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SEQUEL TO THE DUBLIN RIOTS Searching .Inquiry into Police Excesses Some Lively Passages I The Commission appointed by the Irish Viceroy to inquire into the Dublin riots in August and September last and the conduct of the police in connection therewith resumed its sittings on Wed- nesday at the Four Cours. Mr. Handel Booth, M.P., was an early arrival. As soon as the learned commissioners took their seats Mr. Handel Booth, rising, said he wished to know when he and his wife would be able to tender evidence, and when he would be able to address the commissioners in reply to the "extraordinary speech of Mr. Powell," the legal representa- tive of the police. ''EXTRAORDINARY SPEECH." I Mr. Powell, K.C. (with asperity): Don't call my speech extraordinary. Address yourself to the court. Mr. Booth: I will if you will allow me. Mr. Powell: I object to your making these observations about my speech. Mind your own business and I will j mind mine. Mr. Commissioner Henry: Speak to us, Mr. Booth. BREEZY PASSAGES. I Mr. Booth: I will look in the direc- tion from which courtesy is likely to come. Mr. Powell: The courtesy you give you will get. Don't start bullying me. Mr. Booth: I am not going to be bullied by you. Mr. Powell: You are not in the Mar- coni committee-room now. Mr. Booth (to the bench): Did you hear that personal observation? Mr. Commissioner Henry: Just con- tinue, Mr. Booth. Mr. Booth: Mr. Powell mentioned the word "Marconi." What has that to do with this investigation? Mr. Commissioner Henry: Absolute- ly nothing. Mr. Booth: You hear that, Mr. Powell ? Mr. Powell: Go on, for goodness øa.k1 Mr. Commissioner Henry asked Mr. Booth if he proposed to give evidence as to all the transaction? or only some. Mr. Booth replied that he should speak principally as to Sunday, August 31, when Larkin was arrested in Sack- Tilte-etreet, but there was also an in- cident on the Saturday right in front of his hotel. Mr. Henry: No evidence has been directed to that yet. Mr. Booth: They (the police) are not likely to bring it. After a great deal of police evidence liad been called, in which it was stated that the police were in danger from the people of Dublin just prior to the remarkable charge mad e on August 31st. Mr. Booth asked for the officer in c harge of Sackville-street on Saturday might to be recalled that he might cross-examine him as to an incident that night. Mr. Powell objected to Mr. Booth's cross-examining the police witness, as he was only an ordinary witness, and 4did not represent the citizens of Dub- lin or any organisation. Counsel had mo objection, however, to Mr. Booth giving evidence. MR. HANDEL BOOTH'S THREAT. I Mr. Booth said he had come to Dub- lin lar^rlv because Mr. Commissioner Ht'n"v had stated tint it would be op-t t, anyone attending the inquiry to closs-examine vitnesses. No friend of the police ought to burke the in- quiry. If he were not allowed to act t liere he would leave and make his state- rment in the House of Commons. Mr. Powell ssid he merely wished to keep the inquiry within the proper limite. "UP LARKIN." The Commissioner decided that Mr Booth should be heard at the proper time, aa this was not an ordinary litiga- tion, but an inquiry to ascertain the truth from anyone. The evidence then proceeded, the nota of Sunday, August 31, being taken. Superintendent Dunne described how the crowd rushed up to the Imperial Hotel calling out, "Up Larkin!" (for w h ose arrest a warrant was out) and waving sticks arid shouting. Witness then tele- phoned for mounted police, and later ho met other police officials with Larkin, whom they had arrested. Larklll s police escort had drawn batons, witness did not see tihem. used. There was a crowd moving up and down, as if looking for trouble. By Mr Booth Witness believed j that there was an organised gang of Lal'kmI:tes present. Men and women mign have been on the ground without hIs seeIng them. SUPERINTENDENT'S DIGNITY In answer to another question ffom Mr Booth as to "If he had a baton an knocked people down," witness (who is a superintendent) M.id it was an imp? ??. ence, as he did not carry a baton- At another stage, Mr Powell objected to Mr Booth insulting the witness- called attention to Mr Boyle, of the Transport Workers' Union, who, he &I1.1d, was instructing Mr Booth. {Continued at bcttom of r.0:t CCIT-32-)

"Let Me Die at Liberty" OLD CONVICT'S APPEAL AFTER 35 IN GAOL With tears in his eyes and in a trembling voice Cahrles Clive (66), an old criminal, made a pathetic appeal to Mr R. Wallace, K.C., at the London Sessions when found guilty of attempted burglary and with wounding two police officers, one with a knife. "I wn an old man," he sobbed. "Let me die at liberty. I have spent 35 years of my life in prison, go give me one more chance. As God is my judge I did not mean to injure the officers. I have two and a half vear& more to serve on my ticket, even if I get no more now." The prisoner commenced his career in crime in 1867, when he was sent for five years to a reformatory, and his sentences for penal servitude included 10 years in 1878, 15 years in 1887, seven years in 1900, and three years in 1908. Mr Wallace passed sentence of 18 months for the assau l ts, and 15 months for the attempted burglary, the sen- tences to run concurrently, and commend- ed Police-constable Thomas Wright, a young officer who was stabbed. A

Bookmakers "Wires" by the Sackful HUGE SWISS BETTING BUSI- I NESS WITH ENGLAND English bookmakers in Geneva, where pome of the largest are established, must be doing an enormous betting business with England, according to the results published by the "Express de Geueve," which hao just concluded an inquiry into the matter and obtained ctatistics from the telegraph an post offices here. According to th eo- figures one English firm frequently buys at a time 50,000 stamps at 3d. each, and, receives "piles" of telgran-m. One firm ordered 500,000 stamps, each of the value of 2j,d., and as the stock here was not sufficient an urgent telegTam was sent to Berne to supply the demand. An English firm here received in cne day, chiefly from England, seven sacks of telegrams, and within a. short time had sent- replies to most of them. The incomei derived from this eort of business by the Federal telegraph a-rwl post offices must be very large every year. There is a general feeling, however, that this indiscriminate betting by foreigners in & foreign country should not be permitted. The English book- makers are aware, that they are only "tolerated," and may be expelled from the country at any time. Their cumbers seem to increase every year.

0000 -1 BARONET AS A TRADE UNION OFPICIAL Sir Charl es Louis, Bart., baa been elected treasurer and co-trustee of the National Union of Maetsrs and Mates. Sir Chaxleis, who livee at Wanstead, is a retired captain of the Mereantile5 Marine. He is believed to be the first baronet to become connected with the trade union movement. »»»♦ «

It is expected that the new works will in its early stages have an output of 100.000 tons to 200,000 tons per annum, giving employment to 200 to 250 men, and that later the production will prob- ably ru* to half a. mill ion tons per annum.

THE SOCIAL UNREST Mr Ramsay Macdonald's Notable Book LABOUR'S CHOICE OF ROADS "The Social Unrest; its Cause and Solution," written by Mr Ramsay Mac- donald, M.P., before his departure for India, ajid published by T. N. Foulis, discusses the industrial upheaval of the past three years, and offers suggestions for the cure of the deep-seated labour discontent. In a short introductory note Mr Mae- donaJd shows that since 1910 the unrest has been world-wide, not only breaking out in European countries, but equally manifesting itself in China, Australia and the United States. 'A breath of revolution ary life," he says, "seemed to be pass- ing over the world, and the established order in every land had to grapp'e with a restiveness which threatened ;ts c'.ei- throw. He is persuaded that under existing oenditions the volcanic ifres are nev.r far fiom the surface, and may burst forth again at any moment. It is, therefore, necessary that the cause of these social rebellions should be explained and binder- stood, and it is this that Mr Macdcnald attempts in his book. In a brief, his- torical chapt-er the author emphasises that labour unrest is no new phenomenon in Britain. We might go back to the peasants' revolt of the fourteenth century and, from then until the present day in Dublin the fires of revolt have been active or latent. Sir Thomas More, in his day, gave. eloquent expression to working-class wrongs. But it was the industrial re- volution toward the end of eighteenth century and during the nineteenth cen- tury which created our modern economic problems, and ga-ve us a new grouping of forces. THE MORAL FORCE Mr Maodonald attributes the present- day unrest to moral causes and to econo- mic causes. In regard to moral causes he cites the flaunting of vulgar wealth held without responsibility, in the face of labour. Then, in regard to agree- ments and conciliation boards (the rail- waym,e,n being a case in point) the men are made to feel that they a.re not having a, fair deal, that they are tripped up with legal subtlety which they may be unable to refute but which they never- theless feel to he fallacious and dia- honejst. This lack of plain, straight dealing creates in workmen a sharp, exas- peratod temper such ti;, these strikes hava again and again revealed. Many of the Strikes have simply been the revolts of men who, with back at wall, hit ouk blindly because they feel themselves 'I tricked and out-manoeuvred. Whan confidence is destroyed, when the feeling grows that the employers will find a way of getting the results of col- 1 lective bargaining, the mood developed in the men i8 one of outlawry, and this ex- plp?i" a good deal of apparent anarchy in ttrade union rank#, of apparent throwing' over of officials, a?roemcnts, and everything elae. It is t?m reply of bitter and distrustful men to capitalmt harp I practices. Henoe, sortre part of the social unrœt caM be tra??d to moral breakdown. [ ECONOMIC CAUSES Then there are economic causes. In the first decade of the new oontury the national wealth greatly increased. So far from the workers experiencing any cor- responding advance in wages their annual payments were lees by £2,500,000 in 1910 as compared: with 1900. To emphaeiee these hardships and contrasts the prices of necessaries rose almost continuousl v: I All theoo points are brought out clearly in Mr Maodonald's book, &nd he indi- catca their relation to the industrial dis- oontient which flarod up with sudden and vul-ea.nic force "since the beginning of the century." He sums Up OIL this aspect "The struggle to maintain old standards of working-cl ass life has, with hardly a breathing space, been intensified. Higher I morl demands and a quickened apprecia- tion of social idealism have been con- temporary with increasing poverty and a loss of confidence in the justice of the social order. Let anyone ask himself could anything have happened except what actually di d- 1 AN INHERENT SYMPTOM Mr Maodonald holds that the prevail- ing unrest is inherent in the present, order of society, "The present order of society invol ves two essential antagonisms which doom it to a perpetual condition of conflict-the economic antagonism be- tween tho various economic interests (capitalist, workman, consumer) and the MoraJ antagonism, as to whether econo- mlC advantage or human ends are to be fhe dominating factors in industry. Here I th 's the seat of the trouble." And, again, ^abour unrest will not disappear until hu-?.?, order of &ocicty i5 ?txb- lishd thf!r <Tm this be done? The author of thi,*book 'urg- that a policy of social transform, t'O" IS being steadIly carried out i° 1' while reforming within the old order 'la i 80 ^ding toward a new world —a rrMr t d ??y- Trade "?- is broa^ ??' not co.ntent merely to h.a,?p f ?] '??"?' pr'ce in the la b our market, b ut a price in the labour modify and ?e Drmined, profoundly, to b'"g(l -)c 1-d r,elati(?nsliip, To this end i ??PPleme.nta workshop action bv and its battle- To thbis 'v b?r;.?.- field has bewcoorm tifl national. S<)Ciai 'Ogisla,t,,n Nvl'll  applied in M,%nY directing ?facdonald 11 f r A tied on -,I I d ro-alise,s t-liat tliere ?"P- lir.I,its ? ? ?c'? f.n n 'mP<K,&(' on the capita.Ust system ? d tha.t when that (Continued a.t bottoIn of next coJumn )

GENERAL ELECTION SOON! MR KEIR HARDIE'S WARNING Mr J. Keir Hardie, M.P., was accorded a rousing reception on > 'i& occasion of his annual New Year v, t to Glasgow, where he addressed an ITHdent. La.b- our Party demonstration. Mr Hardie said last ,car was one of marking time in politics- As a result of mending the House of Lords' policy, all the big measures distasteful to the peers occupied three sessions in the House of Commons. That was a state of affairs they could not allow to continue. In a democratic country there was no need for a, second chamber, as educated electors of both sexes were quite able to elect their own legislators and risk the consequences. He was afraid 1914 would be a repeti- tion of 1913 so far as politics were con- cerned. If the conferences now jeaid, to be going on among the leaders of both orthodox parties on Home Rule came to anything, it would mean an immediate appeal to the country. Therefore there was a possibility of a General Election about the middle of 1914, and he warned the Labour forces in Scotland to put their house in order for the coming battle. TOW.AGRDS UNITY I Last year was more rfOarkable from an* industrial than from r- political stand- point. The Labour ftercst was now so much in evidence that everyone was • om- pelled to notice it. This industrial re- volt was of value so far as it was indica- tive of a new spirit in the nation, and helped to fill the hearts of the workers with new hope. Twenty-five years ago there was neither unity nor cohesion in their ranks, but as a. consequence of the Dublin dispute trade unionists, co-operators, and Social- ista had been united as never before. In addition, they were about to start an a. crusade to unify the Socialist forces in this country. It was said that a political programme would rally their forces. He thought otherwise, and, in his mind, the creation of a programme would simply create new differences and discussions. It was impassible for a Socialist Party to have a. political programme, because as soon as it was drafted Lloyd George would come a',wit, with #hing that looked better, but meant nothing. (Ap- plause). As Socialists they were out for re- volutionising the present system so that a fuller and freer life would be brought within the reach of all classes, following the complete enfranchisement of the com- munity.

WELSH BANKSMEN I Not to be "Snowed Up" I SPEECH BY RHONDDA LEADER ——— r —.— The monthly meeting 01 the Rhondda district of miners held at Porth on Satnr- day, Mr W. Bowden pr? siding over a full attendance of delegate's. Mr D. Watts Morgan (the agent), re- ferring to Lord St. Aldlwyn's recent award, said that while the men did not get all they &&ked for, very material in- creases had been secured. He was dis- appointed with respect to the hauliers on the afternoon and night shifts, who had been granted only a penny increase. More coaJ was now drawn on those shifts than formerly, and he therefore considered that the hauliers all round should be paid the same wages. f BANKSMEN'S DEMANDS. Mr Tom Smith, executi ve member. stated that the negotiations with regard to the demands of the banksmen had end- ed in the joint committee failing to agree. Whatever they now did, the banksmen were nob to be "snowed up." The matter would be reported to tho Conciliation Board, and they would again put forward their original dermuid for a 5s. standard rate and an eight-hour day Failing any agreement with the employers, it had been decided to call a conference of the coalfield 11.0 consider the matter. I "SAFETY" CONFERENCE Mr Watts Morgan stated that the Executive Council proposed calling a "safety" conference to discuss ways and means of bringing about improvemento in mining so as to secure, if possible, greater immunity from accidents than was tho' case at present. The council was now engaged in drawing up a list of suggested imp;rovement6 which in their opinion called for the attention and con- sideration not only of the workmen, but of the employers and the Home Office authorities. The conference would be •onvened very shortly, and an effort would be made to adopt some uniform method of dealing with tho dangers that were known to exist.

THE TORY SPLIT I NEW LEAGUE TO SHELVE TARIFF REFORM The late fissure in. the Tory Party Pro- the formation of a. Unionist Tariff Pro test League, to include all Tories dis- satisfied with the present fiscal policy of the Unionist Party. The object of the League is to compel too dropping of Tariff Reform altogether; but accord ing to Mr F. S. Bolam, secretary of the League, they will be satisfied "for the present" if Tariff Reform is shelved until after the next General Election. The League have opened offices in Avenus-chambers, Bloom.iiiiiy-squaxe, W.C. In a manifesto the League say :— "Many Unionists affirm that Tariff Re- form bar-s the way to the Party's victory at the polls. Other Unionists are con- vinced that the maintenance of Free Trade is in the best interests of the country. Under the present fiscal pro- posals agriculture is left out in the cold. The suggested 10 per cent. average duty would single out importers of manufac- tured goods to bear the whole brunt of fresh taxation. This would ruin many established businesses. A severe blow would inevitably be dealt at the general community. Hardship would be inflicted upon a vast number of clerks and other classes of employees, and also upon per- sons of fixed incomes and small means. It is, moreover, debatable as to whether the working-classes generally would benefit." The Tariff Reform League has dided "not to notice" its new rival in the Party. Mr Bolam was formerly hon. secretary of the South St. Pancras Un- ionist aiid Conservative Association.

SCHOOLBOYS AND UNIVER- SITY STUDENTS. LATEST PHASE IN LEEDS DISPUTE I The latest development of the Leeds strike it its extension to the school children. A week ago the suggestion was put forward at a meeting of the men affected by the strike that as the Education Committee's secretary was devoting much of his time to assisting the Special Committee, there should be retaliation by keeping the children at home. A further temptation was the fact that clerks in the Education De- partment had taken up the shovels in the gasworks. The proposal was more strongly ad- vocated at week-end demonstrations, and on Monday it was acted upon. The proposal lends itself to picturesque possibilities, and there is perplexity in Leeds as to whether boy pickets will not soon surround the school entrances and adopt peaceful or other methods of persuasion. These elementary schol- ars will not require much inducement to follow the example of University students excused from lessons, and may demand the same privilege for different purposes. This, in addition to spend- ing ;CSOO per day in billetting police from Bradford, Wakefield. Hull and other places, the City will be penalised by grants being forfeited.

u- Pensions Surprise DUTCH GOVERNMENT'S MISCALCU- LATION When the Dutch Old Age Pe-nsions WM passed it was caJculate-d that 25,000 would be entitled to claim the pension in the first year; but it now appears that the number was greatly under-estimated. The law grants 3s. 4d^ weekly to per- sons of either sex aged 70 who can prove that during the last 10 years they have, been earning their livelihood by working at least one day weekly. As a matter of fact, 100,000 claims were sent in, and the strictest investiga- tion has failed to reduce the number who could make good their claims below 70.00. Instead of the £ 166,666 voted for the purpose, three tinres as much will be re- quired, and the Government is consider- ably embarrased as to how to provide the money.

1 MINISTER AND THE BIRTH RATE A strike against bringing children into the world was discussed by the Rev. W. R. Harvey, pastor of the Primrose Hilt Congregational Church, Northampton, in the course of a ser- mon on Sunday night. Mr. Harvey said that during the past year the population had increased by 375.000. When he watched the children at play and remembered that most of them would go into factories and earn no more than was enough to keep them in necessaries, he had won- dered if the best strike we could or- ganise would not be a strike against bringing little boys and girls into the the world until we had made our towns and cities a little better to receive them, our shops and factories more righteous and honest and holy-to keep little boys and girls in Heaven until I we got the world a little more ship- shape. -—————— .8A..

It was decided at a meeting of the Swansea Highways Committee on Tues- day to recommend to the Council a scheme for widening the Mumbles-road, providing for 38ft. carriage way from the Baths to Brvnm.ill Stream, moving the Mumbles Railway seawards, and usii:g I th,3 l-romenade as a footpath.

INDUSTRIALISM AND POLITICS ♦ A Leader on "Labour Friends." I By Vernon Hartshorn. That the Trade Unions are egairl taking up to the importance of having a strong independently-organised Labour party, controlled and directed by the workers themselves, is proved partly by the renewed efforts which are being made in different quarters to create poIiticsJ dissensions in cur ranks. Al- ready we who are obsen ing very closely the trend of events can see the lines up- on which the attacks upon our solidarity are to be developed. One section of our opponents will undertake frontal assaults. Such opponents we shall easily over- come. Their methods are too crude to count, but they. are at least straightfor- ward and that is a virtue in these days of political evasi veness. "PLATONIC FRIENDSHIP" I But there are others. Far more subtle and dangerous they do not attack openly. Professing for us a platonic friendship, they somehow manage never to be actu- ally with us in times of stress and battle, and hamper us with their good intentions and irrelevant "sane advice." During industrial disputes they are for ever murmuring into our ears advice to be moderate. When it is a question of a strike they urge upon us the very narow- est and strictest interpretation of that blessed word Constitutionalism." An industrial revolt of a section of the rank and file is viewed by them with horror. H a ballot is taken on a strike question, no matter how small the majority may be against a strike or in favour of stopping a strike, we are then told that we must be etrictly constitu- tional, and that the will of the majority must prevail. These are the tactics of our platonic friends in the industrial area. What will be their tactics are re- gards our political efforts? THE POLITICAL FUND BALLOT I I will make a prophecy—and I never prophexy until I know. As regarda politics, those tactics will be completely reversed. Constitutionalism will now fall from a virtue to a vice. We shall be told that minorities in our organisa- tion need not pay heed to the decision of the majority of the members of the Miners' Federat-ion of Great Britain. It will be argued that the ballot in which a largo majority of miners voted in fav- our of affiliating with the Labour party was not sufficiently conclusive. Our platonic friends will be demanding, like the Ulatermen, that another ballot be taken in the hope that it will give them the kind of majority they really want, and if it does not turn out as they wish I suppose they will want another a-nd another, and so on ad infinitum. This argumentative and tactical somersault is very funny, and will not blind the miners of the country to the real position. We Trade Unionists may be very thick in the head, but I know we can see as far through a brick wall as the best. In spite of the misgivings of our friends we really have an invincible pre- judice in favour of ccaie^itutionelism in our organisation, and If think we shall recognise that constitutional cliscipliuo is as necessary in our Labour political act- ions as it is in our industrial. Our unconstitutional friends who are crowing over what they describe as the "Revolt of Derbyshire" and the "Dis- ruption of the Federation' 'are very pre- mature. DERBYSHIRE POSITION I I think I know the Federation fairly well, and if I am sure of one thing in this world it is that much more than the revolt of Derbyshire or any other dis- trict is necessary to disrupt the Miners' Federation of Great Britain to any ap- preciable extent. I even fancy that this vast national organisation would survive the disappearance from ite councils of Messrs. Harvey, Kenyon, and Hall. That is a calamity which, however, I do not think at all likely to happen. Derbyshire and its leaders will think twice before they cut themselves adrift from the Miners' Federation and from all the other political forces of Labour in the kingdom. If our platonic friends will read the resolution of the Derbyshire miners care- fully they will find some significant phrases. It states, for inistamc,& We are bound to take action for the purpose of making our political position secure, and to obtain a better under- standing as to our members working with the Labour Party in future. We are desirous of keeping our connection with the Miners' Federation of Great Britain and the Labour party. Derbyshire and its leaders know that the only possible basis of an understand- ing is in the loyal observance of the Labour Party constitution in future. I AN AMICABLE SETTLEMENT Personally, I think an amicable under- standing not at all unlikely, beca.use the irregularities in the Chesterfield ca.m- paign were more due to misunderstanding than to design. The Derbyshire miners could not hope to maintain an isolated position in the face of the combined national movement. The sheer anomaly of their positioll would soon force them to coma back on tho Labour Party s terms. Our opponents a.re making the greatest mistake in the world if they think that "Socialist extremists" are the cause of the miners' adherence to the Labour Party. By an overwhelming majority, in- cluding the old-timem a.s well as the new- comers, the National Executive is loyal ) (Contdnuad at bottom of next column-)

COAL COSTING MORE. INCREASE OF lid. A TON AT THE PIT MOUTH. The feature of Part III. of the 1912 Report of the Chief Inspector of Mines issued on Monday by the Home Office, is the advajice in the price of coal. In 1912 the value of all the minerals produced in the United Kingdom was £ 131,221,000, an increase of 26,641,500 as compared with 1911. Coal alone ac- counts for the increase, with a good margin to spare. The output and value in the past two years were as follows; Output. Value Tons. £ 1911 271,892.000 110,784.000 1912 260,416,000 117,921,000 Dec. 11,476,000 Inc. 7,137,000 The average price in 1912 was 9s. 0.68d. per ton at the pit mouth, a rise of about lid. per ton. EFFECTS OF THE STRIKE. "The diminished output and en- hanced sel'ing price of ooal," the re- port states, "are doubtless the effect of the national strike of workers at collieries which lasted from March 1 to April 10, 1912." By the time the sea-borne coal got to London the price, taking the mean for the year, rose by no less than 3s. lid. per ton, or 3a. on the pit mouth figure. The mean price in 1912 was 20s. lid. per ton for sea-borne coal put into barge from ship in the Thames. Cost of distribution and merchant's profit were then added for payment by the consumer. The lowest price recorded in the Thames in forty years waa in 1896, when it stood at 14a. 5d. In 1873 it was as high 8M 31S. The total amount of coal that left the country last year was 85,843,000 tons, a decrease of 1,240,000 tons. France took 10 million and Germany eight million tone. IRON, GOLD, AND TIN. In forty years the total value of the mineral raised in the United Kingdom i jiifge £ 3.359,000^000. Of this sum nnal represented £ 2,805,000,000, or 53.5 per cent. The amount of coal raised in that period WM 7,653,148,000 tons, and of this nearly 24 per oent. left the coun- try. In the period of 1873-77 the out- put shipped abroad was 13.8 per cr-nt.4 in 1908-12 it had increased to 32.4 per cent. Iron ore raised it 1912 was valued at £ 3,764,000, a decrease of £ 271,000. The ore yielded 4,432,000 toM of iron, or more than half of the total of pig iron made in this country. Gold to the value <)f E4,784 was (se- cured in 1912, N,000 being the value produced by the Gwynn Mines, Ltd., Merioneth. The value of tin ore produced last year was £ 1,012,000, the highest re- corded since 1873. The price of English block tiii--vix., M12 lis. per t-on-waa the highest yet recorded.

b-0 o 0 GERMAN BTE-ELECTIOH The Reichstag by,eloctioiL in JericEow, which has been fixed for Febuary 10, promises to be an exciting oonteet, for in January, 1012, the Socialist candidate was returned in the second ballot by a majority of only eeven votee. In the first ballot the Socialist poll waa 11,992, against the combined poll of the other candidates of 18,161. The uncertainty is due to the unre- liableness of the progresaivs Liberals, who largely supported the Conservative against the Socialist in the second ballot of 1912, in spite of the compact made by the Liberal lea.dena with the Socialists. ,O_o

Dr. T. E. Francis, the Llanelly Medical Officer of Health, has emphasised Lile need to the Borough Council of proceed- ing with the erection of more municipal dwellings, as, owing to the opening of two new galvanising works this month, there would be a great scarcity of houses.

(Oeatinned from preoadl-ag eoluine). Mr Boyle protested, saying he was not present officially. NERVOUS POLICE Mr Booth Really this nervous terror on the part of this battalion is amusing. (Laughter). I hope I shall not be again interrupted in a rude manner. Mr Powell You will, if necessary. Witness declared that he saw no one struck. Police-superintendent Murphy spoke to Larkin speaking from the balcony of the Imperial Hotel. There was a rush of people towards the hotel when Larkin appeared, and after he had spoken wit- ness arrested him. La.rkin was treated with the utmost courtesy and considera- tion. Several pohco offir8 who took pa,rt in L-ark-iii'sp a.rr€«t said that there ?.pr? rushes towards the police escort as ])6 was b?in? conveyed through trt as he and the police drew trul\ch e stree.t.s, these ,]tnc.s did not see them u' d. A m?t n?ny of the crowd wor? tl sed. A t?nd" b?d? of the Transport Worker Union of which Lark-i-ii is the leader. Mr Boofh CToes-examirued the, witnesses on questions of detail in connection with tha poljoo movemon W\\hh:en n "ccr?o?? Superintendent Klerman ? ? ? marked that he ViM more con c?rned for the credit of the police than their counsel we're. C I MORE BREEZY PASSAGES j Mr Powell You are more concerned for your own notoriety. Yy?ot do von M, Booth (to the bench) ???y? thank of him ? is ,t fit (0 be "10119-it gentlemen. amongst gentlemen. ,en j on Mr Powell I know one when I -s?e ?ea.ndyouaren?one. r Booth You don't see one when you l. ook ?to the mirror. 't ]et ?? Comm H?uy '•  It us have ?ml.s.s}(}H': Henry: DOll t c A l1d rose and protested t.n? ?? ?dy rose a.n?d ? ?j ?e P?c could noted th.e court and the public con? idnot frrf' I Or, Thursday, Mr Handel Booth w? m the Conference aft?, being caller] a b,S^rd by counsel for Sice. by eou?cr  th?

fOomtinned from preceding eotumn). point has been pasgedthe State which continues to "engraft humanism upon capitalism" must face either the "futile policy of Protection or the Socialist policy of Nationalisation." It is hardly necessary to say that Mr Macdonald advocates thei Socialist alter- native. He does not see the possibility of making real progress until the monopol- ised agents of wealth, picducticn, and distribution are publy owned and used to establish a human order, and he would begin with the land, the irmes, and the railways.

(Continned ittm precrttaff dot*am). to the compact with the Labour party. Attempts to cause dissensions by raising the Socialist bogey are futile and non- sensical, because in the ranks of the Lab- our party and the Miners' Federation the word "Socialist" has been divested of ite distinctive or partizan meaning. It has been absorbed in the policy which is accepted by all. "SOCIALIST" LABEL. My economics are well known, but I attach not the slightest importance to the label of "Socialist." Once the working classes are organised, industrially and politically, they evolve a policy from their own inner consciousness, and that policy cannot but be Socialistic. This is proved by the fact that the Miners' tedeiation stands with the Labour party for the national ownership of land, mines' a.nd railways. That is the official policy of the Federation, and in support (If it cvery one of the leaders stand on the same platform. Mr Thomas Ashton, Mr Barnet Keny- cn, Mr Fred Hall, and others who are i'ti, -ireled as mod erate politicians are as sr.ch commitkd to the principle of national ownership of the mines as is the most pronounced Socialist among the leaders, and the only political party tha.t stands definitely for that reform is the Labour party. Thprc. is thus no funda- mental cause for disunion, but on the other lialid all the reasons and tendencies are for unity.