Pioneer

Merthyr Notes Coing to Zion Chapel on December 11? Yes I We are all going to Zion Chapel, Twyn- yrodyn, on December 11th, 1919, to support our talented boy organist, Willie Ifor Jones. He deserves it. Eiectlon. All Uowlais residents interested in the liabour movement generally are asked to turn up in strong numbers to the Ward meeting wlien an- nounced, in order that the selected candidate can be assured of every support. A rousing vic- tory is possible if the necessary work is put in. The opposing side are already in the field, and it is understood that some of the soldiers' or- ganisations are going to support the nominee of the Dowlais Company. This is where those energetic members of the National Union of Ex- Servicemen will have their chance. They will support the nominee of the Labour Party, and have already a fine list of speakers ready im- mediately the campaign 1, opened. Mayor's Sunday. I Mr. F..Pedler, Merthyr s Labour mayor, at- tended divine service at Salem Congregational Church, Heolgerrig, on Sunday, accompanied by members and officials of the Merthyr Corpora- tion. A civic procession marched from the Town Hall to the chapel. Football. Merthyr Town beat Ton Pentre on Saturday in the fourth preliminary round for the English Cup competition by three clear goals. The first half was barren of score, and all three points were notched after the interval, two coming from Poulton, back again in his sphere of greater utility at centre-forward, and the third from Smith, who played inside-left to the new wing man, Edwards, of Bedlinog. For the next round Merthyr are drawn to meet Newport County on the latter's enclosure on December 8th. The attendance at Trehecbert was a short of 6,f) ,0, and Merthyr's end of the gate totalled £ 93. The Merthyr Welsh League eleven lost at Penydarren Park to Pontypridd hy an odd goal in three. Sullivan scored for Merthyr from a cross dead on goal by Barnfather, who in a solo run cleverly heat Hopkins and Murray, the Pontypridd rigflit flank defenders. Rabbins and Evans found the net for the visitors, a miskick by Langford giving the latter an open goalI. More About the Cannibals. The cinema film, "Adventures Among the Cannibals," recently exhibited in the town was subject to further discussion at Tuesday's meet- ing of the Merthyr Town Council. Mrs. M. A. Edmunds (Troedyrhiw) stated that several young girls had complained to her relative to the pic- ture and had declared that it should not have been shown. She had not witnessed the film her- self, but she thought a local censorship of cinema pictures should be enforced before their exhibi- tion. Mr. F. Pedlar (the mayor) explained that the chief-constable had seen nothing objection- able in the film serial, and the watch committee had decided to take no action. Mrs. Edmunds: I have uttered inv protest against it. Ex-Service Men's Protest. At a meeting of ex-Service men at the Drill Hall on Sunday a resolution was passed emplia- tically protesting against the gratuitous in- sults offered the ex-Service men in the meagre gratuities granted the men," and urging the Government to immediately reconsider the ques- tion of gratuities and the payment of back pay for ex-Service men. One of the speakers said they were not for gratitude, but for recognition of the men, and the only way they, would secure it was by having representatoin nAt only on the Merthyr Council, but on every authority throughout the country. (Applause.) councillors Expenses. I Hitherto members of the Merthyr Town Coun- cil when attending functions on behalf of the Corporation away from home have been allowed third-ebss raihnlv fares and sustenance allow- ance of 10/6 a day for journeys under 50 miles and a guinea for distance-sovei- 50 miles. Cardiff, Swansea and Newport Corporations, because of increased c'ost. of travelling and living 'have ad- vanced the allowances to two guineas. At the Merthyr Town Council on Tuesday opposition was raised by Mr. F. A. Phillips to a recom.menda- tion of the Law and Parliamentary Committee to raise allowance for London journeys for both Corporation mem bers and officials to 30/- a. day. The Labour Group pointed out that when any of their party visited confereTices they lost a day's work, and that accordingly the suggested allow- ances were not too generous. Eventually the matter was referred to tlw Vinance Committtee, Merthyr I.L.P. I Two grea.t demonstrations will be held at Shiloh Hall, Church Street, on Friday, December 12th, art 7 p.m. "Hands Off Ireland" will be the subjects dealt with bv Mr. Neil McLean, M.P., Mr. James Winstone, and Mr. Dan Dris- I coll. On Sunday afternoon, December 14th, at 2.45 p.m., "Make Peace With Soviet Russia" will be spoken of by Lieut.-Col. Malone, M.P., who brought back peace terms from Lenin, Which were published in the Daily Herald on. Nov. gtli. Admission will be by silver collection to both meetings.

I i lIantrisant and District Notes. i I Rents and Rates—Mr. T. ,1. Mardy Jones. I Under the auspices of the Llantrisant I.L.P. Mr. T. 1. Mardy Jones delivered a leoture at the Bible Christian Chapel on Thursday, November 20th, on "Rents and Rates." Mr. William Date, check weigher, Meiros Colliery, was in the chair, and in opening the meeting gave an ac- count of the difficulties of the Housing Commit- tee at L-lanliti-Tan--of which he is a member- in securing sites for building and in getting on with the building of houses. The chairman also briefly dealt Avitii the M-iPei,s' fight against the income tax assessment, and for the necessity of raising the income tax assessment to £ 250. Mr. Mardy Jones, dealing with the rates, showed clearly that increases were due, not to the La- bour members, as some ill-informed people al- leged, but to the war. Increases were general all over the country, for the simple reason that just as the cost of living for the family had gone up, so had the cost of living" for local authorities. I Rents. I Mr. Jones next gave the history and provisions of the four Rent Restriction Acts, 1915 to 1919. He showed that the rent may be increased where the landlord has spent money on structural al- terations, and when the rates go up. Repair- ing lfoors, drains, roofs and things of that kind were not structural alterations, and no increase of rent was allowable for sticit repairs. Struc- tural ^Iterations would be the addition of a back kitchen to a hou-se or a new bedroom over an existing back kitchen, for such structural altera- tions a landlord could add to the rent an amount not exceeding 6 per cent, per annum of his ex- penditure upon such structural alterations. I When Rates Co Up. ) Should the rates go up, the landlord is entitled to add to the standard rent, the exact amount of the increase. This applies only to an increase occurring during the current rating period. Mr. Jones took as an example the case of a tenant where the rates have gone up by 26 The rating period is one of twenty-six weeks. Di- viding 26/- by 26, the number of weeks in the rating period gave 1/- a week 'as the increase which may be added too the rent by the landlord. No increase was due to the landlord at all until four clear week's notice in writing had been given. The extra payments for rates begin at the expiration of the notice, n<ot before. The landlord should show the tenant the standard rent and rates for August 3rd, 1914, and the rates for the period during which he claims an increase for rates. Mr. Jones exhibited a model rent book which provided for all these details being shewn, and he strongly advised tenants not to permit any increase of rates to be shown in the rent books as rent, but to insist upon rates being shown separately. Should the rent have been illegally increased then the tenant may recover the amount of the illegal increase, if he has paid it, by deducting the amount from his future rent payments, provided this is done within six months of the. first illegal payment. Numerous questions were put and answered. The intricacy of the ,subject was apparent from the questions put, and is sufficient to justify a com- mittee giving its full time to the subject. It is a pity the Trades Council has not yet seen its way clear to appoint Rents Vigilance Commit- tees in each township of the district. 91 Os. 4d. in the- &-Big Jump in Rates. I During the half-year ending September 30th, 1919, the rates in the Llantrisant Parish in- creased by eightpence in the t. The calls upon the Overseers from the different authorities were as follows: Board of Guardians, £ 5,442; County Council, £8,058; General Expenses, District Council, C?5,000; Parish Council, Burial and General, £ 700, and Overseers, CI50. Total call Cou'nci!l, .€700, '€19,350, necessitating a rate of ,3/- in the £ The District Council's special ex- penses call was t3,050, equal to a rate of lOd. in the E. Total rate, 5/10 in the t. For the current six months the rates have jumped up by 4 4 in the Z. The calls are as follows Board of (,I"qi- d ians, LS,749 Is. District Council General Expenses, £ 8,000; Parish Council, 7C400; Burial, Overseers, C250. Total call for Poor Rate, £ 28,650, equal to a rate of 8/- in the t. The District Council's Special Expenses call 'is £G,mO, and Overseers £50. Special rate 2/2 in the £ Total rate for six months ending March 3lst, 1920, 10/2 in the t, or equal to a rate of £ 3 0s. 4d. in the £ for the next twelve months. The demand of the Guardians is gone up, so far as this Parish is concerned, by £ 3,307 14s. 4d., the County Council's £ 3,192 18s. 8d., and the District Council's by £ 6,250. It is to be hoped that the Trades Council will he alive to the situation which will be created amongst tenants when they are shortly presented with a demand by house-owners, for an increased rate sax and a half times greater than the demand for the past six months. Tramways. I At a time when leaps like the ahove are taking place in the rates and ratepayers are faced with an increasing expenditure upon non-revenue pro- ducing undertakings such as sewers, roads, etc., it is an intolerable proposal that the opportunity to exploit a revenue producing undertairing like tramways should be given over by the Council to the Rhondda Tram way Co. If a tramways in the Ely Valley can be profitable to the Rhondda Tramways Company, then they can be equally as profita.ble for the District Council. The minutes 'of the District Council show for Septem- ber 25th, amongst other things, that the District Council had discussed with the Company: (1) the running of a system of motor buses from Talbot to Pontypridd; (2) the question of run- ning into Tonyrefail town or going on to the Western roads; (3) that the Council had asked for a deposit by way of security, and that the Company had refused it; (4) that interest at a rate not exceeding 7 per cent. had been offered by the company and that the Engineer reported that if the Council could obtain money at per cent, the 7 per cent. offered would just cover the Council, and all this was approved and con- firmed by the Council. The shareholders of the Rhondda Tramway Company must be having a smile, and will soon perhaps be converted to the advantages of Labour representation. Accord- ing to the minutes of October 10th, the Rhondda Tramways Company are to run tramways down the Ely Valley Road on terms similar to those on the Penrhiwfer to Gilfach Road. Does this mean that the District Council is to finance the Company in the Ely Valley?

Briton Ferry Notes I Grievances. I At the Trades and Labour Council meeting on Tuesday some grievances were ventilated by re- presentatives of the Ex-Service Men's Union. We have a, local fund called the "Ferry Boys' Fund," to which the public has contributed for the benefit of those who have done their bit." The ex-Servicemen claim representation on this committee; as having the same right as those of the D.S. and S. Federation, and more right than those on the committee, who have not done their bit, but. simply talked their lump. How- ever, their letters have been ignored. The mat- ter was therefore brought before the above council, which unanimously agreed to send a letter of protest to the said committee. There is much prejudice locally against the ex-Service- men, it being declared that tiheyare financed by the Socialists. The charge, of course, being a calculated and deliberate falsehood." The II Herald." I The "Dajiy Herald" also came up for dis- cussion. It was realised that the "development schem" must be supported. Delegates volun- teered to move a resolution at their respective branches asking the Executive to make sub- stantial grants. Helping Music. r A delegation for the Town Band appeared and made a strong appeal for assistance. They have an outstanding debt, and other difficulties made it hard for them to compete with other towns. Questions were put to the delegation and satis- factorily answered. They eventually decided to bring the matter before the branches, arguing that if good music was wanted in the town it was worth paying for. Preparing. I Preparations are being made for the March election. We propose running a lady candidate. For this puapose a women's meeting was held I last Thursday. Morgan's Jones' Visit. I The weekly I.L.P. meeting was held on Sun- day lasta,t Liberty Hall. A packed house gathered to listen to Mr. Morgan Jones (Bar- goed), who delivered a masterly address on The task before us." Mr. Ivor H. Thomas presided. Mr. Thomas also, by request, ang, with effect, the "lnternat,iona1."

u_- cold,chilling'conditions of winter without the hope of employment or the means tc^ sustain life. He reminded his hearers tha,t the only solu- tion that the Capitalists had to offer to the ills of the nation was more production hy the workers, with its consequent lessened prices— and lower wages. In distinction to this Mr. MacLean then outlined with wonderful clearness the Socialist theory of production, proving to the satisfaction of all present that the laHcmr- power of the workersappliet1 to the land \nd raw materials of nature w-i-s the only sourf.;e .of wealth. It logically followed that Labour's task w as to secure possession of the lantt an{} raw materials of the earth and work them iittlie common interest of all to establish the Socialist Republic*. For all Socialists were necessary Republicans, since they believed in scrapping all that was effete. Every man would then a King, every woman a queen, and every ("l of the blood royal, whilst the only aristocracy tfiat would be recognised would be the aristocracy of ability spending itself not for selfish gain, but for the good of the whole, the only nobility that of intellect exercised for the general weal). The meeting closed with the rendering of the Red Flag, and a retiring collection was made for the "Daily Herald" Development Fund.

I Pontypridd Notes. Russia and America. Unclei, the a uspices of the Pontypridd Trades and Labour Council Charles Roberts, of the I.W.W., delivered a stirring address to the members of the Council at the Free Trade Li- brary. The subject of the address was the pre- sent state of trade unionism in the Statets and the conditions prevailing in Soviet Russia. The ideal of the I.W.W., the speaker said, was to link up all the trade unions of the world in one big union, which naturally would be irresistible when the workers' wrongs needed redressing. With regard to Russia, and he evidentally knew something about it, as he had lived in Russia for some years and was with Lenin and Trotskv in forming the Soviet Government. He gave us a very vivid aeoounrt of what had been accom- plished no far by the Soviet Government. Edu- cation was going forward by leaps and bounds, all grades being free from the elementary school to the University. Workers children were being most tenderly treated, and what seemed almost a miracle, prostitution had been practically eliminated from the streets of Petro- grad and Moscow. AN together lie ga.ve his audience a glowing account of Soviet Russia and stated that the only dra whack to further pro- gress was the blockading of the country by the Allies. Griff. Maddocks, as usual, made an ex- cellent chairman, and at the close of the lecture invited questions on which a very lively and in- teresting debate took place. The Land Question. Miss Dorothy Evans, of the Land Nationalisa- tion Society, lectured at the Lesser Town Hall on November 20tli. She took for her subject The Burden of Land Monopoly." Certainly her reasons and arguments for nationalising the land were most convincing. The audience, a considerable one, were much disappointed at being done out of the lantern views which were: to accompany the lecture. The Women's Guild. .11 .4- juiePontypndd women s Guild are very; much in the limelight these days, Their mem- berslliip increases at each meeting and they are determined to go forward in the path of progress. Under their auspices Councillor Miriam Price, of London, will lecture in the Y.M.C.A.* on Tliurs^ day evening, Novemlier 27tli. Mr. Rhys Wil- liams, w<bo takes a, keen interest in the Guild, will preside at this meeting. The Guild is to be congratulated on liavin, selected a very ahle body of officials, viz.: President, Mrs. Jenkins, Wood-Road; vice-president, Miss Coverdale, Newtown; secretary, Mrs. Lewis, Hopkinstow n and treasurer, Mrs. Rowlands and Mrs. D..L. Davies, Treforest. At the last .meeting of the Guild very able reports were given by the follow- ing Mrs. Ware, Treforest, reported on the an- nual conference of the Guilds, held at Glouces- ter Mrs. Pennington, Barry Tea-race, gave an excellent report of Labour executive conference held at Pontyclun Mrs. Wick told us of the con- ference of the C. W.S. held at Cardiff, and last but by no means least, Mrs. Doran, of Zion- street, one of the Guild's delegates to the Trades and Labour Council, gave a stirring account of the doings of that body on the previous Friday night. Mrs. Doran, who is a universal favoiu- ite, is one of the Guild's most progressive mem- bers. A. J. Cook on Nationalisation. The Sunday evening meetings in the Park Cinema, continue to be most successful. The Committee responsible for the meetings are most fortunate in their selection of speakei-s. Last Sunday evening we had a address on Nationalisation of the Coal Mines. The lecture was delivered by Councillor A. J. Cook, the pros- pective miners' agent for the Rhondda District, and needless to say he kept up the interest of the audience to the end. Previous to his ad- dress, the representatives of the Moulders, who as we all know have been on strike for the past ten weeks, and whose families must be suffering untold hardships, appeared on the platform and convinced the audience tha.t their strike was a just one. A collection of £6 Rs. lOd. was taken up for the benefit of these poor fellow's, and was handed over to their representatives.

The Theatre Royal The joyous frolic of Brewster's Millions was never quite so breezy when I saw the play before, as I have this week seen it at Mr. Stevens' pleasant little Theatre Royal: Indeed, 1 question whether quite so real a Monty Brew- ster ever squandered the mythical millions qf the rollicking story 1rit,h quite so natural a touch of art as Mr. Henry Hampson gives to,the char- acter -this, week. And that ds as it should be in a comedy of the individualist type that Brew- ster's Millions is. Here the success does not concern the careful balancing and foiling of players, for the whole theme is individualist from centre to rim-Monty is the story-its. be- ginning, middle and end, its life and its soul. This is rather hard on the other members of the caste, particularly when they arc so happily chosen ais here, but to be,,otherwise than mere colouring to Monty's escapades would spoil the whole delight of the most fascinatingly humor- ous piece that modern literature has bequeathed to the stage. Mr. Hampson in the leading part lias to hold the stage from his first entry to the final triumphant curtain, and he does it better than anyone I have ever seen in the part before, and for that reason I am refusing even to say tha.t I would have liked to see F. G. Thurstans given ia chance to develop the touches he so aptly sketched in. the few opp(yrtiiiii.ties liraad as butler, or to mention a word of the arguments I have :had a,s to whether Miss Joan Barry, who plays Peggy so well, is or is not Mrs. Hec- tor or her double. Next Ni-eek-oli, how I wish it were this week —Miss Florence Smitbson comes back to her own town of Merthyr, and what a. welcome home she is going to have to the theatre that knew her so well in the days of her youth and before, if I da re say so. Anyway, we shall show her some- thing in receptions that will make her think of London as a. village. Supporting her will be Arthur AsteM. the best ventriloquist on the boards, I am told, supported by Miss Gwennie Fontaine in his scena "Early Morning on the Farm," rrho Ward, the great hall pianoforte soloist; Hursts', the only marionettes worth talking about; Bobbie Thornton, with his bag of tricks, and Wallie Pearce, whose demure ad- vertisement of himself as just a dancer is refreshing in these days of flambuoyant self- assertion. PLAYGOER, Printed and Published by the National Labour Press, Ltd., at the Labour Pioneer Press, Williams' Square, Merthyr Tydfil.

Risca Notes. I McLean at Cross Keys. I There is a Red mark around the 24th Nox-eiii- ber in the diaries of the Risca valley folks now, for on that day the Risca I.L.P. took to Cross Keys Mr. Neil MacLean, M.P., whose forceful arguments, yet understandably simple Rnglisli brought home the position of the classes as they have never before been emphasised there. Mr. MacLean reminded his audience that at the time that the Government had stopped the unem- ployment donation to the workers, they had sub- sidised their own class to the extent of 150 for every house that was erected. This is typi- cal of governments, he said, for the well-wined and well-dined gentlemen who ruled by grace of the workers' franchise were always most lavish in the subsidising of their own class, and even prepared as now to let the workers face the (OonHnuetl at foot of preceding column).

A Busy Night. (Continued from Page 1, Column 5). INTERFERENCE. In contradistinction to the delegates who. feared interference, there were othlS who urged that one present function of the Committee could very well he to urge interference for the purpose of shortening disputes by enlarging them und t'lriil, increasing their intensity—in- stancing the Dowlais miners' strike during which the Merthyr men remained at work as a case in point. Mr. W. J. Davies pointed out the utility that the Co-operative Society in Dowlais had proved during the steel strike there. In many cases the union cheques did not arrive to date, and in these cases the Co-operative society had become paymaster pending the coming of the money. It was decided to set up the Committee. TH E ADMINISTRATIVE BUREAU. Councillor I rancis moved: Tlivt this Coun- cil is of the opinion, that the time has now ar- lived, when an advisory Committee1 representa- tive of the Labour Movement should be formed comprised of members of the Labour Groups upon the Borough Council and Guardia.ns, to- gether with a committee selected by the Trades Council; and further, that a legal advisor be ap- pointed to assist the said committee to deal with such question's as may arise." The Councillor paintetl out the advantages that contact between the workers' organisation and their public representatives on the local bodies, and between the groups on those two bodies would mean. Many of the problems of the guaidians—as in assessments, the care of the mentally defective and so forth, were correlative with those of the Town Council, and oo-opera- tion would be mutually beneficial, and for the good of the town. He marshalled some very co- gent arguments in support of the need of a vigi- lant committee, and altogether made a convinc- ing case for the resolution. Councillor Williams seconded, and amongst its many supporters were Guardians Harry Evans and Bert Brobvii, anct, it was unanimously decided to appoint a eom- miitteo of 15-firc from each Labour group and five frOIl1 the Town Council, with a legal advisor. A FREE WILL OFFERINC. The Aberfan Social Democrat Club was hen rtily thanked for a donation of two guinea- sent along to help defray the costs of the local municipal election there.. N