Llais Llafur

♦ LABOUR COUNCILLORS. WHY THEY ARE NEEDED. The Pontypridd District Council have decided not to support the pro- posal to divide the county into two divisions for administrative purposes. With reference to the resolution passed at a previous meeting that every able- bodied workman employed by the Coun- cil be paid not less than 30s. per week, the heads of the departments were authorised to put this into effect at their discretion to general labourers only. It was reported that the con- ference of local authorities convened by the Mountain Ash District Council had approved of the principle of a wages joint board for the regulation of workmen's wages to be formed of re- presentatives of Council workmen and of representatives of the Aberdare, Caerphilly, Mountain Ash, Merthyr, ontypridd, and Rhondda authorities.

Public Prosecutor This Time! COLLIER WHO WANTED TO JOIN COALOWNERS' ASSOCIATION STILL WORRIED ABOUT HIS 4s. Herbert Price, the elderly Abercynon collier, who recently applied to the Coal- owners' Association to be admitted as a member, provided a comic interlude at the Abercynon Police Court a few days ago. 11 He has a grievance against the Federa- tion officials in respect of 4s., which he alleges was obtaiilkdi and retained il- legally. Applicant I apply for a summons against the South Wales Miners.' Federa- tion for obtaining and retaining 4s. of my money illegally. The Clerk (Mr Tom Elias) How did they obtain it, illegally ? "A DELIBERATE FRAUD." Applicant Ihese are my grounds— that an omission in not stating in their book of rules—. The Clerk Ah, well, I am afraid we have nothing to do with that. It is not a criminal offence, unless the rules give the magistrates power to deal with the matter. Applicant If they did wrong-a. de- liberate fraud-I can come with that to a criminal court. The Clerk I am afraid not. You must go to the County Court. TO THE PUBLIC PROSEPUTOR I Inspector Angus He has been theto first., sir. The Clerk The magistrates have no power in the matter. Applicant I must deal with the Public Prosecutor, then ? (Loud laughter). The Clerk Oh, yes; he will put us right, no doubt. (More laughter). The applicant then left the court with a confident air that would, have made the coalowners who refused him the benefit of their Society look very small.

Pan Fyddwch yn Abertawe ao am GWPANAID 0 DE au GINIAW BLASUS Y lie goreu i ohwi fyned yw i'f HOTEL MONICO. ♦> 33 HIGH STREET. Yetaffell ealig, gysiirus at waMoa«ih Un- debau, Gwib-gymh Ysgolion Sui, etc. PEBCHENOGES: Mils. A. E. RICHARDS PrMotrfd rhad, a", gwawwuMAfc R"rea. The Revival of Roller Skating bsing now an accomplished fact THE L.B. SKATING RINK, PONTARDAWE, WILL BE OPEN EACH EVEN-INO, MONDAY TO SATURDAY (Inclusive) From 7.80 to 10 p.m. DANCING ON SKATES EVERY THURSDAY EVENING. Admission and Skates, Sixpoooow Late 'buses leave for Morriston, Neath and Ystalyfera each evening. Late trains on Saturdays for Swansea at 10.10 p.m., and Ystalvfera, Gwys, and Brynamman at 11.30 p.m. An Ideal Moor and Beautiful Music.

» w w m Forty letters an d postcards relating to the sale and purchase of dogs were found hidden in the clothing of John Benjamin Mason, who was fined -CIO, or two months' imprisonment, at Read- ing, for reeiving two retriever dogs valued at £20. Mason, who was brought up in custody from Reading Gaol, was said to have an agent who enticed dogs j in the streets by means of aniseed on his clothes.

SOME NEW SHILLING BOOKS. A REVIEW. By T. J. Williams. To browse among Mr. Chesterton's earlier hooks is to regret more than ever that he is giving up to the Clean Government League what was meant for mankind. Wit. an incandescent brilliance, a unique sense of the gro- tesque, a. certain large-hearted cheer- fulness, laughter with the merriest ring since medieval days, an uncanny insight which is granted to few in a generation —these are some of the qualities that make Mr. Chesterton a literary expo- sitor and an art critic of the first order. These are the qualities that make his books on Browning and Blake, and his earlier collections of essays, a lasting joy. It is rare news for "Llais" readers that his "George Bernard Shaw" is now available at a shilling. This reviewer has read more preten- tious books on Shaw, but nothing that has the interpretive value or the stark lucidity of Mr. Chesterton's little volume. The final estimate of Shaw will, of course, not be written by a contem- porary, but Mr. Chesterton has come as near finality as any contemporary can do. Mr. Chesterton lacks, how- ever, one important element in the equipment of any expositor of Shaw, and that is a very full and varied know- ledge of music. But he understands Mr. Shaw's Socialism—a surprising thing in any anti-Socialist but Mr. Chesterton. After an eloquent pas- sage in which he declares his belief that Shaw could have won outstanding dis- tinction in half a dozen realms of the mind, he finds the true reason for the ,great Irishman's preoccupation with the dusty, musty facts of economics. "It is the real and ancient emotion of the salus populi, almost extinct in our oligarchial chaos; nor will I for one, as I pass on to many matters of argu- ment or quarrel, neglect to salute a passion so implacable and pure." This excerpt alone ought to send "Llais" readers hot-foot to their local news- agents with an order for the book. (Lane, Is. net.) Among Tory journalists Mr. Arnold White occupies a position second only to that of Mr. Garvin. His weekly essay in "The Referee," while seldom reaching the level attained by his pre- decessor, the late David Christie Mur- rav, is good, workmanlike Tory jour- nalese, and the style is distinctive. He enthuses about things that will leave the ordinary reader of the "Llais" cold —the grave of Rhodes on the Mattopos, for instance. On occasion he can be prettily sarcastic, as when he quotes a couplet for the average golfer: Really, the thought of England's I shame, It nearly puts me off my game. His Toryism is of the choicest vintage, and I imagine that, when writing of Socialism, he is in imminent danger of apoplexy. All the essays in The Views of Vanoc (second series) have the cardinal qualities of good journal- ism they rivet attention at the out- set, and retain the reader's eager in- terest to the end. I am so pleased with this collection that I have deci- ded to hang the expense anl invest a penny in "The Referee" next Sunday, to see what Mr. White has to say of the Umgeni. I am much more inter- ested in the living freight that vessel has just discharged than in the daz- zling mausoleum on the Mattopos.— (Kegan Paul, Is. net). "Seems So! A Working-C 1 ass View of Politics," by Stephen Reynolds and Bob and Tom Woolly, is a book that all professional politicians should get off by heart, and one which no one who takes a serious interest in modern politics can afford to neglect. Mr. Stephen Reynolds is a young B. Sc., who has elected to follow the calling of an ordinary fisherman at one of the coast towns of Devonshire. He is also a man of letters who is by way of be- ing in the very first flight of modern authors. He and Bob and Tom- Wool- ly, two of his fishermen mates, fell t.o discussing politics when they hadn't more serious work on hand, and this book is the result of their talks. The reader has an uncomfortable feeling at intervals that the fishermen are giving baek to their writing-mate his own ideas in different words, and suspects Mr. Reynolds of being, on this matter, in the same boat with John Stuart Mill, who gave Mrs. Taylor, subse- quently his wife, credit for greater political sagacity than she possessed, because she returned him his own po- litical theories clothed in slightly dif- ferent terms from those he used. But withal, the jaded political thinker will find the book as mentally bracing as the breezes from the Devon seas are physically invigorating. (Macmillan, Is. net.) Which is the best short story of the last century ? That is a question easier asked than answered. But if it is possible to come to a definite conclu- sion, Selected English Short Stories— which is the newest volume in the World's Classics series, and contains an illuminating introduction by Profes- sor Hugh Walker, of Lampeter-should prove a very definite help. Gathered in the compass of one small book are short stories by the great Victorians, from Disraeli to Robert Louis Steven- son. The three stories by R. L. S. are Markheim, Thrawn Japet, and Providence and the Guitar, a good sel- ection, but not god enough to stave off a grumble from many readers who would have included A Lodging for t the Night, the famous story dealing J with Villon. It is a matter open to doflbt, too, whether Mark Ruther- I ford's Mr. Whittaker's Retirement, a l' trite and colourless study of the psy- chology of the superannuated man, should have been included. There are four of Bret Harte's best, and the Punishment of Khipil. from Meredith's Shaving of Shagpat, prompts to a re- newal of acquaintance with the master. If I may use words in great favour with "knuts," I should describe the book as a jolly, ripping shillingsworth. (Milford, Is. net.) Like the poor, the unemployed are always with us, and although the Liberal newspapers are trying to lull the nation into a sense of false secu- rity by quoting the admittedly low per- centage of unemployed returned by the trade unions, it is a melancholy fact that even in times of greatest prosperity, the number of workless men in this country is much greater than the number of male industrial workers at Swansea. If Swansea. were striken with famine, there would be a great hubbub, and Sir Alfred Monel would probably instruct one of his sec- retaries to prepare a. couple of lach- rymose perorations, but as the unem- I ployed are scattered, and voiceless. they make no impression on the public conscience. What the condition of things will be during the business slump that is ahead, it is not pleasant to contemplate; but we may be sure that the unemployed question will be as eagerly canvassed as ever. Good, solid, and "careful" guidance on this problem is obtainable in Unemploy- ment, by A. C. Pigon, one of that use- ful series, The Home University Li- brary. Professor Pigon is the succes- sor of Professor Marshall at Camb- ridge, and it is perhaps no dispraise to say that he rivals that distinguished economist in his capacty to handle human problems and treat human souls and destinies with as little con- cern as he would the statistics of sugar imports. Perhaps the econo- mist, like the doctor, finds it neces- sary not to be squeamish. There is some comfort in the fact that Professor Pigon recks little of tariff reform. His exposition of the relation of the fixed work-fund fallacy to the unem- ployment problem is masterly. The book might be prescribed as a whole- some douche of cold reason for "Daily Herald" Leaguers. (Williams and Nor gate, Is. net.)

s s $. EISTEDDFOD EXCITEMENT. *1 CAUSES DEATH. An Eisteddfod held at Ton Pentre on Tuesday came to an abrupt termina- tion, when it was announced that a youth named Ebenezer Williams (18), of Stanley-road, Gelli, had expired in the lobby of the building. Deceased was a competitor in an essay competition, and while extracts were being read from his essay he fainted in the chapel and was carried into the lobby, and died. Deceased was subject to heart trouble, and the proceedings were brought to conclusion.

 vW? t mil tmnwiiin New 9 Rf q 0 RS 0 lu dS Just Arrived All of Tested Growth H. A. LEAK The Seedsman, 211, Oxford St., AND MARKET STALL, SWANSEA. Catalogues Gratis. 'Phone 381 Central. tt'ttttttt. ????????????????y?rx  

SPRING SALMON. A DAYS SPORT ON THE WYE. Few rivers in this country afford such opportunities for fly-fishing for salmon as the Wye. With an expert attendant the ama- teur fisherman walks along the river to a spot where the water is "right. The expert selects a gaudy fly-a glittering confection of many colours, felicitously known as "Thunder and Lightning," leads to the pool, indicates the locality of something exceedingly fine and large, and subsiding into the grass and the solace of a pipeful of evil-smelling shag, with his shining gaff handy to his hrown fist, proceeds to umpire, as it were. "THERE HE IS!" I The angler (says a writer in the "Birmingham Daily Post") makes a tentative east close in shore, pays out line, throws further and further, down- wards and outwards, and covers the major part of the profound, deep, dark lakelet. Wading deeply, and advanc- ing till the (-old current surges up to his waist, still he casts and casts. Recumbent in oozy verdure, .John Jones, the mentor, says nothing, hut like the mythical parrot, probably thinks a lot. Presently he mutters, "Fyther down, Syr: under the perth— that is, bush." The angler steps for- ward a few paces, and hurls his tem- pestuous lure beneath the bush, and cries, "Ah-h-h!" Flounce! Splash! j "There he is!" The angler exercises a gently swift motion of the wrist, the line is taut, the rod curves, and the reel sinv-s. "GWNEWCH IDDO REDEG." The water is agitated, and a furrow j is ploughed upwards as though there had passed a steam launch, as some- thing strong and bulky seizes the fly and tears out the line. Our fisherman is fast in a rare good fish, and is in for a strenuous tussle. John Jones counsels care and courage, line and butt, suavity and determined resistance, all in one hurried breath. But Saxon coolness counts for more than Celtic fire. The angler plays his fish with a due admixture of tact and valour. Just as John Jones shouts, "Gwnewch iddo redeg-make him run—let him go, mister!" the artist lowers his point to a sudden, furious salutation, and allows line to go clicking out. I THE FIGHTING FISH. j Wmrr-r-i;! whizz-z-z! LP the pool dashes the quarry, the line scattering the spray like the cutwatcr cf a yacht. So far, so good. Up streak is well, and though much line is out the salmon is fairly, well under control. But when thV fish faces about and darts downwards towards the rocks and the rapids—the whole volume and velocity of the river being added to his vigour and impetus—it becomes necessary to adopt strenuous fighting tactics. Gathering a foot now, a yard then, the sportsman recovers his line, and gets nearer to his fish, bending the rod and straining the tackle' well-night to breaking point. I BAD LUCK. This is one of the many victories notched to the enemy's score: one .of the fish-immeasurably large, of course- to which confusion and not good health is drunk, for, according to John Jones,, you must wet even a lost salmon. "Bet- ter luck next timed" Now for the obverse, after dismissing the dreadful reverse. At last the salmon is under control. John Jones measures the prize with his eyes. "Mawr, mawr—very large, in- deed!" he cries; adding. "Twenty pounds—thirty pounds—forty pounds, in my deed." He obtrudes his gaff, makes a thrust at the fish (on somewhat totty legs), grazes its side, and severs the gut. Away goes the salmon, exhibiting con- tumelious tail--the monster! The rest is silence. BIG AS A BULLOCK. I Later in the day, and with a halo of tobacco smoke trailing behind her, a punt floats easily down stream a mile or more, traversing typical bends of a singularly vagarious river. The next pool is reached. John Jones ties on a "Jack Scott." Before long a riparian drama somewhat similar to the foregoing, as regards its inception, is enacted. Again there is suddenly created a miniature temporary maelstrom. Some- thing strong and heavy is ho-oked--a log-like leviathan, which tears out the line to the last few turns of the reel. A great fish-surely a Goliath9- leaps violently and high. "A very por- poise 1" exclaims the rodman. "As big as an eidion (bullock), ach-v-fi!" cries John Jones. i AN AQUATIC STEEPLECHASE. t It is necessary to check the furious plunge and lush of this leviathan. There is a great fight. The angler steps from the punt into shaHowish water, and follows his prey, playing it "for all he is worth"—if, indeed, the fish plays not him-splashing through the water and stumbling over boulders. It is a kind of aquatic steeplechase, with a good deal of "Pull devil, pull baker." At last the fish is got close to hand, appears to be weakening. "Da iawn, Syr-well done!" cries John Jones as, I entering the water, he approaches the salmon with the gaff Alas! there is many a slip-A. THE SUBJUGATED SALMON. I Suddenly, whilst one aching arm still sustains the rod on high, as the other reels in, the pliant, well-balanced tool springs straight again, and the fly dangles useless in the air. The hold has broken, or torn away. Horror! agony! But just in the nick of (Continued at bottom of noxt column-)

I .< :j! '}. "1' ,,< E. J. DANN & Co., i South Wales Clothiers g (UNIVERSAL OUTFITTERS), è ❖ Boot & Shoe Merchants » + I ❖ Are now complete with their large and varied 5 Stock for he Winter. J v <?t E<tt!m&t?? for C:ontr?ct?. o ? from 16/- to 6o/  from 16/- to 6o/ Men s Overcoats, Ulsters, Raincoats, and Motoring Coats Ranging) ? Long Oil Coats from 6/6 to 351- ?, Our Noted Silk Oil Coat, Leggings and Sou'wester to match, total: f) weight (3 garments) i6oz., for Riding, Walking or Motoring. Çj The Latest New Waterproof Coat known as the Pegamoid, prices 16/6 to 25/ Rubber and Oil Leggings, 2/3 to 10/6 per pair. fit All K. d fT' (. p, All Kinds of Waterproof Goods kept in Stock to suit every calling ti- in wet weather. e.* f' V ? Goods dispatched same day as ordered. ••• ? ???????. ??.???.??????.??????? e ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ .j, ? ? E. JL DANN & co? ? South Wales Clothiers and Boot Manufacturers, 15, & 16, Wind Street, Swansea, t — AND — Ijf ❖ 78, & 79, Water Street, Aberavon. t GGv'vC(G+Gvd ù eBWEeB?BWtWBetWtWB?B?NezeteBWN?tWt?NWteBWaWt?ttMeNWtW ——QU K?EW I G « the difference Beecham's Pills would make to you if you are a sufferer from iii biliousness, constipation, depression of spirits, flatulence, headache and other 0 distressing disorders consequent upon some derangement of the digestive organs, you would never be without them. 0. i THE VALUE OF I I this excelleat preparation is attested by countless thousands of men and women in every quarter of the ?!obe. A(ter seventy years of splendid service their sales 2 are still on the increase! Truly a wonderful record The Family Medicine ■ of popularity is undoubtedly which has reached the highest pinnacle of popularity is undoubtedly q      .f' < C! chdo"- C) '6 iii i m £ Prepared only by THOMAS BEECHAM. St. Helse. Ltncashirt. Z Sold everywhere ? bdxes, price I!l id. (?6 pm.) .t ? («? .OS.m..O.OEQÐ.OEEG=CgC..o.eœ8.. Webber & Son Ltd., 266, Oxford St., Swansea. Immense Mock of the most Fashoflnhle and Up-to-date JEWELLERY Gem Rings, Bracelets,Necklets,Paaiants, LocketsLong Chains, Alberts,'Jal i and SllverWatches, Sterling Silvsr, Electro-plate, Marole, Hall and Ciiini,14 Clocks OCCULIST OPTICIANS AND SPECIALISTS IN SPECTACLES. Manufacturers of Scientific Instruments, Mining Dial", Levels. Theodolites, Anemometers, Baronicterz, Teleup. I and held WEBBER & SON, Ltd., 266, Oxford Street, Swansea OPPOSITE THE MARKET. Bradford & Manchester Warehouse Co. Are Now Showing First Delivery of New rin[ Gù DON'T FAIL TO PAY US A VISIT. ALL GOODS ABSOLUTELY ROCK BOTTOM PRICES. Serges from 1/11 to 6/11 per yd. Welsh Tweed Suitings 5/11 per yd. Tweeds from 1/3. Ladies' Costume Suitings from 2/3 to 4/11. DON'T FORGET NEW ADDRESS- 12 Gower-st., SWANSEA OppociU Mount IMaasant llaptiitt. Cha p*' late 22, Waterloo Street. \V. A. WILLIAMS, Phrenologist, consulted daily at the Victoria (nf-ar the ?viarket). Swansea.

(Continued from preceding rolumn) time John Jones pokes forward the shining steel and thrusts it deeply into the gleaming side of the astonished and beaten fish. Saved! Oh, good and brave Jones of the dark skin! What a noble sixteen- pounder! Not so deep as a bullock nor as wide as a porpoise, after all, but 'twill suffice. Thus victory is snatthed at a moment of impending defeat, and a good, fresh- run spring salmon is killed-by a fluke. 0