Llais Llafur

THE DIARY OF A SMALL- HOLDER. (ny "LEO.") I Monday, 18th Feb.—The recent mild weather has not come too soon. I was getting rather impatient with my pul- lets, and was on the point of selling off another pen w hen an egg this morn- ing saved them from exile. Sent away three June hatched pullets and a. cockerel to-day in fulfillment of an order I obtained last week. I heard of some pigs for sale this morning at a neighbouring village and C.R. and myself went to see them. £.1 10s. each was the sum demanded for them al- though they were not above 80lbs each. At 18s. per score (the controlled price) they should be 100 lbs. We decided ?to leave them severely alone. Tuesday, 19th Feb.—Am clean out! of fish meal and clover meal so, as none of these is sold locally I decided on a visit to our market town where there is a Co-operative Poultry Com Society. I saw specimens, good and had, of these commodities, but what a price! Clover meal, what I could have delivered at the house for 12s. 6d. from certain retail people I know, was priced here at 16s. 6d. per ewt. above the market price. The members of the society were out for "divi" with a vengeance, so I left there with but 201bs. of fish meal, sufficient to "carry on" until my usual dealer could supply me. Wednesday, 20th Feb.—Sent an or- der to my grocer this morning for a bushel of oats, to be used sparingly now and again as a change of diet. Imftgine my surprise when a 5 bushel sack arrived in the evening accom- panied by a bill for JB2 10s. The carter refused to take it hack so I'm obliged to retain it. I trust it will last out the war! The cow is now absolutely ''dry," although calving is three months away. We put this down to the effect of the oat chaff which we have been giving during the greater part of the winter. Thursday, 21st Feb.—Examined the eggs in incubator this morning. I have my own applianoo for testing eggs, and it works so well that fertility can be detected as early as the third day of incubation. It consists of a box 7in. by 4in. by 3in., having an oval open- ing cut in the lid. Inside is a 16-candle- power electric lamp which can be at- tached to house supply by flexible cord, An egg placed on opening in lid is shown up so clearly that the blood veins of the embryo chick can be dis- tinguished very early. I found rather a big proportion of wyandotte eggs unfertile, but none of the Leghorns. I am afraid that the presence of two cockerels in the wyandotte pen is the 1 cause of the infertility, so am glad one has now been disposed of. Friday, 22nd Feb.—Determined to do some spraying of ruit trees to-day. The vegetable and insect parasites are at their weakest during this month, and they are easily destroyed by fumigants and solutions. My recipe for the latter is as follows: Dissolve one pound of oaustic soda and one pound of caustic potash in some water in a pail. When dissolved make up to ten gallons with water. Spray or sponge the trees with this, and canker and blight will be avoided. Saturday, 23rd Feb.—The little pigs changed hands to-day at P,2 eaell at least 10s. each cheaper than sold at Neath and Llandilo, and 22s. each cheaper than sold at Newport last week. We decided to keep a young sow, and a p?g, although if food sup- plies were guaranteed we could have done with two more. I finished the duck house to-day, finishing it off with strong locks as befit the time we are living in. A coat or two of tar will make it look a respectable affair for an amateur carpenter. Sunday, 24th Feb.—Had a letter this morning fi?om vendor of geese in which he states that these will be dispatched from Yorkshire to-morrow. Turkey hen in giving .much trouble just now by flying over the hedges into the garden. She has lately cleared off a cabbage bed, eating doubtless three or four hundred plants, which would have been worth at least 6s. Shall get rid of her this week as she is too extrava- j < gant these times. A neighbour, whose bees died off during last winter from starvation or disease, offered me his hives this morning. Should like to have them very much as they are real- ly well made, but am afraid that germs of the fatal Isle of White disease might still be lurking in them. However, I am told, that if their interiors are i burnt out by means of a painter's bluw I lamp, and if the frames etc., are boiled in a. disinfectant, such as Isal or car- bolic, they would be safe enough. I think I shall accept the offer. "LEO."

I CONCRETE SHIPS A company has been formed at Sunderland for building ships in re- inforced concrete. It has acquired a large site, which is being prepared. j and will he ready for 'building opera-I tions to coiraiience in May. A sta.rt will be made with tugs, lighters, and I sea-going barges, but later merchant steamers up to a length of 300 feet will be constructed. Several of the I leading .shipbuilders &n the North- East Coast are financially int?rMt?d in the project. The site acquired has accommodation for seven or eight berths- Printed and Published by "Llais Llafur" Co. Ltd, Ystalyfera, in the County of Glamorga<n, March 2. 1918

?  Ay  ?'   } PENH ALE'S Special Sale New Style J^adies' or Gent's Trench. Raincoats Fully Lined, 30/ worth 45/ Boys' and Maids', 20/ See YVinrfuws. ♦ Wholesale Dept.-We invite Enquiries for Quantities. Keen Quotations, to Im- mediate Buyers. 232, HIGH STREET, SWANSf A

MONEY AND DEMOCRACY. — RUDYARD KIPLING ON WAR II SAVINGS. Our hearts, our reason, every in- stinct in u.s that li-fts us above the mere brute, shows us that, the war must go on. Otherwise earth becomes a hell without hope, said Mr. Rudyard Kipling in a speech at Folks tone. The men, the ships, tho munitions must go forward to the war, and behind them must come the money, without which nothing can move. Where our hearts are there must QlLr treasure be I also. There has been a great deal of I money spent in England lately, several millions a day for the last twelve hun- dred days. That means that many people have had the chance of earning more money-in some cases very much more money—than they could have earned in peace time. But all the money in the world is no use to a man or his country if he spends it as fast as he gets it. All he has left is his bills and the reputation of being a fool, which he can get much more cheaply in other ways. There's nothing fine or funny in throwing away cash on things you don't want merely because the cash is there. We've all done it in our time and we've all had to pay for it. The man who says he never worries about money is the man who has to worry about it most in the long run. and goodness knows there's enough worry in the world already without our going out of the way to add to it. Just now we all have the opportunity of protecting ourselves against private and public anxieties by investingt as much as ever wo can in War Loans. Money is a curious article. Have you ever thought that invested money is the only thing in the world, outside the Army, the iN.-tvy, and the Mercan- tile Marine, that will work for you while you sleop ? Everything else knocks off, or goes to bed, or takes a holiday at intervals, but our money sits up all through the year, working to fetch in the 5 per eent. interest that the Gov- ernment pays every £ it borrows from us. I am not a financier. But I do know that much, and I do know that a man who has an income, how- ever small, from money he has saved, is free of worry and anxiety for him- self, his wife, and his children, up to the extent of that income. It gives him self-respect, a more even temper, a reason for looking at the future with calm and confidence. A man who has wasted or muddled all his pay at the end of the week is the servant of the whole world for his next week's pay. The man who has his bit in hand is independent of the world as far as that bit goes, and that knowledge at the back of one's head must make life a. different affair to every thinking man or woman. Savings represent much more than their mere money value. They are proof that the saver is worth something in himself. Any fool can waste. Any fool can muddle, but it takes something of a man to save, and the more he saves the more of a man does it make him. Waste and extrava- gance unsettle a man's mind for every crisis; thrift, which means some form of self restraint and continence, ) steadies it. And we need steady minds just now. Remember, too, that everything we waste in the way of manufactured goods, from a match upwards, as well as everything we buy that, isn't abso- lutely necessary to get on with, means diverting some man or woman's time and energy from doing work connect- ed with the war. And war work, which means supplies, food, munitions, ships I is the only thing that is of the least importance now. Everything outside that necessity is danger and waste. So I you see we are all in a splendid posi- tion to invest. Not only is there more money going about and fewer tilings to buy with it, but it is also wrong 1 to spend money on what there is avail- able. The road has been cleared of all obstacles to saving. The interest on' what we save helps to make us per- sonally independent; the money we lend to the Government helps to set our land and our world free. Our se- curity for our loan is not only the whole British Empire, but also the whole of civilisation, which has pooled its resources in men, money, and material to cary on this wax to vie- tory. Nothing else under -Heaven mat- j tors to-day except that the war shall j go on to that end. If for any reason we fall short of victory—and there is no half-way be- tween victory and defe.it—what happens to us? This. Every relation, every un- derstanding, every decency upon which civilisation has bean eo anxious- ly built up will go—will L. "-ashed out, because it will have proved unable to endure. The whole idea of Democracy—which at bottom is what the Hun fights against-will be dis- missed from men's minds, because it will have been shown inc-ipiole of maintaining itself against the I-Iu- It will die; and it will die discredited, together with every belief and }i"aotice that is based on it. The Hun Hun's root-notions of life will r >ke itlt placo throughout the world. WHY AEROPLANES Many of our towns next \I t"k will be asked to buy extra War Saving.s. Certificates to pay for aeroplanes- Those who have seen tho Nation.-u WTar Savings Committee's lantern lecture know why they are ne-ded. An 1 so do the citizens of London who of late- have been "strafed." Ever. Han bomb that drops should me:1 i more aeroplanes for tis.

CWMGOkSE FAKM ROB, ERV. At the Potttardawe Pol ice-en uvt, be- fore Mr. Aliens (presiding), ami others, Frederick George White (1'.). was charged with breaking and < nte ring the premises of his employer. I homas- Davies, farmer, Nantygasseg Farm, Cwmgorse. The boy was on lice/ice from the Somerset Homes, Bath. Margaret Davies, wife of Timmaa Davies, said she left her house, when all was secure, at about 6 in 11: even- ing. The boy had come out in-:illi her and took a can of water back iowards, the house. When she came bad later- with a friend she heard a. whiscle. and saw n lad. William lfannet. on the road. On entering the house she- iounds everything disordered, and found that the rooms up and downstairs had been ransacked. She found that tWOY:1 tches a brooch and chain, tea, sug; part of a set of tcetil, a silk If iiidker- chiof. and a gun were missing. Sho heard someone run out thre>u.h the back door. Thomas Davies, farmer, bore out his wife's stau>m«>nts, and said he was in chapel on the night in questic^- He also missed a leather wallet and notes, and found that the safe had bee;i tam- pered with. The loss of good-, etc., totalled L37 in value. The boy had been with him for 15 months, and had come from Somerset .School, his con- duct up to now had been good. William Ben net said he saw the boy White on the 10th, who said he was going to break into the farm with another boy, and witness joined the boys. Witness was posted outside, and ordered to give the signal and whistled when lie saw Mrs. Davies and his (wit- ness's) sister coming to the house. Defendant: He promised to run away with us sir, but we cut him out because we thought "too many eooka would spoil the broth." (Laughter.) P.S. Shillum gave evidence of find- ing part of the property and receiving defendant into custody at Pontardawa. White said he- had arranged with a boy named Goodwin to break into the house, and then run away. Bennett also joined and said he would run away too, but the other boys ran to Swan- sea. Goodwin was still at large. Mr. Young (superintendent of the Bath Homes) said defendant had come to the school as a boy of five, and. he had only been reported once for play- ing with fire. He was licensed out later to a Mr. Napier, but was afte' wards recalled to the homes as lie could not agree with the butler. He had a good conduct report from Mr. Davies, his present employer. The defendant said Goodwin. who had also been an inmate of the homes, had suggested to him that they should" break into the house. The Superintendent said the boy wall aged 17, and if the magistrates would agree to handing him over to him he would see why could bo done. He would also renmd about t47 15s. which the boys had ear nod. Goodwin had joined the Navy, but his parents ob- jected, .and he was of the opinion that the affair would never have happened if it were not for the interference of the parents, which resulted in his leav- ing the service. Mr. Miers spoke kindly to the boy, and pointed out the seriousness of the offence. The boy would have to go back with Supt. Yomig. and 1m> given another chance. Mr. Mi(.i-?s sti?, that the boy should try and join the Navy. He had tried to enlist in the Arir,i as a bandsman but had failed" on account of eyesigh-t. The Superintendent stated that dur- ing 30 years t hese two lads were the- first they had had in the hands of tliet. police.