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| Political Notes t Political Notes £ m. u n r | By F. W. Jowett, MJR. 1 By F.. Jwett. M.P. i t BOLOISM IN WALES. A reply is due from Mr. Clem Edwards to the denial, given by the Attorney General in the House of Commons last Monday, tha;t the Law f Officers of the Crown had received the informa- I tion Mr. Edwards stated he had sent to them I concerning the alleged distribution of large sums of money by pacifists in South Wales for trea- sona'ble purposes. Mr. Edwards, if he sent the information referred to, has now the opportunity of convicting the Law Officers of the Grown of falsehood as well as of neglect. This. should be an easier task for him than that of proving the truth of hit allegation that the money was actually distributed, which he will no doubt be asked to do at his meetings. LORD MAYOR'S APOLOGY? When a number of discharged and disabled soldiers ventured to protest at a Mansion House meeting last week the Lord Mayor said that the protests simply showed" the appalling manner in which German money can find its way into this country." The Lord Mayor has since with- drawn his unjust charge, his excuse for his con- duct being that he thought the interruptors were pacifists. Of course, it is not considered to be necessary to have any evidence in support of allegations against pacifists. The Home Secretary in the House the other day adopted the Lord Mayor's excuse as quite sufficient and conclusive. In this frame of mind the Home Secretary is performing his Ministerial duties, and the result is further extensions of repressive rules and regulations of the sort said to be favoured under the Prussianism we are supposed to be fighting. THAT PARIS SPEECH. Mr. Lloyd George secured another great ora- torical triumph last Monday in defence of his Paxic, speech. He had a dimc.dt Lasá: before- hiTn but impudenpe and contempt for his understand- ing of his hearers carried him through. What he had to face was criticism of the scheme for a Supreme War Council with real power as ex- plained in his Paris speech, and criticism, also, of his confession before the whole World of the policy of sacrificing the blood of his countrymen in attacking the impenetrable barrier in France and Flanders. He dexterously, got out of hot difficulties for the present. His Supreme War Council with real power, he explained, is only intended to apt as an advisory body and to collect information from the various battle fronts. WHAT OF THE FUTURE? Mr. Lloyd George now pretends that this alone was involved in his portentious announce- ment at Paris. But the whole' world read the Paris speech quite in the opposite sense and con- cluded that the management and direction of the war was to pass from the Governments of the Allied and to be vested in a Supreme Coun- cil that no country could question or call to ac- count. For the present we are spared this latter and most disastrous development of war mad- ness, but it should be remembered that even whilst he repudiated the idea of instituting a Supreme War Council with executive powers at present, Mr. Lloyd George hedged as to the future. PREMIER'S JOKE!! 11 1 I Having cleverly executed a strategic retreat concerning the only proposal contained in his Paris speech, Mr. Lloyd George then proceeded to give the most amazing explanation of his own admission of Moody failure and blundering incompetence on the part of the Allies during the war that was ever given by a responsible Minister. In plain blunt language he told the world that he made a disagreeable speech at Paris to rouse public opinion." It was a piece of gigantic bluff. This was his defence. He joked about-it as a piece of "political strategy and invited his hearers to admire his dexterity and share the joke with him, and, to the eternal disgrace of the British House of Commons his hearers, with few exceptions, did share the joke with him and laughed uproari- ously. A PORTENTIOUS PICTURE. Whatever ¡Mr. Lloyd George may have had in his mind at Paris when he spoke of "the bloody assaults on the Somme and of the costly oper- ations on the Western Front to, snatch small shattered villages" out of the cruel grasp of the enemy, and capture a few hundreds of his .soldiers" he spoke truly. He may pretend now that he said all this to make an impression and to gain an object which he now disclaims, but his description was none the less correct. This and worse is going on at the present mo- ment. Commander Wedgwood later on in the debate pictured the conditions as they are now in a passage I had better quote: "I think any of us," said Commander Wedgwood, "who have seen and watched the casual ty list during the last six weeks will realise what it has meant going on with this offensive in Flanders while the mud is on. We have .been butting our head into the mud. In ordinary times when the wave gAos forward over the top our men manage to get along at perhaps two miles an horfr, but with the mud as thick as it is now it is impossible to move more than a mile at the outside. That means that mathematically there is now fpur times v as much chance of getting killed in going for- ward. If we killed Germans man for man in the May, June", and July operations, and if in these pushes in the mud the possibility is four to one against us, we have got to face more oasualities. How can you attack in .ground which is a sort of pea soup, with shell holes and crater holes, and every trench filled with water ? The conditions of fighting in the mud during the last six weeks have been more terrible than anything in the previous history of the British Army I" FATE OF THE "MISSING." I And then Commander Wedgwood gave just a hint, nothing more, as to what happens to men who are recorded missing — They told us," he said, at the time of the Somme operations that though the casualties were heavy there was a liuze num- ber of light ones. The awful thing about this recent fighting is that the men are neither killed nor wounded, but missing, and very often they are drowned. We hear stories of men moving forward along a little lip of earth outside of shell craters and slipping over the edge into those pits. Think of what it means to the wounded man who is shot down and cannot get back, and gradually slips off into one of those pits. We are responsible for this, we who let this sort of thing go on, afraid of saying what we think because perhaps generals may be changed." & SH GEORGE'S SHADOW BOXING. The critics of Mr. Lloyd George's speech in the House were not reported in the press. Col. Lynch was one of those who examined it with great effect. "The right hon. Gentleman," he said, was in great form to-day, and the ma- jority of those who heard him went out 6Jf the Chamber when he sat down saying, that was one of his great Parliamentary triumphs." Yes, is was from the point of view of a rhetorical dis- play, uttered in the lace of exterior problems of the most menacing kind. He u led lis through ,all the var all the various emotions of a revival meeting putting up a number of objections which were not material, and not cogent, and knocking them down again in slashing style. He reminded me of a distinguished fellow countryman of his, Jimmy Wilde, in an exhibition of shadow- boxing. • J I A PROSECUTION SPEECH, I Even more searching was the criticism of Mr. Pringle. Speaking of the elusive move- ments of Mr. Lloyd Oeot- e from one position to another and the way he escapes responsibility for his blunders whatever happens Mr. Pringle said: "The Prime Minister'has told us that we are going to have harmony and co-ordination. We have heard similar stories about confer- ences held in Paris and elsewhere. The Prime Minister came hack from Rome in January. It was a triumphal progress that he had in Home. But what was the story that the Prime Minister told at the Mansion House? That he had never been at a more businesslike and successful Conference, a Con- ference which had yielded the most fruitful results, and from which every member de- parted in a state of the most serene con- fidence. "There was a different aecount of the Rome Conference given in his speech this afternoon. He told us that at the Rome Con- ference his whole ideas of straitegy had been turned down. Now the Prime Minister tells us that the cause of all our woes is this Conference in Rome in January, which at the Mansion House in the same month lie described as the most businesslike and successful Conference that he had ever attended. Are we to believe him to-day? How Ion,, is this country going on believing in this assurance that, whatever disasters occur, this man has had no hand in them ? This scheme is likelv to secure the ends which the right hon. Gentleman has in view. If it succeeds, he will take the credit of it-' I suggested it, I concluded this.' If it fails, lie will say, I wished to go much further, and it was simply because the Allies were so timorous and so fain,t-hearted that they did not take my advice that these tre- mendous catastrophies have fallen upon us.' We are going to have a great deal to pay in this war. This country has suffered ill uch for it. It is going to suffer a great deal more. It is fifteen months since the celebrated inter- view. was given by the right hon. Gentleman to the American Press. He knows how to get to the Press. It was an interview in which he spoke about the knock-out blow.' It was an interview which he subsequently defended in this House. He told us here, standing at that box, that Germany was squealing for peace. Was Germany squealing for peace then, or was he a false guide then? I main- tain that, however valuable in many ways the initiative and the imagination and the enter- prise of the right hon. Gentleman may be to this country, nevertheless on all questions of high statesmanship he has been a false guide, and it is because lie iQ a false guide that the sooner this Government falls the better for this country." THE PAMPHLET CENSORSHIP. I The Government has decreed that mo leaflet or pamphlet relating to the present war or to the making of peace shall be issued unless it has first been approved by the Official Directors of (Continued at foot of next column).

Capital and Labour. DUAL ALLIANCE PROGRAMME OUTLINED. EVERY WORKER TO HAVE AS MUCH AS HIS NATURE OF WORK AND CAPACITY ENABLES HIM TO EARN. Our readers will be interested to learn that the National Alliance of Employers and Em- ployed, designed to promote improve relation- ships between Capital and Labour, last Thurs- day at Caxton Hall decided upon its constitu- tional machinery and settled the broad lines of its programme. It is interesting to know that the meeting included Sir Algernon Firth, whose works during the forty years of his activity as a Capitalist producer, have never known a Trades Union, but who to-day recognises the al- tered conditions and is an exponent of the new relationship • Mr. Jas. Sexton, who appeare to have guardedly opined that if that co-operation between employer and employed so ungrudgingly given during the war is not continued after the war, the war will have been in vain Mr. Arthur Pugli, of the Iron and Steel Trade Oonfereda- tion, who will despair of human nature if the lessons of the war are not applied in industry. The objects of the Alliance are: (1) To pro- mote active co-operation of employers and em- ployed > in the treatment of questions generally affecting labour and employment in all trades and industrial occupations. (2) To promote the welfare of the industrial workers of the country and the efficiency of its industries. (3) To pro- mote arrangements for facilitating the reinstate- ment in civil employment at the end of t-'e war of men serving with the forces and of munition workers. The Alliance will not, unless especially re- quested to do so, interfere with arrangements existing between employers' associations and trade unions for the settlement of questions af- Se,t)?,l  ,rrjen?t of af- fecting wages, hours, and conditions of labour. The programme includes the following:—A living wage, the regulation of hours of labour, the women to be paid a' equal rates with men if work, skill, and out] lit are equal, the ini-, provement of the conditions under which work is generally carried on, satisfactory housing* ac- commodation for all workers, opportunity to be given the workpeople to obtain a technical and pi-acstioai knowledge, evci-y inducement to be offered to ensure the production of the maxi- mum output of which each individual is capable, and every worker to be. allowed to receive as much as the nature of his work and capacity will enable him to earn endeavours to be made to keep the workpeopl e employed during times of slack trade, associations of employers and em- ployed to be encouraged, and to press locally and nationally that every child shaJl have the opportunity of obtaining a. liberal education and the technical training required for the particu- lar calling for which it is shown to be fitted.

Tonyrefail Notes. Wages and Food Control. To-morrow (baturday) a specjal Trades Coun- cil meeting at Pontyckm will hare under con- sideration local food control and the refusal of the District Council to grant their employees 8/- a week advance in wages.

I Clem Edwards and the King. I I LETTERS ON THE "COMB-OUT" BALLOT. I IOMNIPOTENCE OR IGNORANCE-WHICH?I Mr. Olem. Edwards, J.P., has passed from that stage of futile imaginations-in which he last week won the admiration of all who tl-iink kindly towards fictionists by his remarkable effort on German gold and Pacifist propaganda in South Wales, and has now turned humorist in two letters to the King on the recent comb-out bal- lot. It will be remembered that last week Mr. Edwards spoke in glowing terms of the huge sums that" agentlS" of the Pacifist societies were able to spend weekly on treating men which we take to be Mr. Edwards' new version of the old story of proselytizing by beer. This was a big effort, but it went so well with the Jingo Press, that Mr. Edwards was encouraged to further and more ambitious effort, and in his letters to the King lie assumes the power of om- nipotence in informing the King that the pre- war miners voted almost solidly in favour of the '-comb-out,' and that three-fifths of the men voting in favour of the "comb-out" are men and youths liable to service, so that in a SECRET ballot they have patriotically voted in favour of being called up themselves. How Mr. Edwards knew how any men voted in a secret ballot is inexplicable except by miracle. That remark, however, is applicable to much that Mr. Edwards says and does these days. But why Mr. Edwards should deliberately mis-state things to the King we do not know, nor do we know what his pun- ishment should be for misinforming His Majesty though we might suggest the resuscitation of the old regial office of Jester, at a suitable salary and the vesting of the cap and bells with Mr. Edwards for life. If Mr. Edwards knows any- thing at all obout South Wales, an important district, in which he is supposed to represent, he knows that he is merely manufacturing an excuse when he raises differences of pre-war miners." He ought to know that the comb- out of the shirkers from the funk-holes of the mines took place long ago, and that the Mining Tribunals have over and over again been through these cases, and that the only men em- ployed in the mines are bona-fide miners ac- cepted as such by the Tribunals, and vouched for by the agents of the miners themselves at those Tribunals. The who'< t:iyi>* W'TmairV-r'iig publicity hunt, and it reveal s an ignorance that is inexcusable on the part even of a Parliamen- tary representative. It is to be hoped that Mr. Edwards will recognise his public duty to fulfil Mr. Winstone's demand for proof of his silly as- sertions, or, if he cannot do that, the equally imperative public duty of withdrawing his asinine brayings on this subject. The following is the press story of Mr. Ed- wards' correspondence with the King:- Mr. Edwards wrote in the belief that his Majesty may care to know facts which make the result of the ballot even more striking and signi- ficant than appear on the surface." He, states that the pre-war' miners voted almost solidly in favour of the comb-out,' the minority being made up largely of those men who have come to the coalfields since the war began, many of whom came there deliberately as a policy of refuge from the recruiting officers. What is more," he adds, "three-fifths of those voting in favour of the comb-out are men and youths who are liable to service, so that in a secret ballot they have patriotically voted in favour of being called up themselves." In reply Lord Stamfordham said: "His Majesty feels certain that these good results are in no small degree due to the manner in which you have brought the question before your con- stituents. Mr. Edwards then wrote again, sincerely moved by the kind and flattering words of his Majesty as to my own small services, but should at once desire to have it brought to his Majesty's notice what good work has been dono by others at a time of momentous crisis." Mr. Edwards then mentions several names. In acknowledgment, Lord Stamfordham states that "his Majesty was specially interested in what you say as to the innate love of the miners for their fighting comrades."

Motoring to Church. I IMPORTANT RULING' BY MERTHYR I STIPENDIARY. Judgment was delivered by the Merthyr Sti- pendiary (Mr. R. A. Griffith) on Friday in the novel petrol prosecution case in which Mrs. Hettie Liprett, aged 80. of the Cottage, Gwae- lodygarth, who hired a motor-car to take her to church; Wm. John Breese, Bed Cow Inn, the owner of the oar; and Evan Beynon, Bethesdt- street, the driver, were summonsed for using or permitting to be ud petrol contrary to the Motor Spirit Restriction Order, No. 2, 1917. Dismissing the summonses in each instance on his Woi-c h ip held tlitt the payment of 5s. costs, his Worship held that the exceptions under the order did not include attending divine sea-vice. I very much regret that a most uncalled for attack has been made in this case upon the police for doing nothing worse than discharging a very distasteful duty," he said. If the chief constable and his officers allowed themselves to be influenced by social distinctions as family connections they would be unworthy of the con- fidence placed in them. Further, if they showed a special tenderness for well-to-do pea-sons who possess or .who have the means to procure motor- cars, this emergency order would soon become a dead letter. However, I am willing to believe that Mrs. Lipsett did not fully appreciate the importance of the order, and I am disposed to make some allowance for her age and the fact that sbe was going to church, and not for a joy- ride."

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Mr. Brace Still Busy. LIVELY MEETING AT CWMAVON. On Sunday afternoon the Right Hon. W. Brace, Under-Secretary to the Home Office, ad- dressed a meeting on war aims at the Olympic Cinema, Cwmavoii. Mr. Hilton Yates occupied the chair, the platform was decorated with a few local Tory celebrities, and a press reporter. The balding was closely packed, the audience comprising a considerable Socialist element. The chairman's eloquence was more vapid than when he tried to break up the Rev. J. Morgan Jones' Penuel meeting some months back, and he contented himself with merely introducing the speaker. Mr. Brace started by telling his audience that, It is very good of you to come here on Sunday afternoon to listen to what I have to say upon war, upon the future, and upon our duty in connection with the world's crisis." '"War is Hell,"—(hear, hear)-he exclaimed vehemently. This was certainly promising, but when, Mr. Brace began to explain: "I have all my life been an opponent of war," with his preference for settling disputes among nations, not by the sword but at the bar of reason," after which he lamentably attempted by his closely-reasoned argument to excuse this Hell as the prelimin- ary ambrosia of the Heaven to come, a crowd in the centre of the building grew restless. Mr. Brace's Heaven of the future will not constitute famines and financial pain, which will assuredly replace the bodily suffering of the present Hell! When the war broke out the speaker was driven to the conclusion that there- was no alternative but for Britain to interpose, because civilisation and Democracy were at stake. If he thought there was the slightest hope of securing peace by negotiation lie would not be in favour of con- tinuing the war one moment longer. (Cheers.) A voice: What about Stockholm ? (Hear, hear.) Here Mr. Brace was subjected to a torrent of questions and interruptions. Proceeding, he said: "I have come here this afternoon to suo- mit to you the best means of ending the war, as I understand there are a number of people here who believe that we could settle this dis- pute by negotiations and conference." (I.L.P. cheers.) "The only authentic document in exist- ence of the terms of peace that Germany was prepared to discuss are the terms of peace that Mr. Gerard. American A nKassador, proposed to I uiie wermaji Gnanc&kii wnen he was in -oeiiin. Here Mr. Brace was again assailed with inter- Here Mr. What about the Pope?" What about M. Briand?" Disorder seemed to reign complete at this moment and the meeting threat- ened to break up. From this juncture it was evident that the sole purpose of Mr. Brace's mission was "to tell Owmavonites that the aim of the war was to give Germany the knock- out blow and to crush the Prussian military machine. He believed that this was the only way to end the war. Mr. Brace appealed for silence, and promised that all questions should be answered at the close of his address. Pro- ;i ceeding to quote statements from German Socialists supplied by Mr. W. S. Sanders, secre- tary of the International Socialist Bureau, some- one shouted, I never heard of him." Mr. Brace: I did not come here under the impres- sion that you knew everything. (Laughter, fol- lowed by disorder). Someone at the rear shouted, What about the peace proposals be- tween M. Briand and Germany? Mr. Brace: "I know nothing of them." Voice: You don't seem to know everything, too." (Loud laughter and cheers.) At this moment several rose from their seats and relieved themselves of their impassioned opinions, while others stood up and shouted Bolo," "What about Ireland? "Talk about Constantinople, Mr. Brace." No, let's have War Aims." "We have heard enough about war aims, let's have questions." (Hear, btear, and derisive shouts.) MA-. Brace then charged his interruptoj-s with refusing him free speech. The chairman rose to appeal for order, but was at once met with a chorus of queries, What about Penuel," 'followed by shouts of derision and "Chuck him out" and Bolo." "Ask the chairman what he thinks of free speech, Air. I Brace," shouted another. The chairman rose and protested, but his protestations merely eli- cited another storm of Chuck his out." Mr. Brace again tried to speak, but he was likewise subjected to questions and a, severe heckling. J A voice: "What about the working classes?" Mr. Brace When you have done so much- (A voice: "Betrayed us.")—for the working- clatss as I have, you may be able to talk about it." (Cheers and more disorder.) Mr. Brace said that if they had elected him to represent them they had no right to insult him for the services he had rendered to the workers. He had as much objection sto &n undisciplined democracy as he had to autocracy. He and his colleagues were trying to break the German military machine. A voice: And to establish it ■ here. (Loud cheers.) Mr. Brace was again unable to proceed owing to disorder and groups discussing here and there. When he was allowed to speak, he said he was in favour of free speech because for democracy there was no hope without it. (This statement elicited cries of "Morel, Morel.") The meeting had by now resolved itself into a wrangle among opposing elements in- the audience, and Mr. Brace, after defending himself against an at- tack of betraying the workers and voting against the aigricultural wage minimum, abandoned his address by appealing for unity of action in the present crisis and for support to our Army and Navy. When question time came Mr. Brace said he always answered questions in his own way. What we gathered from the replies he gave to the many searching questions put to him, however, Mr. Brace's own particular way of answering questions is calculated to fall within the scope of the proverbial golden silence rule. It is sur- prising what ignorance our public men have of current affairs. Questioned as to who the finan- ciers of the War Aims Committee were, Mr. Brace pleaded ignorance, and the only thing that he knew was that he got nothing for the work he was doing for the Committee.

the Press Bureau. The penalty under the De- fence of the Realm Act which will in future ap- ply to anyone who prints, publishes, or circu- lates, leaflets or pamphlets without the approval of the Censor may be either a heavy fine or a term of imprisonment. This, however, falls far short of the demand made by the editor of one of the London evening papers. Much stronger methods, he thinks, ought to be employed. He demands that evoi-vo-ne i-espomsfole in however slight a degree, whether printer, writer or in- spirer, of pacifist leaflets or pamphlets should be shot out of hand. We are getting on. A COAL £24 A TON. The price of coal in Italy to private consumers is L24 a ton. Italy could have secured the Trentino by agreement without going to war. Th,ft Allied Governments invited Italy to enter the war and agreed to back: her in her war aims of an imperialist character. But the people of Italy have never given their whole-hearted sup- port to the war. This fact and the prevalent want and starvation have led to the present situation there, although the war-at-any-price party pretend to see the Bolo man behind it all. REPRESENTATION ANOMALIES. The Representation of the People Bill now be- fore Parliament is likely to make an enormous increase in the number of plural voters. The Speaker's Committee recommended proportional representation for towns entitled to elect more than two members each. On the assumption that this proposal would be carried the Bill pro- vides that a second vote can be given for a busi- ness qualification in another constituency. But proportional representation having been defeated the large towns will be separated again into single-rnember constituencies and every voter who appears on the register for more than one constituency in the same town will be enabled to give two votes. Previously all voters possess- ing more than one qualification in the same town was starred for the extra votes and could not exercise more than one vote. An amendment to prevent this unlocked for increase 'in the number of plural voters was de- bated at length on Tuesday last, but on a divi- sion the amendment was lost by 21 votes. Four Labour Ministers voted for the plural qualifica- tion, as also did both the Members for Merthyr. Another attempt is going to be made to leoure proportional representation.