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Merthyr Fireman's Dismissal WHY HE WAS "FIRED." COUNTY COURT CLAIM. As a result of his summary dismissal by the Hills Plymouth Co. (Ltd.) a colliery fireman, John Griffiths, of Plymouth-street, claimed £29 in lieu of notice from the Company at Merthyr County Court on Wednesday. Mr. St. John Francis Williams (instructed by the Colliery Examiner's Association) appeared for plaintiff and Mr. S. T. Meager was for the defendants. Mr. St. John Francis Williams said that on Saturday evening, November 14th, plaintiff was unable to go to work owing to being taken ill suddenly with a bad cold, which kept him in bed. It was contended that incapacity to go to work-owing to sickness was not sufficient grounds for dismissal. John Griffiths said that on the following Mon- day morning he saw Mr. Green (the Company's agent) who told him: You have finished. You can go where you like," and would listen to no explanation. I A few days later he again saw Mr. Green and questioned him regarding his dismissal, Why did you not send to say? said Mr. Green, re- ferring to plaintiffs failure to notify him of his inability to come to work. Plaintiff's explana- tion was that there was no one at home he could send "a message with. In cross-examination plaintiff said that at the ti me of his dismissal the Craig Colliery, where he was employed, was flooded, and the whole of the work going on was of considerable danger owing to accumulation of gas due to the conse- quent stoppage of ventilation. Mr. Meager: And your duty is specially con- cerned with ventilation safety, particularly with regard to gas Plaintiff That is so. On Saturday, November 4th, Mr. Green told him lie would be required at the colliery that night. He was told that the water was still rising and the conditions worse. You knew that it was important for you to be at work that night?—I would have been if it had not been for my being bad. Re-examined, plaintiff said that as a "tipper" he was now working at 15s. or 16s. a week less wages than as a fireman. Mrs. Griffiths said that the night of November 4th was too stormy for her to take a note to Mr. Green's house. Mr. J. M. Green gave evidence of the danger in which the pit was from flooding. Mi". Francis Williams: If a man is so ill that he could not go to work, it does not matter how urgent it was. His Honour remarked that a sufficient excuse under ordinary circumstances might not be justi- fiable in an urgent case. Mr. Green added that the colliery was in danger of destruction. Plaintiff was fired for not being at work on the night of November 4th. In consequence of plaintin's absence the going down of the night shift was delayed an hour, the time being made up by some of the men working on. The defence was that the man s illness had no foundation in fact, and that he could have rea- sonably been expected to work in view of the urgency due to the flooding of the colliery. Judgment was awarded defendants.

Coroner's Jury and Merthyr Guardians I MEDICAL AID FROM PARISH DOCTORS I FACI LITATED. Owing to the absence of the Receiving-officer a man failed to obtain medical attention for a dying woman, on application at the Merthyr Workhouse. Hie woman, residing at a Riverside lodging-house, died, and at the inquest the jury- men expressed the opinion that the arrange- ments ior obtaining medical aid from the parish doctor seemed capable of improvement. The House Committee, which considered the point raised, recommended at Saturday's meet- ing of the Merthyr Board of Guardians that in order to prevent similar occurrences in future the proprietors of the various lodging-houses should be informed of the names and addresses of the parish doctors for the district in which they reside, and that the medical officer should be also circularised with a request to attend in urgent cases without the customary notes from relieving officers. The recommendation was adopted without dis- cussion. ¡

J Vanished Candelabra. I- MERTHYR POLICE INVESTIGATING A I STRANGE CASE. A strange set of circumstances is under inves- tigation by the Merthyr police. Mrs. M. Harrap, Gwauniarren House, Mer- thyr, packed up silver-plated candelabra in a suit-ease bearing the initials of Dr. J. L. W. Ward, Ael-y-biarn, and sent it to his residence by a messenger. The messenger was a carter em- ployed at Messrs. Giles and Harrap's brewery. Arriving with his cart at Ael-y-bryn, be knocked and rang. No one was at home. ) By an un- fortunate coincidence both the maids were out. Apparently ignorant of the value of the con- tents of the case, the man left. it by the back- door steps. The time was about five o'clock, and night was closing in. In about ten minutes the servant-girls returned. The case and candelabra were gone, and they had not been seen since. The candelabra are of distinct antique design, and easily recognisable, and it is stated that the efforts of the police are likely to prove success- flil. in recovering the property.

Distrust of German Democracy. I RESOLUTIONS OF BELGIAN LABOUR I PARTY. STILL FAVOURABLE TO FREE TRADE. The following resolutions and opinion* have beeit expressed by the Belgian Labour Party at Brussels for the instruction and guidance of the twa Belgian delegates—Ewi Vanderrilde and Louis de Brwokere—at the Socialist oonference of the Allies. I As Regards the International. I The Belgian Labour Party (Parti Ojarrier Beige) uphold their opinion expressed on the 20tk February, 1915, at the Hague before the Execu- tive Committee of the International. They are adverse to a meeting taking place at the present moment with the social-democrats of the Central Powers. Their militants are not able to ekpress themselves freely; their congress may not deliberate the state of affairs in general prevents their collecting together the necessary facts and documents freely and objectively. Previous to any attempt at reconciliation, they consider that France and Belgium should be eva- ouated. They further consider that they cannot meet the German social-democrats unless to de- mand an explanation of their attitude—(1) as re- gards the 4th August, 1914, concerning the ul- timatum of the 2nd August and the violation of Belgium's neutrality; (2) as regards the atroci- ties committed ihvBelgium amongst the unarmed civilian population. They formally reserve their judgment on the general attitude of Germany and Austria Hungary with regard to the various declarations of war which let loose this catas- trophe, as well as the conclusions to be arrived at as to the composition, form and future activity of the International. As regards the Present Movement in Favour of Peace. The Belgian Labour Party (Parti Ouvrier Beige) regard the equivocal declarations of the German Chancellor as a manoeuvre destined to prepare a, precarious peace, favourable to the Central Powers; they, therefore, consider that any resolution on the part of international Social- ists in favour of peace, would at the present time be useless and dangerous. Should general theoretical and practical conclusions result there- from, the Belgian Labour Party have no confi- dence in the manner in which these would be treated by the German social democracy, even should part of the German social democracy be well-intentioned or animated now with better sentiments, it would be dangerous to serve the workmen of the Allied countries with empty de- clarations. The mistrust of the Belgian Labour Party is all the more justified, for at the present moment wholesale deportations of the workmen in Belgium—whether unemployed or not-are talking place, and hundreds of thousands of them are condemned without a trial to forced labour to the enemy's profit, without the majority of the German Labour Party and Syndicates doing more than expressing to the oppressors in whose service they are, a few vague and timid words service thev are, ?' b rct4iren (?) w h o are re- of pity for their brethren" (?) who are re- duced to the most odious slavery. The Belgian Labour Party thanks the Social- ists of neutral countries, who at Copenhagen (1914) and The Hague (1916) proclaimed Bel- gium's right, but they challenge the, impartiality and sincerity of those amongst them who did not hesitate to go to Belgium to inform themselves of the general situation, beneath the Aegis of the occupying power and without feeling any irre- sistible need of conferring with and greeting their comrades in distress, thus acting with the evident intention of deceiving international opinion. b As regards Future Peace. The Belgian Labour Party (Parti Ouvrier Beige) is glad to see Socialists of the Allied countries assembled once more to determine their position in the conflict. They ardently hope that the delegates will be unanimous in endeavouring to obtain and approving such measures as will be conducive to the successful prosecution of this defensive war which cannot and may not end without the defeat of the aggressors. They con- sider that, politically, a durable peace cannot be assured in Europe excepting by the realisation of the legitimate national aspirations of the op- pressed or conquered peoples, but they resolutely declare themselves against any annexation which, under this pretext, would be contrary to the, will or the populations freely expressed. The Bel- gian Labour Party gives its entire support to any action which has as As object: (a) the es- tablishment of obligatory arbitrament, with the necessary sanctions, namely, commercial and fi- nancial boycotting, and if needs be, recourse to Mrce, (b) the preparation of general disarma- ment. The Belgian Labour Party remains true to the Principles of the International favouring Free Trade, the autonomy of the colonies, and the ex- Mnsion of Free trade in new countries. At the same time, in declaring itself adverse to an economic war succeeding the armed conflict it refuses to be made a dupe of whilst demanding, without del-ay, the lowering of the customs-bar- kers which render the lot of workmen harder by the artificial high cost in living, it believes that it is necessary to take precautions against un- faIr competition, and not to return to a regime of freer competition until the ravaged oountries- fi.„ prived of their machinery, their raw material, their means of commerce and their labour—shall have been re-established in their normal state ■ln way the Belgian Labour Party is con- £ 2*? the Allied countries will help to re- state the S™ J. countries, and more especially ?ium, by facIhtating thir access to new mar- kets, The elgianIa()ur Party proposes that Social- Ist action ) is ''f? P?? shall not o?Iy con- £ L -r u' J political and economic domains, but sh-I I also find its sphere in the social domain. It demands a systematic international legislation, sanctioning the liberty of trade union's action, protecting workmen, children, women and adults, regulating the duration of work and establishing the extension and reciprocity of insurance acts. It proposes laying down as soon as is possible generaJ financial principles which would be con- ducive to the rapid reduction of the overwhelming debts incurred by various countries and would prevent the burden thereof falling on flhe work- ing classes; it considers that excepting the direct and progressive taxes on inheritances, property, income, and war-profits, it must make a; firm stand as regards the considerable, extension of exploitation of the public services by the com- munity as a whole—railways, tramways, light- ing, etc., as well as insurance and natural wealth, coal mines and sources of electric power.

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Assessments of Collieries. MAESTEG S.W.M.F. TACKLES THE I PROBLEM. At a joint committee meeting of all the lodges of the S.W.M.F. (Maesteg district) held at the Memorial Hall, Maesteg, on Friday last, Mr. Meth Jones, political organiser, S. W .M.F., de- livered a paper upon the Assessments of Col- lieries, in the unavoidable absence of Councillor H. Davies, Taibach district. President Mr. Dd. J. Jones, Coegnant Lodge, was voted to the chair. The speaker explained the cause of the absence of Mr. J. Maerdy Jones, who should have been present to speak on Assessment of Cottage Pro- perty, but was prevented owing to sickness in the family which necessitated his remaining at the fa and expressed his wish, and, he thought, also that of the meeting, that the sickness would soon be over. Mr. Jones said it was a kind of New Year's gathering, the period of the year to make new resolutions for the future and strengthen those of the past tha-t were worth maintaining, he hoped that we as workers were not going to drop the good work that we had carried on in the past in the sphere of which he was going to speak about that night, but that we would put more energy into the work. One great English speaker had said that The road to hell was strewn with good intentions," lie, the speaker, wished to point out that they were good in- tentions never carried out," and he hoped that we would carry out our intentions and not merely pass resolutions and let them slip by without allowing them to -materialise. (Hear, hear.) He and his colleagues were holding simi- lar meetings and meeting with success through- out South Wales. In the past the working man had been content to allow our opponents to deal with the question of assessments of Collieries and all assessable property and had voted coalowners and their agents, landowners and their agents, and local tradesmen upon the different bodies that, dealt with assessments, believing that they were more capable and fitter persons to do the work; but we have proved by bitter experience that it was a mistake. He said that we were slowly rectifying the mistakes of the past, but we could not expect to overthrow at once things that had been law and customs for hundreds of years, it had to be done by a process of evolu- tion, progress by stages, and he thought we could adopt the tactics of the armies—before attack- ing a position we must send wori&ng-class repre- sentatives to these places to find out the bast position, then attack it. He then went through a brief survev of the history of rating from the time of Edward 1st in 1287 to the present. In 1297 the first act was passed to deal with rating, the act provided for the appointment of four men to deal with the assessing of the parish. It had been a custom for a very long time before it became a custom, long before it is embodied in an Act of Parliament, there was no change from 1297 to 1340 in the case of essessment, then it was found necessary to appoint a list of juries to assess crimes whose duty it was if a man com- mitted a crime—say, if a man would not pay the federation, and that was considered a crime, they would chase him out of the parish, and as far as they could go, and not allow him to re- turn until he was prepared to live like other men. In 1530 an Act was passed and made it compulsory upon the parish for the repair of bridges, it had been previously done by the sys- tem of the hundred, but the Act of 1530 provided for the appointment of two collectors of tax and two surveyors, the repair of bridges was not by tax, but the people had to either provide horses and carts or tools or work, if they could provide the former two they were relieved of having to work, but if they could .not do that they had to do the work. During the Middle Ages the speaker said that the poor were assisted by a system of alms giving carried on by the Monasteries, and when Henry VIII. plundered the monasteries they were very, wealthy, but through the plundering !?ei-e Nrery, tilke w e i*e rendered unable to continue their work, but he did not provide any machinery that made it compulsory upon anybody to oare for the aged and poor, but left it to the county, town, and parishes to voluntarily assist them, a method that was doomed to failure from the outset, the able-bodied were to be sent to work, and if they did not work they were to be punished, he would like to see that system of punishing many of the able-bodied people, the work-shy's that tramped the country in their motor-cars, brought into operation to-day, the clergy were urged to encourage charitv amongst their congregations to assist the poor. In 1691, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the first Act of Parliament that made it compulsory to care for the poor, which was the basis of our Poor Law Acts, which di- rected the overseer and stated how it acted, this was the first Act that mentioned coalmines as being liable to be assessed, but although this Act was passed more than 300 years ago, the necessary machinery to carry it out has not been provided. He then proceeded to point out the anomalies that prevailed in Glamorganshire alone in regards to the payment of royalties and the assessments of the collieries. He stated that aU present that had had the advantage of a School Board education was taught in school that 20 cwts. made a. ton, but the coalowners in many parts claims that there were 22 cwts. in the ton iahen they were called upon to pay their rates upon the tonnage sent out of the mines, but took good care when they were selling the coal to knock the 2 cwts. extra off and only give 20 cwts. to the ton to the consumer. This was called the long ton, by this method they were robbing the authorities of thousands of pounds yearly, it was not fair either between coalowner and coalowner. Take, for instance, in the Pontypridd Union, the coalowners of the best steam coal in the world were only assessed upon the long ton, 22 cwts., while in the Bridgend Union they were assessed upon the imperial ton, 20 cwts., which meant that the coalowners in Bridgend Union paid a 7th part more upon an inferior quality coal than the Rliondda coalowners did on the ,I best coal in the world, or in other words MØ coalowners paid rates upon 11 tons for every cwts., whereas the Rhondda coalownera only r' rates for 10 tons for every 220 cwts. 0?' lated how the long ten had come into Gxist6*^ and then showed how it wa& imper?tdve th?t" workers should have their own represent? J upon the assessment committees, and stated tB"L ,? Labour secured a majority upon the Boai'd Of Guardians in the Bedwellty Union, and bein?" f opinion that the coalowners of that Union Were robbing the ratepayers by not making true r turns, because there was no Act of Parliaff^^ that made it compulsory upon them to send returns, nor to send in true returns wheD ?_ turns were sent in at all, the Labour maJor;r rJ in this case brought in an independent ?? to value the Coalmines in the union for the t? pose of assessing them, and they found out ?"  their suspicions had been justified as they fo? that by the reports sent into the overseers Union had been robbed of ?2,289, which had g9Jlt into the pockets of the different coalowners, b who had been made to pay up; a pity that the' could not be made to pay wh--t they had !? into their pockets for 20 years through t method of falsifying their returns. Thus Lab )) saved to the ratepayers of the Bedwellty VO £ 2,229, because the expenses for administr8W bad to be met, and if the wealthy coalowlaerf, evaded their fair share then the, poorer were compelled to make it up. He said was a great field to work in with benefit to the workers on the assessments committee and s,p- pealed to the workers to send more men to cø. ture these committees in future. There WO  time when the workers thought that they not handle these affairs, but now, with the b<? fits of the meagre education that the  gets, that time has long passed away, and t'D workers have proved themselves aa capable 1&, intelligence and character that th4?y stand s???Y to none and often better than many. (Ch?'? I, There was a short discussion, and Mr. « |j promised to attend at some future date d  read a paper upon Cottage Ratings.

Aberdare District Miners Federation. THE HOUSE COAL DIFFICULTY. > The monthly meeting of the Aberdaro Di»tr.lC Miners' Federation was held at, the .Federa^ Offices on Tuesday evening, 16th inert., und? ?' presidency of Mr. I?), i ia Williamf3, A boi, Councillor John Evans, lbercwmboi i# ?j vice-chair. The agent, Councillor Owen PI"reup", and the secretary and sub-agent, Councillor 1 tyd Hopkins, were also present. t The auditors, Messrs. E. Edwin Jones, !>an. Howells, presented their report on the dis, tricts accounts for the year just ended, vvhic showed that the total receipts including bala110 in hand at the beginning of the year to ?10,492 9s. 2d. Total expenditure include a sum of £ 6,190 13s. 6d. paid to the C?tr? came to ?8,100 8s. 5d., leaving a. balance in h?c at the end of the year of £ 2,392 Os. 9d., thï1} showing an increase in funds for the year Of zC931 2s. 41<1. There had also hoo. an increllse in membership of 988. The auditors highly complimented the se tary upon the excellent way in which the distnc accounts were kept. The agent, in his" report, stated with Nga.f" to the Ostlers' dispute at the Bwllfa, Collieries n", to extra services doing chamng work, that a temporary arrangement had now been come  whereby each Ostler shall be paid the sum Of 2s. 6d. per week for three months. If the 0? at the expiration of this period be requested to? continue doing this work, that the matter of: payment be then reconsidered. Complaints were made as to the delay in dBf; livery of house coal caused by the calling up' 0 a number of coal hauliers for militarv sei..Vice. The agent stated that the grievance was one 1 which the whole of the South Waks miners -.We affected, and that the Central Exetmtive CounClb in view of its seriousness, had appointed a depur tation to interview Lord Derby as to what cotllclk be done in the matter. In' the meantime hoped the local tribunals would exempt tha maining coal hauliers pending the result of tbe proposed interview.

Arbroath Dispute. The unfortunate dispute at Arbroath, between members of the National Amalgamated Union Shop Assistants, Warehousemen and Clerks an the three local Co-operative Societies, still c tinues. The Minister of Labour has interven but so far the Societies have declined to sub\íc the question of paying the Union's district w mum rate, to arbitration. Members of the, S il". ties have put in a requisition for special rueo ings to be called, where the whole matter is be discussed. It it expected that the Committed of the Societies will be instructed by the rnevr bers to allow the matter to go to arbitration. j The Parliamentary Committee of the geottisk, Trade Union Congress had the matter under 000- sideration at its meeting on Saturday, 6th int., and it was decided to write the Societies urg^i them to submit the matter in dispute to t be Joint Committee of Co-operators and TraA-e Unionists, in accordance with the usual oustOO" of the Scottish Co-operative Societies, and tb understanding arrived at between the Co-ope!Øf' t-ive Union representing Co-operative SocietieSi and the Parliamentary Committee i-epi,eseiritiO5 the Trade Unionists.. The whole feeling both locally and througPott Scotland with respect to this matter is eiati_ l.el:y against the attitude of the Societies in having re: fused to allow the matters in dispute to be air, bitrated upon. There would have been no vesSl2 tion of work if the Committees had agreed this suggestion in the first place. Printed and published by the Labour Pio? Press, Limited? Williams' Square, Glefyel^11*" Street, Merthvr Tydfil, January ?th, 191?