The Cambria Daily Leader

signs of a breaking down of these antagonisms. The war ha-s been a great educator, but an even greater revealer. Men like Lord Leverhulme and Sir Alfrd Mond are courage- ously telling the country that labour has a right to a greater I share of the product of its toil, and t-hat the present relations between capital, management and labour have to be radically changed. And men skilled in social science are spending laborious days planning machinery the use of which wiil turn over to the scrap heap the barbarous and wasteful ways of settling contentions The Whitley Report has given us a glimpse of a more reasonable day. «The com- panionships of the trenches have taught many thousands that there is no difference between us when it comes to the elementary things of life. A great number of the soldiers will come home with new views as to working relations. They will come home also, we are sure, sick to death of strife, and eager to find ways in which honourably to avoid it. Our whole edifice of British life ie built up on faith in each other. Once that faith is undermined, the structure will come tumbling over. The commercial system is based upon it, and the industrial system. And it must be the basis of the new order of things in this country. If we are to set up effective machinery of conciliation in industry, it has to be fixed upon the solid bed of faith. Distrust, suspicion, will be fatal. This is the lesson we draw from the proceedings which ended so happily at the Munitions Tri- bunal at Swansea on Saturday afternoon. Here were a number of men who had set aside -the de- cisions of conciliation authorities they had in effect promised to ob- serve. They set at defiance 6he j machinery which their leaders had accepted. They came out on strike against the advice of these leaders. The position was bad, but the wise handling of a delicate situation by Mr. J. Vaugban Edwards led to results that must have gratified every person who longs for the age of reason to succeed the age of barbarism. Mr. Edwards has been responsible for a good many de- cisions that have brought master and men nearer each other, but Saturday's judgment, and its excel- lent result, is his most remarkable triumph as a conciliator. We only wish that the tact of this canny Celt were put to still greater ust?ei. The moral of the case is that no machinery set up to advance con- ciliation will be of the slightest use unless the men follow their chosen leaders. We know of Labour leaders in South Wales who are working might and main to perfect agencies under which possible contention be- tween management and men can be amicably settled. These agencies may be left where they now are, on paper, unless law and order prevails on both sides the contract. The alternative is stark anarchy. And the awful condition of Russia to- day is sufficient illustration of the misery to which such anarchy can reduce a country. 11

FUELWORK'8 RECORD. Mr. Aeron Thomas' Advice to Workmen. Some interesting facts in oonneotion with the local output of fuel were given at a siroker 11 held by the Phoenix Patent Fuel Works, Swansea, at the Hotel Cameron, on Saturday. The occasion was a presentation of a case of silver to Mr. J. H. Rioe, manager, and an umbrella to Mrs. Rice. The chair was taken by Mr. E. J. Hollidge. The presentation was made by Mr. W. Davies, supported by Messrs. T. D. Davies, D. Lewis, D. Wishan, and J. Price. An excellent musical pro- gramme was given by Messrs. T. R. Prit- chard, T. J. Bowen, and B. J. Francia, whilst Mr. J. W. Barlow wae the accompanist. Replying^ Mr. Rice, outlining the history of the works, recalled the time when the output from a shift would be 19 tons, four black eyes, and a basket of teeth." How- ever, such times were altered, and now the Phoenix held the record output for the whole of South Wales--an output of 80 per cent. (Loud applause.) Mr Aeron Thomas (chairman of directors) said that with the good money they were now earning they should become the aris- tocrats of labour." He counselled them to remember that the beat friend is a pound iti the bank," There were people going about who were continually enlarging on disagreements between oapital and labour. Conditions had Improved, and relations be. tweeli employers and employed were of the bast. (Hear, hear.

ONE OF CARADOG'S CHOIR. Death of Mr. W. Bassett, Llanelly. A well-known Llanellyite has passed away in the person of Mr. Wm. Bassett, Union-terrace, who was 68. Deceased had bpen in indfferent health for many months. He was for many years a suc- cessful builder and contractor, and till recently was the licensee of the Greenfield Inn. He was a member of the Board of Guardians and the Rural District Coun- cil. taking deep interest in affairs of the district. Mr. Bassett had been organist and choirmaster of the Parish Church for a long period, and was a member of Cara- dog's famous choir, which won such a triumph for Wales in the Crystal Palace. He leaves a widow and three sons and three daughters. All the sons are on active service,

THE OIL OF CONCORD. I Cardinal Bourne, in a Pastoral Letter read in all the churches in his diocese yesterday, spoke a very grave warning to the people of the country; fend we can apply it far beyond the confines of his flock, since it touches national and not sectarian interests. In the course of the Pastoral, he said that at home there were signs of trouble and dis- turbances only very partially re- vealed in the Press, but well known to these in authority, which por- tend the possibility of grave social upheaval in the future. With this reading of the signs of the times w,b are all loreeel l xi s of the timeg we are all forced, willy-nilly, to agree. The opening years of the twentieth century seem strangely like, in general features, the initial. twenty years of the nineteenth. There is the same discontent with things as they are, the same vague desire to set them right, the same predictions of violent endings to an intolerable order of society. They were not fulfilled then, but the gospel of individualism which grew out of the discontent plunged Great Britain into miseries of which we have vivid pictures in the romances of Disraeli. There were prophets who dreamed a hundred years ago of a renewed world in which the hum West w&s to share the. good of life with the most exalted—but we drifted to the England of extremes we find in "Sybil." The rich be- came more arrogant, the poor more miserable. To what are we drifting to-day? Cardinal Bourne, in his Pastoral, told his people that there were dangers possible that would be a calamity greater, than war. In the summer of 1914 we seemed to be driving headlong towards an in- dustrial armageddon On both sides the forces were preparing for a de- cisive test of strength. The greater combat called off the battle but we must not think that, with the same conditions prevalent, it will not be renewed at the suitable moment. The struggle between capital and labour has elxher to be fought out, or, as the alternative, their attitude towards each other profoundly varied. The old antagonism has either to be washed out in strife, or its force dissolved before the indus- trial field can be arrayed for battle. We all of us think we can detect; i

MUST GIVE UP FARM. Drastic Penalty for Alleged Negligence. John Robert Gough, of College Farm, Maid,gmoretou, summoned on* Saturday by the Board of Agriculture for neglecting cultivation, was crdored to give up pos- session of the farm in 14 days, to pay a X10 fine, and .£50 special costs. He hae occupied tha farm, compring 200 acres, over 30 years.

The average weekly quantity of mar- garine manufactured in Gre&t Britain in 1913 was 1.611 tons. Iii 1917 it had m- creased to 3.564 tons. Now that there is a scarcity of matches,, smokers will appreciate the innovation on the part of a local tobacco- nist. Outside the shop is a small gas-jet .iflm('-

I The London Week I LIBERALS AND THE B-TFORM BILL I MR. HENDERSON'S SET-BACK The Representation of the Poople Bill Ims now pa'5'd through all its stages, and ha? been plac&d on the Statute Book. Its last stages through Parliament were re- miniscent oi pre-war political controver- sies, and at one stage it looked as it' the life of the Bill were imperilled. Members were perplexed by such Parliamentary papers as they received. For instance, this is a typical example: Commons reasons for disagreeing to one of the last amendments made by the Lords, and Commons' amendments to certain of the last amendments made by the Lords." And they say the Members of Parliament don't earn their .£400 a year! It is a pity that such, a contretemps should have occurred. It will be remem- bered that the Bill had as a basis definite recommendations from a conference of re- presentatives from all parties presided over by the Speaker. By wonderful tact and patience, the Speaker had so- cured unanimity. Parliament was prepared to accept the recom- mendations, despite the fact that some Tories suspected the master- hand of Sir John Simon in framing the more Radical recommendations. The Bill introduced was thus well sponsored; and I remember Sir John Simon telling a meeting of Liberals that, for the safety of what was one of the greatest Franchise Bills ever proposed for this country, it was incumbent that Liberals should accept it 1, as it stood. THE BILL AS IT IS. Unfortunately, the proposals for Propor- tional Representation were not acceptable to a small coterie of London Liberals. The London Liberal Federation was prevailed upon to subscribe to this view. A very wall organised opposition to the proposals for Proportional Representation was got up, with the assistance of a good many Tories both in London and in the Pro- vinces. This has been the cause of the whole trouble this week in the House. The Act, as it is now, is unsatisfactory in this respect: We have neither the alter- native vote nor a complete scheme for Pro- portional Representation. It was a pity that when the Lords made their recommendations for Proportional Re- presentation, Mr. Asquith, who I is known to be in favour of it, did not seize the opportunity to give a definite lead to his followers. He evi- dently feared to offend the London Lib- erals. It was not too late then to have made a bargain for at least the saving of the Alternative Vote. Hut the opportu- nity was not taken, and now it has been lost. The War Council at Versailles is gen- erally regarded with great satisfaction. The official statement has been received with hearty approval. Those who are apprehensive of forthcoming events on the Western front feel that the results of the Council deliberations is most re- assuring. MR. HENDERSON. Mr. Henderson, who I am told is very proud of the prospects of his new move for sweeping the constituencies by his new Labour Co-operative organisation, has received a bad set-back by the Prestwich election. The Co-operative candidate, Mr. May, is the head of the Central Head- quarters in London, and his miserable achievment against the Coalition candi- date is a real indication that the country is not Bolshevist, even if the Labour Conference is. The mass of the people of this country are really appreciating the danger of un- instructed interference with the big mat- ters of international relationship. For a Labour conference, or even a Liberal or Conservative conference, to set itself up as dictator of the terms which will be ac- ceptable to the country for peace is ridi- culous. After all, we have a Government which is democratic, and if we have no confidence in p, \t Government, we must replace t by another. But while the Gov- ernment is in office, it is, and must be, the only authority to say what our terms of peace must be. Some people have been so pampered during the war, that they presume too far; they make a grave mis- take if they think the sense of the great mass of the workers of the country will subscribe to their attitude. FOOD MATTERS. Food rationing seem to be upper- most in everyone's thoughts just now, but they should not be. In tin main, we have done very well; but I suppose fhat of all the countries of the world the one most susceptible to food shortage is ours. We, are always ready to grumble on this matter. But really we have very much less to grumble about than any of the countries in Europe, not excluding the neutrals. Germany herself is in a terrible plight. The wonderful prosperity of the drapery shops that we see in this country is alto- gether unknown there. A great shortage of clothing—an insufficiency of bread and potato, and even vegetables—a total ab- sence of fat, and the necessity for eating uncooked food—with no sympathy from the Government—this is the common con- dition of the people. Even the greatest pessimist can find nothing to equal this in our country. I "THE GOSSIP." I I Saturday, 9th February. I

I TILLERS OF THE SOIL. I .————— Misunderstandings Removed. As a result of the two-days' conference in London between farmers and allotment holders throughout the country, the road to progress has been somewhat cleared. and the misunderstanding between the two tn-I lers of the soil-the old and the new—have been removed. Tht feeling at the first con- ference was unpleasant,, because of its an- tagonism, but under the able guidance of the chairman, Mr. Leslie Scott, M P., K.O., the air was cleared before the end of the day, and on Friday farmers and allotment holders had combined to make the proposed reconstruction of the Agricultural Organ- isation Society a strong and united force. The voice of Wales was championed by Mr. D M. Davies, the president of the Neath Allotment and Cottage Garden Asso- ciation. He struck the keynote when he emphasised the necessity of fixity of tenure b.v legislation before the allotment societies in Wales could link up with a scheme that meant a capital expenditure of a hundred thousand pounds. It was a popular note. Delegates representing allotment societies created by the war re-echoed the Neath delegate's view6, and tha chairman agreed that security of tenure or substitution of war plots was a real essential of the whole scheme, and could be expected in the im- mediate future. The provisional scheme as adopted will establish a Central Trading Society, and the capital will be raised among the farm- ers and the quarter of a million allotment holders in the country upon a dual basis of contribution. As a. result of Friday's conference fam- OM and allotment holders made history for ?Oagr, (' ttlttirt] improvement and advance- lfijt. nnd.. thre was a. ?u'o?g national Mm- in?eTit behind it.

[TÕWN TALK. A Swansea minister on Sunday referred to pearls and gems as tite.se things that we handle daily." We don't. — :0:- Local volunteers in Grade 3 expect to be given the opportunity to transfer their activities to ailotment work soon. —; o: — Lancashire and Cheshire miners have decided not to take any part in the coinb- ing-cut. They are eager for a brush." The ordinary man is not ordinary. He has come into his own in this w&r. The commonplace is passing."—Rev. J. H. Owen at Mount Pleasant. I, It was unfortunate for the would-be V.A.D. that she should have asked the doctor for further information about tà8 artilleries in the human body. It is a compliment to the Post Offioe system that a letter addressed by a Lon- don firm to a man at "Perrybool, Skatty, reached its destination at once. — :0 Some apprehension is already being felt at the Mumbles as to what will be the j effect of compulsory rationing upon the ,< village as a holiday i\ x?rt in the coming i season. A Swansea man who recently received a letter from a friend in Italy stating that British matches could be had out there, has replied asking him to send a box or two over I It is noticeable (says a correspondent), that all the chocolate slot machines in the railway 6tations are empty. Bu: Oystermouth machine, so an observer tella us, was re-stocked on Saturday. -:o Mr. J. T. Lloyd told a Swansea audience on Sunday that a hero was generally the embodiment of imprudence. And then he added: "The age of heroes is generally the age of terror." These brain waves! — :o:— The most ponderous, from the physical point of yiew, of the American Commis- sion of the Moose, is undoubtedly ex- Congressman the Hon. John J. Lentz, though Mr. James J. Daviea is a good second. — .o.— Lord Derby's description of the N.C.O.'s of the Army as the backbone of the infantry and cavalry regiments "is as true a it is long overdue. We know of a few local sergeants whom the descrip- tion fits. -0:- The Rev. Percy Weston, at Kilvey on Sunday, alluding to the walks to Sketty in the summer time said that it was of course sisters and brothers who went into the country for a nice little talk." We don't think* — :o:— At a French theatre last week a comedi- enne sang in English, "Taffy has his Jenny in Glamorgan." Some local boys in" the audience let them know that they bad their Sallys and Lizzies there as well, and also gave them the Swansea War Song. -;0:- With sausage reckoned as meat, an open- ing is made for enterprising fish lherohantg to introduce fish sausages as a non-rationed substitute. A Swansea man who has knocked about the world a bdt says it is a dainty but substantial food, and very digestible. -=0:- A man whose passing created muolx interest over the week-end was a cyclist proceeding from the Mumbles in the direc- tion of Swansea. He was armed with a fishing-rod and the usual paraphernalia, and (hence the interest) a fine specimen of the finny tribe slung over his shoulder. o: It's an ill wind, etc." A Swansea soldier who has been at the doings" in France for three and a half years waa sent home on a time-expired leave a feW\ weeks ago. With the end of his furlotigit. drawing near he was preparing to return, when his two children contracted measles. Naturally the leave was extended. -:0:- Wind and rain seem to add to the ardour of the model yachtsmen of Brynmill Park. They were in their element in the gale on Saturday, the yachts racing along and rolling in a manner reminiscent of more serious times at sea. There were enspa of < "torn saiis," too, due to the severity oft. the weather, which made the affair more realistic still.. —: o: — # A Swansea cynic thinks that part of the Representation of the People Act which concerns women's votes will not affect the balance of parties very much. The mar- ried woman, he eays, wiltl in most cases vote with their husbands, and as the great majority of the rest claim to be under 30 —well, they won't be eligible. I have blossomed forth into a cook. Some cook, too!" writes a Leader" boy now in France. "I think I can give the chef at the Carlton a few hints now, al- though I nearly had a few kicks from our guard when I first made some rice pud- ding. It would have made zood ammuni- tion. I am improving, though; I can boiu water all right." -:0:- A postcard receive d from the front dur- ing the week-end shows the extent to which the War Savings propaganda has gone. On one half of the front of the card is printed an appeal, headed The Pathway to Peace," which asks the sol- diers to invest their undrawn pay in War Savings Certificates. Underneath it is » call to civilians to do likewise. -:0:- It ia interesting to note that the com- mandeering of a large portion of Kings- way, London, for Government purposes, is being arranged by Mr. C. T. Ruen, Swansea, the Deputy Controller of Ac- commodation. A short interview with Mr. Ruthen appeared in the Daily Chronicle" on Saturday, in which the Swansea architect stated definitely that it would not be necessary to interfere with the premises of the West London Mission. —: o: — U At last! exclaimed a Swansea man. as he picked up the empty packet of a proprietary article which his wife had j ust used; at last I have come across a penny article which costs a penny." On closer scrutiny, however, it revealed the fact that One Penny Packet" liad a faint lino drawn through it, and on^ another part the following words were printed in red: War Price lid." On the wife explaining that it now cost 2d., the husband decided to give it up as a bad job. o: — The promotion of Captain Algernon W. Heneage, of Parc-le-Breos, to the rank of Rear-Admiral has added to the long list of local connections with the highest posi- tions in the Senior Service. We have now an admiral from Neath (Sir Evan Thomas), and one from Gower, whilst one of -Admiral Heneage's neighbouring estates, Kilvrough, was the seat of the late Admiral Sir Algernon Lyons. Curiously enough, the new admiral pos- sesses the same christian name as that of the late squire of Kilvrough. -:0:- The ballot papers in connection with the Government man power proposals, on which the local members of the Amalgiu- mated Society of Engineers are asked to vote for acceptance or not, were issued over the week end, and have to be re- turned to the district secretary not latev-. than Tuesday, February 10th. The bal- lot papers were sent out by post with an envelope enclosed, and they must be re- turned sealed It will be seen from this that the vote will bo absolutely secret, and that no influence is being brought to bear. It is expected that the majority will vote for acceptance.