recommendation ot the Housing Committee that increases in rates should be added to the rentals of Corporation houses After the Trades Council a.nd Labour 13arty resolution deprecating the committer's proposal as unfair and setting a bad example to pro- perty owners" was read, Mr. A. Wilson, for the Labour section, moved an amendment that the rental s should remain unchanged. There had been, lie said, undue haste in the matter, as on the verv day when the signing of the Armis- tice was declared and the people were rejoicing in the street the committee sitting inside the Town Hall came to their decision to impose these advances upon corporation -tenants, many of whom were responsible for bringing about on the battlefields the victory that was being cele- hmwd. He then drew a parallel between the orivatelv-owned and municipally-owned houses T erc \v? a considera ble d'n'erence, he pointed out, between t hem. In Pcnydarren. for instance, where the corporation owned 100 houses, the property in 30 years from their erection (tour- | teen years of which had already elapsed) would belong entirely to the municipality, without the expenditure of a penny, as the capital would have been subscribed by the tenants in rents. Water was being supplied to the Dowlais Oom- oany at 2id- per thousand gallons, which was less than the cost of production, but lie had never heard it suggested that the charge should be increased. This was a powerful company and in the corporation houses there were 300 work- ing people struggling to live. But there was no attempt to increase the water-undei-tqkinl charges to reduce the rate. If the houses should he self-supporting then the Dowlais company in respect to the water supplied should be put on an equality. Mr. David Jones seconded. Mr. C. bYnwiek complained that in regard to the Dowlais Company Mr. Wilson had not made a fair comparison. Water was supplied them under lease, and the conditions could not be altered. If the Company did not take their million <ra.llons a day it would run waste. Whether the million gallons were used daily or not the Company paid for it. Ir, D. \Y Jones was sure no tenant when lie understood the potion .ould begrudge the j rc attitude of the <ixtra payment P Lab<.ur group were endorsed it ???? everv housing scheme in the borough. He YaR astonished at the suggestion that it .was ui- to ask the corporation tenants to bear the bu?i den of additional rates. Mr 1. M. Francis remarked that if i■ t w,vepivce right for the ratepaye rs to take without expendi- ture houses worth £17,000 when the capital was repaid 16 years hence, then they should meet the expenses on the houses above the present- rentals. He would do everything he possibly could to prevent the corporation tenants from paving the increases and if the Town Council j afterwards decided to eject them the onus ? would ile them. i On a vote the Committee s recommendation ? was adopted by l(i ?tes to nine, the minority 1 'beinf the Labour Party. 8 On the motion of Mr. ?'son an und7ert.a1ki.n 1 ivas aiven that a reduction of the rates woul he followed by a decrease m rents.

j Two more C.O. s Dead. I j SAD CASE OF RED ROSE CAMP. I I THE NOBLE SACRIFICE OF PEDDISON, C.O. Four and a half miles of uphill c'lunbing from Whitland Station is the Red Roses ??-C. ?"? which we reached at 7. t5 a.m. on the 18th iURt. The Camp <s a Ú1W but which is divided into several compartments, in eaell of which are four hunks. The space between the upper and lower bunk is not more than a yard, Qnd the coiupart- I ments are so small that when four persons enter, ) they are at once overcrowded. To avoid conges- tion two occupants retire or rise at a time, the remaining two waiting until all's clear." The place is fearfully cold and draughty, and when the flu epidemic paid its call, the facilities for proper treatment were entirely absent. No wonder, then, that an empty house near by was I looked upon as a. haven of refuge. On entering this cottage on Monday morning the first thing which attracted our attention was a coffin con- taining the remains of Peddison, a Scottish C.O. in the front-room downstairs were two beds, upon which laid two C.O.'s recovering from severe attacks of 'fiu." In an upstairs room there was another coffin in which rested Linscott, of Newton Abbot. In the next room lay a London C.O., who had been having a rough time with double pneumonia, and who was slowly re- covering. Out of about 30 C.O.'s only three were fit on Monday morning. Although warned that he was captured by the epidemic Peddison had nursed practically the whole camp until he was literally compelled to surrender. All spoke in loving admiration of Peddison, who had ignored his own suffering in order to minister to his suf- fering comrades. Bread and margarine, potatoes and bacon, will no donbt suit healthy men but it was hardly the thing for men with pneumonia, and it is no thanks to the Home Office or Mr. Brace that substitutes were provided. Everything that good comradeship could do was (Ion(-; but the world is two lives poorer probably because of the ab- sense of necessary alleviants. Mr. Brace has had a good innings in the emulation of Kaiserism and Tzarism, and has done his work well, but it i work which, we could think, the President of such a magnificent body as the South Wales Miners' Federation would not soil himself with.

I "The Folly of Fighting." I The Folly of Fighting," by D. A. Wilson, Xational Labour Press, 1/- nett.] This little book is well printed, but as cou- densed as Tacitus. Its argument is that the Folly of Fighting is self-evident, like an axiom of Euclid. By historical anecdotes and aphor- isms, the writer shows the absurdity of the be- lief which inspired this war, that righteousness or the "approval of Heaven," call it what you like, can be inferred from success in fight. We have only to accept internationally what we all know already to be true in private life. Our German forefathers, who were enriched by the conquest of the Roman Empire, insisted on reading their own backwoodsman's bosh into history; and in spite of the priests and Popes, who seem to have protested faithfully at first, they declared the result of a fight a judgment of Heaven. So they started Trial by Combat. We are shown how it was gradually discredited alto- gether. As for the duel, a king of revival of the vl q-1 of the nonsense, it is still taken seriously only by the officers of the German Army. I he book ends with a statement, based on American reports, of what President Wilson means by a League of Nations,—a loose alliance which would leave every nation more indepen- dent- than ever, as distinguished from what European politicians want. the subordination of Nations to a League which would dominate them all. The writer, who declares the European ideal impossible and does not seem to admire it, shows how Wilson's League would have prevent- ed the danger of war in the immediate past, if it had been in force.

I Cardiff Railway Dispute. I The Cardiff Railway Company's pumpsmen, members of the N.U.R., are of opinion, and we agree with thew-that they are entitled to the 12} per cent. advance granted to various grades of railwaymen, but their employers apparently think differently, and after abortive attempts to settle the matter during the latter days of last week the men took the matter in their own hands on Saturday and had an unauthorised disgust" strike. The stoppage involved prac- tically the whole of the docks, and Mr. A. J. Williams, the local N.F.R. organiser, was in- structed of the position and immediately placed himself in communication with the parties to the dispute. On Sunday a meeting of the Tippers' (No. o) Brandl of the N. U .R., to which the pumpsmen I are attached, was held to deal with the position, at which Mr. Williams reported that an assur- ance had been given by the company that the whole matter would he gone into, and he, there- fore, urged the men to resume work and leave the matter in his hands s ince he was very hope- ful of a successful issue of the dispute, and on this being backed by a resolution in which the tippers promised any support necessary to secure the demands of the pumpsmen, -the latter, though with some reluctance, decided to accept his advice and return to work pending the pro- mised negotiations.

Four Million Votes I PRACTICAL DISENFRANCHISEMENT OF I SOLDIERS AND SAILORS. Where the soldier is in this General Election was explained by Mr. T. 1. Mardy .Tones, poli- tical agent for the South Wales Miners' Federa- tion, to a big audience at the Olvmpia Rink, oil Sunday. We were t-oid a few months ago (he said) that the soldiers and sailors who had done so well in this war were tit(' people who should have special privilege of citizenship, every individual on war service being entitled to a vote as recognition of his right to determine the future Parliament of The land. There was a special absent-voters' list for men on service, upon which for the United Kingdom 4,000,000 men were entered. The Local Govern- ment Board with all its dforts: tlw records ofifces of the War Office and the Admiralty, had failed to cope with the difficulties of keeping up to date n record of the addresses, changes of units, regiments, etc., of the men at war. Fully 20 per cent, of these on the list—men out in Mesopotamia and the East-wonld not even get their ballot papers whilst there were not 50 per cent, of the fighting forces whose addresses were known for certain. Moreover, with the rush of the election it was practically impossible to get literature to do with the various candidatures to the soldiers in time. And so soldiers and sailors in effect would be disfranchised in the coming election. Hie assumption was that the soldiers were antagonistic to Labour, but he be- lieved with confidence that soldiers who had had an opportunity of knowing the truth would vote Labour every time. (Applause). He was con- vinced one of the factors bringing about the election at this crisis was that the Capitalist parties knew full well once the soldiers had a chance they would be with Labour in antagon- ism to Capitalism. The general election was not going to be one on a clear-cut issue as between the vested interests of Capital and La bour be- cause the Capitalist press had camouflaged the position the General Election was taking place merely For the purpose of empowering one man —the Prime Minister—to hold the reins of Gov- ernment for another five years. Though he might do so for a period. If his supporters ima- gined they would be allowed to remain in power for five years again uninterrupted and undis- turbed they were living in a fool's paradise. This election was a challenge by the Coalition —the Tories and Liberals financed as parties by rich men of the country—to organised Labour and the workers must take up that challenge. The Prime Minister with his general astuteness was trying to create an impression that the Labour Party was with him, and he had given his blessing to a certain number of Labour can- didates up and down the country. Officials of the South Wales Miners' Federation in the Par- liamentary field had been picked out for such attention, hut the blessing of Mr. Lloyd George had not fallen upon Mr.Winstone, the acting- president of the South Wales Miners' Federa- tion. He was to he opposed by :t Coalitionist- a fact which was a compliment to Mr. Winstone and his Labour supporters in Merthyr. With men like Smillie and Winstone in every constituency of the 350 to 500 fought by Labour there would be no doubt as to the result, and he was glad to say that Smillie had seen to it that every miners' candidate who went to the elector- ates signed a pledge to be true to the Labour Party before receiving a mandate. A Labour Party in the new Parliament of only 100 strong or even 60 strong, independent of the Coalition Government, would be of more real service to Labour than 300 men inside the Government, be- cause those would have to knuckle down to the policy and programme of the Government, fh- dependent, the Labour M-P- s would take the place of the official Opposition in the House of Commons. (Applause.) iMr. B. Brobyn presided.

I The Eight Hours Day Demand. I The Executi ve of the National Council of Mine "rorker (other than miners) met Sir Guv Calthrop, Coal Controller, in London last week- end upon the application for an eight-hour day for enginemen, stokers, craftsmen and other workers. The Controller repeated his offer of a day of S., hours, meal-time of 20 minutes inclu- sive (which means eight hours and ten minutes actual work), the same to commence on Janu- ary 1st next. This definite statement as to date is an improvement on his previous offer. Later in the day the executive met the Consultative Committee of the Mining Association of Great Britain, and the eight-hour question was again dealt with, hut no final decision was arrived at. and a further joint meeting has been arranged for Thursday next. The men's representatives persisted in claiming a general eight-hour day. Mr. W. Hopkins (general secretary) represented the Monmouthshire and South Wales Associa- tion of Colliery Enginemen, Stol-zors and Crafts- men at both meetings.

I C.O.'s and Demobilisation. I The Government has had under consideration the question of the disposal of the men em- ployed under the Committee on Employment of Conscientious Objectors, and has decided that it is not possible at present to release these men from the restrictions imposed on them, thereby giving them a priority in returning to civil life over their fellow-countrymen serving in the forces. The men will therefore remain at the work on which they are at present employed. The suspension of call-up notices by the Ministry of National Service does not affect the recall of men from army reserve with the.colours. Any man employed under the Committee on Employment of Conscientious Objectors who leaves his work AA-itliout permission will he re- called from army reserve to the colours.

I RAILWAY TRUCE TO END. I The National Union of Railwaymen, in view of the termination of the war, have decided to withdraw the truce entered into with the rail- way companies and the Government., and to enter into negotiations in respect to the society's national programme. The triple alli- ance—miners, transport workers, and railway- men—have been informed of this decision, with a request that at its next meeting the matter shall be discussed.

Labour and The League of Nations. I THOUCHTS ON LITTLE UNDERSTOOD DANCERS. THE "EXTREME LEFT" FOLLY OF I ALOOFNESS. BY LEONARD WOOLF. I The Labour Party officially supports the idea of a League of Nations. So do the Trade Cnions and the -Co-operative Movement, and there is also 110 doubt that among the rank and file in the country there is a large amount of support for it. Yet we seem to be drifting into an ex- ceedingly dangerous position, and 110 one who desires to see future wars prevented, or who wishes to see Labour exercise political control over international relations, can contemplate what is happening without- misgiving. The danger seems to me to come from two sources, first the perversion of the League of Nations idea by sections of the governing class, and se- cond from the attitude of sections of Labour itself. THE IDEA. The idea of a League was a very simple one. It was to create the framework within which nations could co-operate rather than compete, the medium in which international difficulties and differences—w hich are bound to arise—could be settled amicably and justly rather than by the arbitrary action and force of individual Gov- ernments. This involves the croat-ion of a world league, a revolution in national and interna- tional affairs. We want to break up the old sys- tem of States and Alliances and Powers; to lay the foundations for. t lw fraternity and solidarity of peoples. BUT WHAT SORT? 0"" this idea has caught oil." The League is going to bevcreatod, and it is actually going to be created the day after to-morrow. There is no doubt ahout that. The Peace Conference will gather about the green table in January in Paris, and the gentlemen who take their seats there are going to create a League. What sort of a League;' That is the real question upon which Labour should be directing its scrutiny. There is a kind of Government now established in Russia which the Governments of some other countries very much object to. The whole of the Central Europe system has just crumbled away. Thrones, Governments, and political institutions have vanished like dreams, ghosts, or mists. In all these countries wild men are appearing who seem to have learnt something from the wild men of Russia. Our Governments do not like these wild men and their ways: they are very much afraid of them. Consequently, though we are enjoying the peace of an armistice with our enemies, the Germans and the Turks and Aus- trians and Bulgarians, we are at war with our friends the Russians. EXCLUDED THE LEAGUE. Now ) do not. wish to discuss here the merits and defects of Bolshevist and other Govern- ments. What I wish to discuss is the attitude of the League of Nations towards revolution and governments which we may perhaps not approve of. When the League is formed in January, are the revolutionary Governments which our Gov- ernments happen not to like to be invited to join or not .Everything points to the fact that they will not. We are hardly likely to ask the Russian Government to join the League while we are fighting the Russians in order to compel them to change their Government. It is almost certain then, that the Allies in Paris will pick and choose. So and so is an orderly nation and will be admitted, but so and so is revolutionary and Bolshevist and must he excluded. That way lies complete disaster. ft strikes at the root of a world-league, and will convert the League into a Holy Alliance against revolution. AN ESSENTIAL PRELIMINARY. Jt is essential that the League should start by refusing to dictate to any people as to the form of Government it is to adopt. Kvcry de facto Uovcrnment must be invited to join and must be recognised by the League. If Japan desires to retain the Mikado, she must be allowed to do j so; and if Germany prefers Liebknecht and Ruble to the Kaiser and the Crown Prince, she loo must be allowed to do so. A LEFT WINC DANCER. But if there is this danger of the perversion of the idea of a League by the reactionaries in our Governments, there is another danger from the attitude of the Left Wing of Labour. It is extremely dcJubtful whether the Bolshevist Gov- ernment in Russia would consent to join the League. The ".Spartaells" Group in Germany declare that a League will be utterly useless, and would almost certainly have nothing to do with it. The same altitude exists to a great extent in the Extreme Left in this country. The argument usually put forward for this view is that we should rely for international action upon the International, and that until Capitalism is destroyed, any League must be worse than use- less. Now this attitude creates the very con- ditions which it. gives as the reason for having nothing to do with the League. It plays straight into the hands of reactionary and capitalist gov- ernments. A REAL NECESSITY. Persona lly, I believe in the International as strongly as anyone can believe in anything. But even if every government in the world were Social-Democratic or Bolshevist or any other -ist, it would be necessary to create a League of Nations if we did not wish those Governments to drift into settling their differences by the damnable method of armed force. It is a delu- sion to -behove that the relations of whole peo- ples and nations can ever be anything but com- plicated and difficult, and it is certain that the substitution of democratic for Socialist govern- ments for the Governments of Kaisers and Capi- talists will not of itself cause the danger of wars to die out of the world. The League of Nations idea is the symbol and instrument of the frater- nity and equality of peoples in the realm of in- ternational government. If the Iyeft Wing of Labour and the "revolutionary" Governments stand aside from this movement, they will play into the hands of the Jingoes and reactionaries, for they will allow these men to get into their hands an instrument not merely of national but of international power, and to use for evil pur- poses what might, from its nature, be used for attaining those international ideals which a-re pre-eminently ideals of Labour.

Theatre Royal 4, Even election excitement will not be proof against the attraction which Mr. Dry is bringing to the Theatre Royal next week, in a welcome return visit of Peg o' My Heart to Merthyr. Macdonald and Young as the presentators will be guarantee enough of the merit of the com- pany, and the interpretation to all who saw Betty," which was sent to Merthyr by the same people, but if any sceptic should have doubts after that I think they will be completely dissipated when he learns that Miss Mortimer who plivs Ni-ill next week bave turned her thousandth appearance in the part. WThen a girl can hold the boards in a title role for over three years, she must have more than the aver- age capacity for the part and must be backed by a company that knows how to get the last ounce out of a play. That last observation be- comes axiomatic in reference to this company to any follower of the stage who scans the caste. "Peg o' My Heart" was easily one of the greatest successes London ever encored because of the charn] of the work, and I candidly look to Peg" being a real rival of Betty" after next week's visit. This Aveek's play, A Spy in the Ranks," is a really excellent little melo-drama, absolutely true to Mrs. Kimberley's art, which is quite de- structive and always enjoyable. The company, too,, are playing with a dash and skill that is much bettor than is usually associated in melo- drama. !————— ——————————————————————_

PRIVATE WM. PREECE'S STOP-WATCH COMPETITION. OWING to unavoidable circumstances the publication of the winning numbers in the above competition has had to be postponed until the 1st of January. 1919. Government in Queensland DURING 1914-18 MEANT: During the first ten months of war the Prices of Necessities in Queensland advanced over 100 per cent.—Cabinet Ministers were profiteering. At the 1915 Election the Workers Returned a Labour-Socialist Majority. SEE THE RESULT ON PRICES-(January 18th, 1918)-State Government Shop Tariffs: BEEF. MUTTON. Roast Sirloin 6d. per lb. Legs 7d. per lb. Roast Prime Rib 4ld." Shoulders 4-ld. ly Steak Fillet 3^d. Hindquarters 6 £ d. „ Steak Rump 8d. „ Forequarters 4d. Corned Ox Tongue 6d. Loins 7d. Shin Beef 4d. Breasts 31d. Chops 7d. „ FISH. I R d t. General Reduction on Meats over 50 per cent. Salmon 3d. per lb. From 1/- to Std. per lb. on average. (a reduction from 9d.) Ceneral Reduction of Fish Prices SUGAR 3d. per lb. 66 per cent. (a reduction of 50 per cent.) > Better Wages were paid and big Profits made FOR THE PEOPLE. I In the Meat Industry alone wages were 10 per cent higher than previously, and the net surplus profit was E137,913 for the year. WHAT QUEENSLAND HAS DONE ENCLAND MAY DO. The need is the same here as there in 1915—A LABOUR-SOCIALIST MAJORITY IN PAR- LIAMENT. Your duty is plain-VOTE LABOUR THJS ELECTION. The test of all schemes is: Wilt it Work-THE ANSWER IS ABOVE. i BY JAMES E. EDMUNDS & HIS COITRAnTTF.