Llais Llafur

AGONIES OF RETREAT. Hunger for News of Home. The stony pathway has been trodden. Serbia's Army-or all that is left of Serbia's Army-has accomplished the great ii-,et,reat across the mountains of Montenegro and Albania, but man and horse and ox have suffered cruelly during the terrible march. It is difficult to express in sufficiently strong terms the terrible conditions of the retreat. The suffering that the entire Ser- bian Army has been called upon to endure is beyond the power of human words to describe—they have trodden a pathway that has bruised their feet, they have walked in the very valley of the shadow verily, they have hungered for bread, and all they have met during the journey has been stones. They have thirsted for ater, and there has been death in the cup! Snow has fallen and torrents of rain; they have been soaked day after day and night after night to their very skins the icy cold wind ofthe mountains has whistled through their torn and tat- tered uniforms; their broken boots have had to take them through mud more than half a foot deep in places. Grim and horrible roadside pictures keep on recurring to the memory. Visions of dead and dying horses and oxen; visions of dead and dying men, and climbing all the while along the pathway a steady procession of grey-faced soldiers —cavalry, infantry, artil1er pack-horses, pac k h -orses, transport-ponies, ox-wagons, on and on in seemingly never-ending line, and not a laugh to be heard.. PATIENT HORSES. Abandoned horses were to be met at nearly every turn of the path-gaunt skeleton horses waiting with sublime patience for the death that was so long in eoming. Starving soldiers fell like wolves on the dead hordes and the dead oxen they used their knives with ghastly oelerity. The eye got hardened at last to the hideous picture of these poor disembered beasts lying in pools of blood to the right and the left of the pathway, but our chargers ruted to pass these red pools. They plunged, quivered, and trembled; once or twice they were nearly over the pre- cipice themselves, the pathway being so narrow. There was heavy snow the day the Second Army left Priahtina, and men fell out eve-Ti at this early stage of the journey soldiers who could not face the bitt-cr cold, poor fellows who had been fighting and marching incessantly during the last few weeks and whose strength was quite exhausted but it was not till I pek had been reached that the real climb up the ) mountains began-that grim ascent that took the heart out of man and beast; also it must not be forgotten that during the grim ruarch across the mountains the Serbian Army had a terrible weight to carry officers and soldiers alike a weight of anxiety of which none could relieve them. They did not know, they had not the leas idea, what fate had be- fallen their womenfolk. The army is con- sumed with anxiety on account of its kith and kin; the men hunger and hunger in vain for news from home. All through the march to Andrevitza there was constant danger of attack from Albanian brigands. News of the massacre at Jakova had already reached us, and we had heard of the tragic murder by Albanians of the director of the Second Hospital at Nish. Woe for stragglers who could not keep up with the army. Their doom was certain—they would be robbed and murdered in cold blood. F (tod was lamentably short during the weary march, but the officers cheered on their men by telling them that th-ey would find plenty of bread and food awaiting the army at Andrevitza—the Montene- grins having given the most solemn assur- anees to this effect, and we all began to regard Andrevitza as a town overflowing with milk and honey-a veritable Land of Promise; but when-tired and half- frozen-we 'reached Andrevitza there was no bi-ead for the hungry soldiers. We ourselves had to pay over twelve dinars a night-a. dinar is the equivalent to the English shilling—to sleep in a dirty car- petless room on broken beds. When we asked for a little water for washing pur- poses it was denied us, nor would food be supplied though we offered gold. We reached Podgoritza late in the after- noon; the town was crowded to over- flowing, but the authorities did all they could, and thanks to energetic search on the part of Captain Gworoditch we found a comforta,ble lodging. Food was still very difficult to obtain for, the army-the soi- diers looked and were half-starved for- age for the horses wac equally hard to procure, but the flight had to be con- tinued. This time the horses went on ahead by a different road, and we tra- veiled by steamer to Scutari; the steamer was crowded with soldiers and the jour- ney on the wide lake took several hours. We reached Scutari at nightfall. The town seethed with our troops; it was difficult to move in the streets—al- most impossible. Food was to be obtained only at famine prices, and here again the greatest difficulty was to find a lodg- I ing for the first fortnight of our stay in Scutari. We had to sleep in a sorry room on the floor and be thankful to have a roof over our heads. Later on hospi- tality was offered us by a leading Alban- ian family, and, needless to say, thank- ful I-v accepted by us. The food question grew more and more diffioult as the days went on; bread was almost impossible to obtain except through military sources. CHURCH BELL PANIC. ( The townsfolk lived in a perfect state of panic, for they dreaded the almost daily visits of the Austrian aeroplane, The church bells always rang loudly as soon as the aeroplane had been sighted, and the moment the bells started ringing pandemonium reigned in Scutari. Those of the inhabitants who possessed cellars made haste to retire there for the day. All business was suspended. The shop- keepers bolted up their doors and put down the shutters, and nearly all the population of the town i-an in a wild state I of fear to the fields by the side of the 1;,k:tl,,e safest place, it was assumed. Early in January the Second Army re- ceived their orders to press on to Liesh, as it was hoped that they would be able to embark at San Giovanni di Medua and so be spared the difficult four days' march L Durazzo. We left Soutari the day the Staff left. and this was a most gloomy and dep^essin.1.; two days' march, for dead horses were to be seen at nearly few yards, some in a ghastly state of decav, ar:d the dreary, swampy fields <n ea^h side of the lenr; winding road s e r^d to breathe of malaria. The land, the v-ry soil, looked sick; the breeze it. 1{ I' ) here as elsewhere soldiers whose long march was over. Their bruised and naked feet had ceased to tread the narrow path- way. They lay rigid and motionless, a strange dignity ennobling their pinched I features. These were the martyrs of the march. I" We stopped the night at Barbaruchi and rode on next day to Liesh, obtaining a lodging there was the greatest difficulty and here we have remained for over a fortnight waiting for the Second Army to embark at San Giovanni di Medua to find shelter in an isle of refuge; but now it has been decided that army and Staff must press on to Durazzo and embark there, another grim march up a- broken I road for the exhausted troops, another four days and four nights of cruel fatigue and misery. We ourselves hope to depart by boat from San Glovanrii to-day, for the fall of Cettinje ha., been announced and Scutari is threatened. We must flee or be captured. Prince Alexander, Serbia's heir, ar- rived at Liesh two days ago, and it had been arranged that he should embark at San Giovanni; but the Prince refuses— sick and ill as he is, for he is recovering slowly from a severe operation—to aban- don his troops. He will accompany the army to Durazzo and embark there, but not, to quote his own words, "till every Serbian soldier has left this country." Pity Serbia—pity Serbia's Army We who have ridden with this army know the exceeding bitterness of the cup that brave men have been called upon to drink to the dregs but Serbia is not defeated- she has saved the moiety of her army, thanks to this march through the moun- tains and as for those soldiers who have paid the price of the march—the dead men who will never see their homes again—they have earned the eternal laurel-wreath they died in Serbia's cause.—From Alice and Claude Askew, Liesh (Northern Albania), Jan. 19,—in the "Daily Mail." ————— —————

Be careful pot to soak, rub, or scrub the clothes when using SIMPLE SIMON He can show you a better way. Ask your grocer.; he knows. Costs 3td. Worth £ s. I B

WELSH MINERS' WAGES. I NO INDEPENDENT CHAIRMAN TO DECIDE ISSUE. Quite an interesting situation is creat- ed just now in the South Wales coalfield I reparding the rates of percentages pay- able to the workmen. The workmen's representatives served notice upon the owners on Tuesday for an advance of 5 per cent.. while the owners served a notice on the same day for a reduction of 3i per cent. In view of the fact that under the new agreement there is established a joint audit of the owners' ( books these divergent aplications are based upon precisely th esame data. But what adds to the peculiarity of the I position is the fact that the joint board is at present without an independent chairman to adjudicate between the par- ties. Lord Reading, as Lord Chief Justice has been asked to make the appointment, but so far his lordship has not done so. A similar difficulty was experienced on the occasion of the resignation of Lord I Peel. The then Lord Chief Justice, to whom the selection of a successor had been referred, was unable to secure one ¡ in time to consider the application for a variation in the .general wage rate. The result then was that, a decision upon ths i-sue between the parties had to be de- ferred until the succeeding quarter. Pos- sibly a similar arrangement may have to be BMde on the present occasion, a.s the statutory meeting of the board to deal I with wHiges will have to be held on the 10th of the month. Curiously enough, too, Sir Laurence GGmm", the arbitrator appointed by the I President of the Board of Tra.de to in- qu:re into the anthracite dispute, has also resigned owing to ill-haalth. I

W. A.-8. 1' reno [Ogi8t I ran ? consults ?n:)y at th Victor j 'r

APPEARS IN AMERICAN PORT. The Elder-Dempster liner Appam, from the West Coast of Africa, has been brought into Norfolk, Virginia, under the German flag It was be- lieved she had gone down in a storm. On July 15th a submarine held her up off the Canaries, and put a prize crew of 22 on board her. She is also said to have on board 138 prisoners cap- tured from different vessels by the U boat. Obviously these could not have been collected on the submarine, though they might have been trans- ferred from another vessel. If it should transpire that they are prison- ers of German nationality from the Camero-ons the new departure in enemy submarine methods would be ex- plained. Washington has not yet an- nounced what the U.S.A. Government intends to do about it. ————— —————

ELEPHANT ENLISTED. NOVEL SHEFFIELD WAR WORKER. I A shortage of haulage facilities has caused Sheffield manufacturers to look round likely assistance, and on enter- prising firm-Messrs. Thos. W. Ward, Limited—has pressed an elephant into service. Each day it strides along tha streets drawing a big load, to the evident interest of sepctators. The animal really belongs to a trEu- veIling menagerie, the proprietor of which realised that while circum- stances caused him to stop in Sheffield longer than he had anticipated, it would be a good thing to let out on hire his horses and a tractable ele- phant. As the elephant passes along it in- variably investigates the tops of coal and other carts (says a "Star" cor- respondent), in the hope of finding something edible. More than one carter's dinner has mysteriously dis- appeared. j

THE SUPPRESSED "FORW ARD." UNDERTAKING AND PERMISSION  TO R-PUBLISH. The Press Bureau on Sunday night issued the following statement from the Ministry of Munitions:— The following undertaking has been signed by the editor and the solicitor to the "Forward" newspaper, which was suppressed at the beginning of 'I January:— "We, the undersigned, on behalf of the Forward Printing and Publishing Company (Limited), hereby undertake not to issue or publish any matter cal- culated to prejudice the military in- terests or safety of the country in the present crisis, or to impede or to in- terfere with the production or supply of munitions of war or cause disaffec- tion with the Munitions of War Acts, tyr with the policy of the dilution of labour, and to stipulate with any com. pany by which the matter is printed that, in case of doubt, such matter matter shall be submitted for approval to the Press Bureau. (Signed) "THOMAS JOHNSTON. Editor; "E. ROSSLYN MITCHELL, Solicitor." A satisfactory undertaking has also been given by the directors of the Civic Press (Limited), which printed the newspaper. In view of these undertakings, per- mission has been given by the military authorities for the newspaper to re- sume publication and for the Civic Press to resume its ordinary business. It was officially announced at Glas- gow on Sunday night that the "For- ward'' would resume publication on Friday. ( wa

THEATRES, RAILWAY TICKETS i AND PIANOS. Thea-tres, music-halls, cinema palaces, and other entertainments are to be taxed. This important measure (says i the "Weekly Dispatch") is to form one of the salient features of the new Budget on which Mr McKenna is now busily at work. A railway ticket tax is also to be imposed. It has been decided, on the other hand, that tramways and omni- buses as being vehicles largely used by the working classes shall be immune from a ticket tax. 'It is further likely that the 33 per oent. d-Lily ion imported moitor-eara and pianos will be extended in the I new Budget to a large num ber of other unnecessary imports. In every case, it is important to note, due re- gard will be paid to the feelings of the Dominions and to the neutral Powers.

I -qw ————. 1-' FARM WAGON AS HEARSE. A farm wagon drawn by a pair of horses as hearse at the funeral at Findon, near Wothing, of Lady Ulrica Thynne, widow of Lord Henry Thynne a,nd daughter of the twelfth Duke of Somerset. The mourners followed from Muntham Court, the residence of Colonel Ulric Thynne, across the Downs to the vil- I lage churchy-ard.

dep I- WOMEN WORKERS FOR THE LAND. I I At a largely attended meeting of I Cambridgeshire women held at the County Hall, Cambridge, an organ- isation was started for the purpose of I bringing women as war workers on the land. The difficulty with the village women, it was said, was that they I were now better off than they were before their husbands went away. They had to be taught that though I they might not neBel the money the country needed their work. It was i sn.id that Norfolk has registered over ( n •; :C:=:

Our Men's Last Gale- in Gaillpoli. What our men in Gallipali under- went in tho great storm, followed by frost, just before the evacuation may be gathered from the following private letter:— A storm sprang up suddenly in the evening, with very vivid lightning and heavy, though dstant thunder. Soon it was raining in torrents. It was al- most as if solid columns of water were coming down. And all the while a gale was blowing. After a four hours' downpour the rain slackened off about ten o'clock. At first our dug-out seemed fairly I secure and dry, but gradually the water got the upper hand and finally it poured down the steps at the foot of our beds and formed an ever-grow- ing pool of very muddy water. To prevent., if possible, the water swamp- ing us entirely we started to bale out with a mug, and bv working in turn and very hard we kept the water to a comparatively small space, which we emptied when the storm subsided a little and we had dug a trench round the dug-out to carry away most of the water. In the end we went to bed, cover- ing our blankets with our oilskin coats to keep off drops that fell from the roof. Though it rained nearly all I night we slept dry and warm, in which as we discovered in the morning, we were extremely fortunate. TRENCH FULL TO BRIM. Next day we began to realise the extent of the havoc. As for mv own company, Major dug-out was flooded to a depth of over 2ft. and his kit was all submerged. A trench, or long dug-out, in which a number of sappers lived was full of water to the very brim! The men had been com- pletely washed out. Everything they possessed was under water. Another trench was 2ft. under water. There was scarcely a dry blanket or a dry garment in the company. The front of the signal office had collapsed and fallen across a path on the top of the cliff, which was partly washed away. All day the gale blew bitterly oold from the north and rain fell. Every- where I went I saw dug-outs full of water; telegraph poles blown down; mule-carts and stores standing dere- lict in the mud. The roads—we call them roads-were. inches deep in thin, watery mud; in places partly washed away. The sea was running high, the waves were white-topped, and spin- drift driven by the wind almost hid from view the warshipis keeping guard off shore. Desolation and misery everywhere! During the evening I had to take a message to an officer whose dug-out is built on the face of the cliffs. It was pitch dark, raining, and the wind still blowing heaven's hardest. The flood had washed away some of the roughly made 8t.eps leading down to the dug-out, and in the darkness I slipped about six feet or ao. In the excitement of the moment I lost my glasses, and now I have only one pair between me and a life in which every- thing is blurred. However, another pair is due from London in about a month. THE BAULKS IN MUD. I Dater the same evening about nine I had a much worse journey of about one and a half miles to a field ambul- ance It was pitch dark all the way. The first half-mile was fairly easy, though the mud was everywhere about six inches deep. Then I had to pick upa road through some sand dunes. The beginning of this road was silted over by sand blown into heaps by the wind, and it was only by a great stroke of luck that I found it. The road itself is made of baulks of tim- ber placed about a foot apart and the spaces filled in with earth. The earth was now liquid mud, and at every other step in I went up to the knees. Then the road was completely flood- ed and I had to plough along on the sand by the side, keeping my direc- tion by watching the river-like road. At my destination I had the luck to run across an officer for whom I took a lot of messages in England, and he was good enough to give a stiff glass of whisky. The result was that I splashed my way back again, quite happy, in spite of being wet through to well above the knees. After an- other shorter journey I was able to take off my wet things and turn in for a fair night's sleep. Next morning it was snowing when wo got up, and the hills from which the Turks look down on us were flecked with white. All day it snowed a little, and the wind blew a great deal; very much like the previous day in other respects. GENERAL'S PYJAMAS. I Bad as things have been here, they have been hundreds of times worse in the trenches. Many trenches in low- lying ground were flooded out in the first rush of water, and men had to lie on the parapets. Dug-outs were flooded, and officers and men lost all their kit or found it sodden. One General of Brigade lying in bed with A fever was left with nothing to wear but pyjamas, everything else washed away. One section of our company with a brigade had nothing left but what they stood up in. A gunner offioer told me he had to leave his guns. They were 7ft, under water. And now for three days there has been this terribly oold wind. Yet the men are still killing the Turks. who are apparently in a worse plight, for they have been seen leaving their trenches in batches. The general of the division has sent a message to the infantry, congratulating them on stick ing it so well, and he has given a copy of the message to Major C- be- cause of the way our company has kept the telegraphs working through it all. Well, if this is Gallipoli in winter, give me Gallipoli in summer! Flanders in winter cannot be worse. There at any rate, you have definite periods of rest in real houses. Here there are only wet holes in the ground. There is nothing behind us but the sea!

 &MS ? ??? S sTs z B?? ? "?? MASTERS ??w?????? i?ih?n? ?& MHiM OVERCOATS ??B?BN i n B i?jN?M S Again lead the way for Style, Value and Variety. Whether for Man, Youth or Boy, we can please every taste at prices which will suit every pocket. NOTE THE ADDRESSES— MASTERS & Go. CLOTHIERS luteal, 18 & 19 Castle Street 282 Oxford Street Swaiisea 3 Green Street, Neath 17 Stepney Street, Llanelly, etc. æ .+. 00 j Cmnltiiln f Catle Cmr, i]  SWANSEA i + 1 i j} AAAAAAAAAAJutAAAAAJAAJ.AAAAAJ.A/ltAAA ■«..m. A. A Ji. A JI..A f I DAVID THOMAS! f (y6'??/? C?mr??) I i ? t Watchmaker, Jeweller, and Silversmith i t T + + ? ——— Has RE-OPENED the above ♦ 4 ♦ ?- r??S'?7' PR.E:aa:XSES i 7 t ♦ ♦ WITH A SPLENDID f j NEW STOCK + '<???*«?.«??*<?*.<????????<.?<??<??????<m??..<  I Gvmry, Dewch at y Cyniro t J t/  1$ Y Nwyddau Goreu: Y Prisoedd Iselaf. ♦ ? 00 '4 S 8  Î':¡'b<ï;:{ i U I S H E D SERVICE That Becham's Pills have rendered and are still rendering, i distinguished service to the hea?h of the people, !s proved by f ? the ever increasing sale of that ptilar medicine. During the r ? seventy years they have been in demand, these pills have f (secured and held the confidence of the public. It is no i ? exaggeration to say that miiiions of men and women have been 1 t i greatly benefitted by taking this well known family remedy. ? Sufferers from dyspepsia, liver trouble constipation and the J f many common ailments which attack the digestive system f f have found a reliable remedy in f )M V ? i g—? ? ? ? ? V jk?j Q k i BEECHAM'S Sold PILLS. i M Sold everywhere in boxes, price Is 3d and 3s 0d. 4 WE introduce you JJilffl to the Pump with thePolicy. II I; One pull of the Pump and this tamoiis Pen is j'?'? s? & filled rady THE PUMP r writin gJ IN 1812 for writ;ng. Y ou should try it-the price is 3/9. Each Pen carries a YI,,000 Insurance Policy, free. Ask to see it. C. D. LAKE, A We have the LARGEST STOCK I I of STATIONERY 1 and D I A R I E S THE I in the District. I THE -————————————————————  Ystradtc5ryiilal*S. 12 stra gyn IS.

WHEN THE PIG IS KILLED. The German Government has come to tho conclusion that there is too much eatillgand drinking at the so- called Slaughter Feasts, the occasions in this country districts when the farmer's pig is killed, and the neigh- bours gather to enjoy themselves. The consequence is that the Minister of Commerce has called the attention of local authorities to he matter and the slaying of the fatted swine is to be celebrated in future with the ab- stemiousness required by the Food Regulations. I ■

W. A. WILLIAMS. Phrenologist, man be consulted daily at the VictoriF. Arcade (near the Market), Swansea

WITHOUT A PENSION. Of 60 men recently discharged as no longer fit for • ervice from a London hos- pital 22 were marked by the medical board as C.P.I'.—chronic pulmonary tuberculosis. All these men uav* stated that they were absolutely souhu when they enlisted ajid had never had nrv lui-g trouble in their lives. Yet as the War Office refuses to recognise that eonsump- tion can be caused by service, even if it be proved that the men were sound when they enlisted and that they contracted the disease in service, all these wretche d men will (says Sir F. Milner in "The Times") be deprived of any pension, and the workhouse must ba their eventual home.

———- GERMAN COAL PRODUCTION. Germany's -a- l pro d uct i on last year I Germany's coa.l production last veaJ' amounted to 146,710,000 tons, a decrease of 14,830,000 tons as compared with 1914, and 44.800.000 tons in the last f" ull rpeaco year, 1913,