Pioneer

Political N utes. I [BY F. W. JOWETT, M.P.] I Mr. Tim Healy is an old Parliamentary hand. His opinion, therefore, that the Government is riding for a fall in order to take a general elec- tion under favourable conditions is worthy of serious consideration. In this connection I might mention that during the later stages of the de- bate on the suppression of the foreign circula- tion of the Nation the Tory benches were al- most empty. Another remarkable feature of the same debate was the intervention of one of the leading members of Mr. Lloyd George's oody- gumrd of rich nabobs, Mr. Chas. Henry openly advocated a general election, and, if a division had been taken against the Government, he would have voted against the Government with the object of forcing one. A division might have resulted in a Government defeat, but the risk of this was avoided by Mr. MaeCullum Scott, who talked the motion out. « The statement on education policy made by the new Minister of Education, Mr. Fisher, last Thursday was hopeful but not inspiring. The amount proposed to be added to the normal ex- penditure of the Board of Education is quite in- sufficient for the requirements of this braneh of the public service. £3,400,000 will not go far. Indeed much more than this extra amount is re- quired for strengthening the teaching staff, which is the most pressing need at the present time. What was hopeful in the statement of the Education Minister, however, and even more so in the reception accorded to it in the House of Commons, was a noticeable alteration in the point of view from which the subject of educa- tion is now being approached. The announce- ment that the age at which children will be al- lowed in future to leave school is to be raised to 14, for instance, was received with general approval. Clearly the nation has received a shock in consequence of recent events, for, be- fore the war such an announcement would have created something like a storm of disapproval among the representatives of Lancashire consti- tuencies. It is a short step but the absence of any sign of opposition to it is encouraging. Mr. Goldstone very appropriately commented on some of the unpleasant features of the pre- sent position of the child life of the country. Of 6,000,000 in attendance at school, 900,000 are re- ported to he uncfean, he said. He also stated that 3,600,000 school children are suffering from dental disease, and a million suffer from malnu- trition. It may well be expected that these ap- palling figures will be to some extent effected by the proposal of the Minister of Education to es- tablish nursery schools for children under five years of age, but if a drastic change for the better is going to be made there will have to be an enormous increase in school medical and sur- gical staffs all over the country. As might have been expected the National Volunteer system has proved a ridiculous fiasco. Out of 163,161 volunteers dealt with by the Em- ployment Exchanges up to April 6th (the latest date for which complete figures are available) 93,622 were definitely known to be en- gaged in trades of primary importance or other- wise not available for various reasons. Of the remaining 69,539, only 26,873 were from experi- ence or physique, probably, suitable for work of r primary importance, and, even of these, it can- not at present be stated how many are engaged on work of national importance already at their present employment. As for the number who have started work under the national service vo- lunteering system—and this is the important figure by which the result of the system up to the present may be estimated, it is only 2,804. The cost of the publicity campaign that has been carried on-with the result of obtaining this 2,804 persons for work of national import- ance—is officially stated to be £ 62,000. This sum, be it remembered, is for the publicity cam- paign alone, that is to say advertisements and meetings, and does not include the cost of staff at St. Ermin's Hotel and elsewhere—the staff numbering probably as many persons as have been found work up to date. No wonder Mr. Appleton, Secretary of the Federation of Trades Unions, is leaving the concern. The ship is sinking. The Government refuses to give the number of casualties incurred up to date by the Britishi Salonika Campaign. Why? Is it nothing to the people of this country to know how many lives have been spent on this unwelcome intru- sion into a neutral country P Mr. Ginnell is at present engaged on the very I necessary occupation of worrying the Colonial Secretary over the executions of natives in Cey- Ion last year. The other day he asked whether any reparation had been ma?e too the families of six men who were tried by Court Martial there on a charge of demolition of buildings, sentenced to death, and, in due course, hanged, although no life was lost in the riots with which the men were alleged to have been concerned. Mr. Steel Maitland, in reply, did not contest the fauts as they were stated in Mr. Ginneli s question, but merely said there was no ground for compensa- tion. The same thought naturally occurs to one's mind, in form of a query, with regard to these executions as was provoked by the execution of Sheeby Skeffington and others in Dublin last year, viz., what would have have been said, in Parliament, press and pulpit, in this country if one of the enemy Governments had been respon- sible for such outrages. The Billeting of Civilians Bill is the latest ad- dition to the long list of interferences with Bri- tish liberty. "The Englishman's home is his castle," so it has been said, but any Govern- ment department will be at liberty when the Billeting of Civilians Bill has been placed on the Statute Book, to put a lodger into anybody's house whether the lodger is desired by the house- holder or not. Of course the military authori- ties have always had this power and in the early part of the present war extensive use was made of it, but there is a considerable difference be- tween billeting of soldiers and billeting of civilians. Soldiers are under supervision of their commanding oiffcers, for one thing, whilst civilians are not. Moreover, billeting is general- ly a temporary expedient in the case of soldiers because military authorities prefer to provide ac- commodation in camp for them. Also, for sol- diers, the need is generally pressing as well as being merely temporary. The need for housing accommodation for mu- nition workers on the other hand will continue to exist as long as the works where they are em- ployed are in active operation, and, for sdme purpose or other the works will be,kept going after the war. The country cannot afford to scrap all the expensive plant that has been put down for war purposes, and the overcrowding of houses in the neighbourhaad of these works is nothing short of a public scandal. The only ob- ject the Bill can accomplish is to compel a few married women of the artisan class, whose hus- bands and sons have gone into the army, to take lodgers against their will. Women of the better class who employ servants will not be forced to take munition workers to lodge with them; of that we may be quite oertain. The division on the Bi'lleting of Civilians Bill was taken in a very small House. The majority only mustered 78, including tellers, and of these no fewer than 23 were mem bers of the Govern- ment. The minority against the Bill was 33 al- together. Replying to a question put by Mr. Anderson this week the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food Control stated that the grm of Kearley and Tonge had asked the Danish As- sociation, known as the Farmers' Association Merchants' Guild, to defer shipping further sup- plies of butter until the demand became more brisk. In reply to a supplementary question, put by Mr. Hogge, who enquired who the firm of Kearley and Tonge were, the Parliamentary Secretary replied to the effect that if the insinua- tion was that the Food Controller is in direct control over the operations of Mesirs. Kearley and Tonge he wished to take that opportunity of saying it was not the fact: Evidently Lord Devonport, who was Mr. Kearley before he was sent to the House of Lords, must be a member of the firm of Kearley and Tonge. If this is so he might be expected— as Food Controller—in his capacity as provision merchant—to refrain from discouraging the im- portation 01 butter to prevent the price of butter from falling. It is his duty—as Food Controller —to secure cheaper food for the people. Mr. Lloyd George's contribution to the prob- lem of agricultural development in this country is embodied in the Corn Production Bill now be- fore Parliament. When, with a flourish of rhetorical trumpeting he declared what the new Government (then just appointed) was prepared to do for agriculture he said that the farmer must be persuaded to grow more corn without delay. Within the next few days" the far- mer must break up his pastures and sow wheat. As a measure of urgency, however, the Corn Production Bill is quite useless and to do Mr. Prothero, who introduced the measure for the Government, justice, he recommended the pro- posal to give bounties to farmers on the ground that it would lead to an increase of wheat pro- duction in future years, but not this year. In point of fact it is the shortage of labour, due to conscription, that constitutes the present difficul- ty. In proof of this it is only necessary to com- pare the increase in the number of acres under tillage this year in Ireland, where there is no conscription, as against the rest of the country. In the cultivation of cereals and potatoes alone 700,000 acres have been added to last year's acreage in Ireland as compared with 330,000 in England and Wales. ^$ The plain truth is that the Corn Production Bill is not a war measure at all, and the effect of it will be to subsidise the farmers at the ex- pense of the rest of the community. In the end y. In the en d the landlords will get a large share of the pro- ceeds of the subsidy, for whilst tJte Bill protects the sitting tenant from an increased rent the Bill allows the landlord to raise the rent to new tenants. As for the minimum wage of 25s. a week, this will not increase the wages of agri- cultural labourers in the North of England or in Scotland. There are districts in the South of England, no doubt, where agricultural labourers are receiving less than this sum, but even there the provisions of the Bill allow for payments in kind and it is doubtful whether the labourers will get anything near the benefit they have been led to expect unless the Bill is substantially amended in Committee. The New Russian Government still continues to make useful precedents. Tfis now announced that the War Minister has issued an order for! the disbandment of all soldiers now serving in Russian Army who are over 43 years of age. Nobody would wish to say a word that might be construed as being in the nature of excuse for destruction by a retreating army of the coun- try it has previously occupied. But there can be no use in misrepresenting facts and pretend- ing that enemy nations alone do this. It is only right, therefore, at this juncture when so much is being said and written concerning the recent operations of the German Army in France—the cause of which we all deplore-to remember that here were no expressions of indignation in this ountry when in August, 1915, the following ac- count of the operations of the Russian Army during its retreat through Poland was published in this country, viz., (I quote Router's telegram as repeated in "Commonsense," of April 7th)—j rn!< W "¡,O'Un-.J t1ø The newspapers in Warsaw #Mounced u11 the evacuation of the city would begIn cn J 18, but øven before then crowds at the pfe were hurrying eastward on a thousand waggons which had accumulated at the ral station. ad ÍJ Fully half the population was remov3 ff addition to 100,000 peasants, whose homes We" burnt and whose crops were destroyed. "PracticaMy the entire countryside h-%9 bO swept bare. E"ry scrap of metal has b--l?- I& moved, including telegraph and telephone church bells, and machinery. Jloe- All the art treasures have been sent to ji00, cow, and the municipal and State £ 3,000,000 in cash were all removed. led By July 21 there was not even a W t) vehicle or a horse left in the city. Then sand houses had been destroyed, and therehiØ- no public water supply, as the pumping Dl ery had been removed cry Poland is now a desert of blackened and in a plight worse than Belgium."

Notes by the Way. I "The plea is the necessity of the taW;ir: the State must have a moral conscience if i4 wishes to gain the respect of those who be t<? it. If the State permits ita GovernmeO indulge in dishonest practices, the citi2*'ig say that the moral law which applies to the B. dividual is not the same as the law whic» plies to collective authority." WhWathics-tate would you imagine to be referred to? &n j? whom? "It is what the Duke of Marlboro"<?) writes of our own Government, with reference^ the Army commandeering what they w ri¡Jg from farmers; for, as he says, "comman d?er°'jag at a fixed price is theft." How about thO Colo' mandeering of men's bodies for the Arn'Y) Dili of their labour for munition works? 'b9 Again, who would you imagine to be author of the following?—?He who, under Plea of military necessity, takes advantages Dft)w, patriotism of the people to deprive them 0f » hard-WOK rights and liberties, is as niucB traitor to his country as the fraudulent co0? .?" tor. And both are thieves." It is John 1311 v, on the restrictions on drink. Probably he houl' shrewd suspicion that a teetotal people WOII be too clear-headed for him. There were tboo who predicted that th? abolition of vodka-d'.? ing in Russia would ensure the ultimate i?' the autocracy, by making the people f headed and able to think. But it is an in 'ctap$ how, now and then, John Bull" can s" t»e truth and even justice. As Milton has it, „ devil knows better than to deal only in lies. So far as I can this moment ireniernber, Revolution was predicted only by Philip SJ1tI den, in the "Labour Leader." These wise P foresee everything but what happens!

H A S D, ¡ili "A Sweating Den. SWEEPING CONDEMNATION OF ( DRAPER'S SHOP. r An Aboraman widow with three children plied to the Merthyr Guardians on Saturday ffr outdoor relief.  Mr. B. J. Evans (relieving officer) said the plic?nt was receiving compensation of ?1 ??? since her has&and had been killed in a (?wObac? Colliery, and the eldest child, a girl of g, was serving as an apprentice without P?y.?ae? draper's shop. Her apprenticeship began f# .^5 months ago, and there were still nine 10011 to ruN. { Mr. Joha Prowle said this shop was a '??p- ing den," which had been exposed by the stJb- diary. They would be subsidising an £ *0 sweater by granting relief. The woman s?"0?? see the girl in another "place." She cO easily earn 12s. a week. r Relief of 12s. a week, plus 40 per cent- or bonxis, was granted, and the relieving officer instructed to advise the mother to put the in remunerative employment.

ECONOMISE YOUR FOOD. TO THE EDITOR. I ?"?—I have received an urgent letter K jf the Food Controller and I shall be ,rateflil you will give it the publicity of your paper. V. Devonport refers to the great sacrifices th?, t oll, S?Ilant soldiers and sailors are making  and points out that Jt is the duty of all If11 to economise in food in order to help to d, the Germans who boast that we shall h?? of give in if we do not get our usual suppli03 J food. The result of the German auomarin? cao, paign is at present in doubt, and the WO"t 1 prospects do not so far encourage hopes 0 f 00 early increase of production in the coming [1 son. It may be necessary in the future ? ) duce the present scale of voluntary ratio??? t even to introduce a system of food ticket? ^0 to-day we are put upon our honour to adop? the scale of voluntary rations of 4 lbs. of ^r 2? lbs. of meat and i lb. of sugar per poos per week. I am well aware that it is difficult to within the bread ration, but it is most iJllrg,1" ant that that should not be exceeded, and peal to everyone in the Borough especially to cs.le women, to do their utmost to- abide by the slletl of rations as laid down by the Food Contr01 —I am, yours faithfully, N. F. HankbYL ¿Ø. Mayor of Merthyr Ty 0- Mayor's Parlour, Town Hall, Merthyr Tydfil, 18th April, 1917.

County Borough of Merthyr Tydfn, J APPOINTMENT OF SCHOOL NURSO HEALTH VISITOR, AND INSPECTOR OF MIDWIVES. 1 bO"8 APPLICATIONS are invited for the bofe  HL. post under the Education and ?t !? Committees. The successful candidate ??tt? required to devote her whole time to the ?i?" allocated to her by. the above-mentioned mittees.  0' Candidates should possess (1) a Certi_ fied M Training in a recognised Hospital, and (?' øJJ C.M.B. Certificate. Additional qualificationgsP experience of similar work, will be a recon' Die,"J,.r tion. Candidates not holding the f? ficate are eligible, but if appointed will "(re? quired to obtain this Certificate within months. 1J1eVø Salary £ 80, advancing by annual in^r^nie^ of £ 10 to ?100 per annum, with an '&ig^o0 of R5 for uniform and 2s. per week War 1301110' Form of Application may be obtained fro the undersigned and must be returned no t I toll than Monday, 7th May. RHYS ELIAS, E. duotl'tioV' Director of Educatio Town Hall, Merthyr Tydfil, 26th April, 1917. /1