Pioneer

Merthyr Notes i| I Irish Self-Determination League. I At a meeting of the Merthyr and Dowlais branch of the aheve held at the Irish National Forests s' Rooms, Dowlais, on Sunday the fol- lowing resolution was passed: "That we, the members of the above branch, condemn the action of the Government in the suppression of the Irish Press, and at the same time eongra- 1 tulate the Irish people on their admirable re- straint in the face of the strongest provocation of the military authorities." The Berry Institute. I Merthvr Education Authority on Wednesday decided to make application to the Board of Education for permission to proceed at once with the building of the "Herr." Technical School," and to request the Ministry of Health to sanc- tion the utilisation of a portion of Cyfa,rtlifa Park, near the Gwaelodygarth entrance, as a site for t-lie Tlie scheme for the erection of the institute originated with the presenta- tion to tlie borough of £ 20,000 by Mr. H. Sey- mour Berry, Merthyr, to found such a school as a. permanent memorial to his father, the late Alderman J. M. Berry. Donations from other sources briiig the total at the disposal of the education authority fox- the vst.,ifilisliment of the institution to £ 50,000. The war-tank, now oc- cupying the proposed site, will be removed. Messrs. E. Morrell, W. G. Ma:t-.sili, Rhys Elias (director of education) and H. C. Riéhards (arcfaitct) tare to visit English technical schools and to report upon their observations. Overcome by Fumes. I Thomas Worth (57), married, of 19, Sand- street, Dowlais, was overcome by fumes whilst cleaning out tuboj at one of the blast furnaces at the Dowlais Steelworks on Wednesday, and died shortly after admission to the Merthyr General Hospital. Watch Oommittee's New Appointment* I Mr. W. Ptilliblaiik, -Nte-rtliv-r, was appointed I on Monday by the Merthyr Wateli Committee as I their prosecuting solicitor. Director of Education's Salary. I Consideration of an application -for an increase in salary by the Director of Education (Mr. Rhys Elias) was deferred by the Merthyr Edn- cation Committee to the next meeting. &700 for Chief Constable. I Some time ago the Merthyr Watch Committee advanced the salary of the Chief-constable (Mr. J. A. Wilson) to £ 625 a year. At Monday's meeting they were informed by the Home Office that he should be pa-id in accordance with the approved scale, which would give him, having regard to his length of sorvif- t700 per annum. The Home office instructions were accepted. Shop Assistants. I A deputation from the Merthyr branch of the Shop Assistants' Union interviewed the Merthyr Watch Committee on Monday relative to a closer application at Merthyr of the Shops Act. Mr. Hughes, the national organiser, and Mr. Myrddyn Davies, the local secretary, told the committee tha.t there was evidence in Merthvr t-hat the provision in the act for the weekly half- holiday was not carried out strictly and that as- sistants were kept working after the short-day closing hour. The act stipulated that when an establishment w as due to close at one o'clock all employees should he off the premises at 1.3ft, but there were cases of assistants being kept at work until three or four o'clock in the after- noon, though the shop doors had been closed. The deputation asked for the appointment of a shops insj>ector. The committee recommended the union to make complaints, when such cases come to their notice, to the police, who would take action. Education Authority's Condolences. Votes of condolence with the families of the late Mr. T. T. Jenkins, Abcrcanaid, and the late Mr. William Harris, Merthyr, were passed hy the Merthyr Education Authority on Wednes- dav, and tributes were paid by the members to the work of both as educationists.

Briton Ferry Notes Back Again. Two Eerryites and 1.1,. P.orti in the person* of Morgan Jones and Griff Wat-kins are home. on :1. ltolklay from South Africa, Both look well and still retain their independent labour principles. They are both members of the International Socialist League and are statinm-d at Johannes- burg. 7, C. Morris' Visit. 011 Sunday last the I.L.P. gathering ivas ad- dressed by Mr. T. C. Morris is,CR.)at the Bible Christian Chapel, recently purchased by the local ,branch. The speaker gave us a lucid (Continued at foot of next oolumn)

Uantrisant and District Notes, I I Rhiwfelan Hospital. I I i The District Council has decided upon an ex- tension of Rhiwfelan Hospital so as to provide accommodation for cases of scarlet fever a.nd measles and also serious cases of epidemic diarrhoea. The Council is also trying to obtain the use of a room at the Bible Christian Chapel for a clinic. Ystradbarwig-Tynant Road. I The Council has received sanction to raise a loan of -t-t,noo for the construction of a road at Tvnant upon condition that the land in the neighbourhood is included in a Town Planning Scheme; that in providing such a scheme the Council should consider the desirability of an alternative road; that building lines along stich road shall be at least 70 ft. apart, and that the construction of the road be put in hand without delay. District Council Employees. I Although the District Council has joined the South Wales and Monmouthshire Joint Wages Board of Local Authorities, an application by the District Council's employees for an increase of wages due to them under an award of the Joint Board on the basis of what is known as the Stoker Award and whir;h should be retro- spective to June 1st, 1919, has beer, granted re- trospective to July 22nd only. Tlie men are consequently discontented ami are demanding that the Council should honourably abide by the award. Houses and Rent. I The following quotation fi-ol.11 a booklet issued by the Ministry of Health entitled "Housing: Powers and Duties of Local Authorities, might be of interest to all those who are considering what the rents of the new council houses will he when they are built—when! "The local authority in fixing the rents of houses provided by them should aim at securing a rent which will be an economic rent on the probable cost of building in 1927, and as a working rule it is suggested that this should be reckoned at two thirds of the present cost." Some Doubts. I The rents determined by the above principle would, of course, depend upon the cost of build- ing, and would he very high rents—anything from a week upwards, so the writer had some doubts about getting it, and in the follow- ing paragraph he wrote: "It may not always he possible at once to secure a rent in accordance with these principles. The initial rent should, so far as is reasonable, approach the standard stated, and where necessary a progressive in- crease in rent should he effected during the transitional period. In such e?ees it ?-iU be de- ?irahie to ma?e the portion c?r to the tenant at the outset." More Doubts. After writing the second paragraph quoted, the writer appears to be still unsettled in his mind about the rents question, so to fase his mind he wrote a third paragraph, that runs thus: "The local authority should bear in mind what is being paid in the locality for somewhat similar houses which are privately owned and that existing houses are subject, for the time being, to the operation of the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (War Restriction) Acts. If the houses provided by the local authority have superior accommodation or amenity this should justify a higher rental." Now, after all that, can anyone tell us what the rents will be? Ask Your Councillor. The final paragraph on rents runs as follows Before the Ministry of Health finally sanctions :t scheme they require to be informed of the rents which the local auttx-rity propose to charge. The Ministry reserve the right to re- duce the financial assistance given in any case in which they are satisfied that the local author- ity do not charge the full rent which it would be reasonable to obtain." Take The Tip. The rents, jihieh these paragraphs s how it would be reasonable to obtain from the working classes isns milch as every they—the authori- ties—can squeeze out of them. Tin* time to con- cern yourself about the rents of the new houses is NOW, before any housing scheme is finally sanctioned and the rents fixed. See that you're consulted about it.

CORRESPONDENCE i I NO-CONSCRIPTION FELLOWSHIP. I TO THE EDITOR. I Dear Sir,—Four years ago we announced our intention to resist Conscription. We considered that to be our form of service in time of war, and we have never drawn back from that deci- sion. Some of us resisted because we believed the method of war was wrong, others because we held that Conscription was an unlawful exercise of state power and would be a betrayal of the free traditions of our country. All of us hoped that we might prove willing to sacrifice as much in the cause of the world's peace as our fellows were sacrificing in the cause of the nation's war. We have followed many different lines of policy, but all of us—members of the Noji-C-ortt- batant Corps, those who undertook work of na- tional importance, Home Office men and Absolu- ti,t,s-liave done what we could to prove the sin- cerity of our opinions and give'evidence of our citizenship. We are now united by the test of suffering. We have always asserted that our resistance to the Military Service Acts was but an incident in a life of service to the community, but it could not be expected that attention would be paid to our statements when nations were blinded by the agony of war. To-day it is differ- ent. and we shall fall short of our ideal if, for any reason, now that we are free men, we do not attempt to make clear to the world the meaning of the faith for which we have suffered. It is not for us to estimate the greatness of our achievement. We are proud that we had the chance of remaining loyal to our belief in liberty and goodw ill amongst the peoples of all nations, but we dare not rest content with what we have done. Many of us feel that, now the struggle is over, we must return to other organisations to which we owe allegiance, and carry on our work through their agency; others, to whom the Fel- lowship has given a new hope of social service, desire to continue its work. Whatever may l>c our plans for the future, we owe it to each other and to the community we wish to serve ?t,)jat we .should re-unit? in this dosing scene of our struggle. This will take the form of a National Conven- tion in London on November 29th and 30th. Clifford Allen will again preside and many dis- tinguished men and women;, who have taken part in the struggle for peace and liberty during the war, will speak at its different sessions. Amongst those who have already consented are: Rev. Dr. John Clifford, G. D. H. Cole, George Lansbury, J. Ramsay Macdonald, Rev. Dr, F. B. Meyer, Lord Parmoor, Hon. Bertrand Russell, Robert Smillie, Philip Snowden, Mrs. H. M. Sw anwick.. Many others have been in- vited, and w e hope to have representatives from other countries. There have been few organisations with a history such as ours, that has combined so much of adventure, joy and suffering. May we, who have been its officers, appeal to all who have at any time been associated with the Fellowship not to keep apart from each other, but to com- municate at once either with their Branches or with Ernest E. Hunter, secretary, at 5 York Buildings, Adelphi, W.C.2., who will forward all information as to the Convention. CLIFFORD ALLEN, Chairman. BERTRAXD RFSSKLL, Ex-Acting Chairmal1 ALFRED SALTER, Acting Chairman. EDWARD GRF BB, Hon. Treasurer. A. FENNER BROCKWAY, Hon. Secretary. CATHERINE E. MARSHALL, Ex-Actitig Hon. Secretary. 5 York Buildings, Adelphi, Lohdon W.C.2., September 25th, 1919.

Mr. Abletts Ticket. I T.V.R. OOMPANY PROSECUTE MERTHYR I MINERS' ACENT. CASE DISMISSED. I Mr. Noah Ablett, the Merthyr miners' agent, appeared before the Merthyr Stipendiary (Mr. R. A. Griffith) on Tuesday in answer to a sum- mons for travelling on the Taff Yale Railway between Pontypridd and Pentrebaeh on August 27th without having previously paid his fare and with the intent to avoid payment." The ease was dismissed without any evidence, other than Mr. Ablett's explanation, being called for the defence. Mr. Hugh Ingledew, Cardiff, prosecuted, and Mr. E. Roberts, Dowlais, defended. Charles Attwell, Penarth, junior guard on the tjain, who assisted in collecting tickets at Pen- trebach, said tlia-t Mr. Ablett handed him a "Merthyr to Cardiff" single ticket. Witness then eaUecl the. ticket collector. On his arrival next day at Merthyr he was met by Mr. Ablett who, after broaching the question of the ticket dispute, remarked, "I want now to pay the money from Cardiff to Pentrebaeh to save any fuss and bother." This Attwell declined. Cross-examined witness stated that in the same compartment as defendant were three Taff Yale. Railway employees. The ticket tendered by Mr. Ablett was a single ticket, and not part of a return ticket. At first he had mistaken it for the forward half of a return ticket. Stanley Thomas Lewis, Abcrcanaid, the ticket collector at tlie Pentrebaeh Station, stated that defendant had declared to him that the booking- clerk in Merthyr had issued him two single tickets to Cardiff in mistake for the payment of the fare from Cardiff was met by a refusal from Mr. Ablett who, producing a platform ticket issued at Pontypridd, said he had only come from that town. Defendant offered the fare from Pontypridd. Neither of the two tickets bore punch marks. In reply to Mr. Roberts, Lewis admitted that the crux of the dispute whether the fare from Cardiff or Pontypridd should be paid. Mr. Roberts: If he had given the fare from Cardiff you would have been satisfied and nothing more would have been heard of the matter ?—Yes. Stipendiary: If the defendant had been tra- velling from Cardiff t-o Pentrebath the ticket would have been punched?—At Cardiff, Y'es, sir. But lie had told me he had. I asked him that question. Mr. Roberts: I put it to you that he said nothing of the kind. Don't you mean Mr. Ab- lett told you lie had travelled from Merthyr to Pontypridd ?—It was upon this information I re- fused payment from Pontypridd. PUBLIC EASILY CONFUSED. Frank Stephens, chief booking clerk at the Merthyr Terminal Station, was next called. Mr. Ingledew (tendering the ticket): Is this what you call a 'duplex-ticket? '—I don't know what you call it. Double-sided tickets they are. Ij (Laughter.) Witness proceeded that the single fare to Car- diff from Mrthvr was 2/11, and the return fare 5/ Thus had two single tickets been issued instead of a return ticket there would have been a. mistake of lOd. in his casli receipts. The takings for that day were correct. TTie travel- ling public might easily he confused about these duplex tickets. Mr. Roberts: Assuming by mistake the wrong half would have been given up in Cardiff would it be permissable, to return w ith the outw ard half: The ticket collector should take particu- lars of it and rel)ort. If a passenger takes a ticket for a journey actually longer than that which he takes can he make an application for a refund.-—Yes. So Mr. Ablett in travelling to Pontypridd and back actually paid the railway company hI. more than they are entitled to?— Y es William Carey, a mineral guard, said that Mr. Ablett joined the train at Pontypridd. Defend- ant did not tell the ticket collector that he had travelled from Merthyr to Cardiff. He told him lie left the train, at Pontypridd on business, and was held up, so that he could not go to Cardiff. I WHAT MR. ABLETT DID. Mr. Roberts submitted that the prosecution had failed to produce sufficient evidence to prove that there was any intent on the part of Mr. ■Ablett to avoid paying his fare and that, ac- cordingly, then1' Was mo case to answer. Stipendiary: f think there are certain fea- tures in the case which Mr. Ablett should ex- plain ioll his own interest. Mr. Ablett then entered the Witness-box and, in evidence, stated that travelling to Cardiff two or three times a week he usually took a re- turn ticket, as it meant a saving of lOd. on each journey. On August 27th 'he was required at Pontypridd a w itness in a police-court prose- cution in which Mr. Atrhur Horner, a check- weigher Thes.amottay he was due at Cardiff 14 it a meeting of the board of governors of the Central Lahour Col- lege. Mr. W. W. Craik, acting principal of the vol lege, who w a s In-ISO, expected at the Cardiff L- meeting, had been staying overnight with him at Merthyr. It was Mr. Craik who hooked the- tickets that morniing, and on receiving his ticket from Mr. Craik, he (Mr. Ablett) did not examine- it before pocketing it as he was engrossed in a newspaper. The Pontypridd police-court ease was not reached until after lunch, and at its. conclusion he had an appointment, arranged by Mr. A. P. Yates, editor of the Pioneer," with an American lady journalist, Miss Hunt, who. wished to interview him on the industrial situa- tion in England. He accompanied her to the Pontypridd railway station platform, and Mr. Horner who followed purchased platform tickets. for each of them and handed one to him (defen- dant). The train he intended taking to Cardiff passed through whilst he was conversing with the journalist, and the interview finished, he found it too to proceed on his journey to. Cardiff. So he got into the train for Merthyr. It was only when lie sa-w Mr. Craik that night at home that he knew that the ticket was a. single. Hitherto he had been under the impres- sion that his friend had taken a return and tendered him merely the outward portion instead of thf whole. Stipendiary: Did you tell the collector you. had not been to Cardiff?—V es. I said: 'Hi is. is all out\yanl btlf of a return ticket. Will it do i 1 lie guard was undecided himself and replied, I will see whether it will do or not." Lewis, the collector, demanded the full payment from Cardiff and on my refusal demanded my name and address, 1 wrote it at once in his, book. ACTED HONESTLY," SAYS STIPENDIARY Cross-examined, Mr. Ablett said t-hat he did not hand over his ticket at the exit at Ponty*- pridd station because he was not asked for it. After hearing Mr. Ablett's explanation, Sti- pendiary dismissed the summons. His Worship said The essence of this charge is the intent to avoid payment, [t is not enough to prove, that the defendant travelled without a ticket. In order to succeed the railway company mut, prove that the passenger tried to get iLA-ay without payment and they must prove some facts from which we can infer intent to avoid payment. We are Iwrfectly satisfied, and every- one who lias heard the evidence must be satis- fied, that Mr. Ablett did not travel to Cardiff tlikt day. He broke his journey for the reasons gi ven—and very good .reasons, too, they ar(,-at Pontypridd. He teHs us that he was under the impression that his friend, Mr. Craik. had raised a return ticket for'him that morning, and some time later he found he had only got half of some ticket or other. Them he asked Will that do?" This is proved h- the witnesses called 1.0r the pr0-.ecition themselves and must be accepted by them as the truth. The gist of the whole matter is that Mr. Ablett told the col- lector, Lewis, that he had not been further than. Pontypridd, and he offered to pay his fare from that place. Mr. Ablrtt acted honestly and in perfectly good faith. The whole of this trouble arose from this unfortunate practice of issuing half-tickets which anyone might mistake for the half of a return ticket. I strongly recommend the return by the railway company to the prac- I tice of issuing full sized tickets whether they be single tickets or return tickets.

I Steei Strike. This week there has been, some progress in no-, jgotiations relative to the strike of the skillets steel tradesmen at Dowlais, Ebbw Yale and Tre- degar, but though hopes of an early compromis:> are entertained nothinn: tangible is Vet apparent. The workmen's executive had a conference on Saturday at Cardiff and word was received from the Eastern Valley* that an effort was beting made to keep the steel workers there at work for another week on the uuderstoot tpromise of a £ 4. 12s. ()fL a week wage. This wage is that asked by the Dowlais, Ebbw Yale and Tredegar mefi as a condition for resuming work pending a joint conference on the original demand for a. t,- flat-rate. The delegates of the Eastern Yalley- workers poinited out at the interview with Mr.. J. C. Davies (manager) at the Panteg Steel- works, where the offer to the Monmouthshire men was made, that the workers in the West W a les area had recei ved i)N recent -arbitration £ 1 17s. 6d. a week. The Cardiff conference agreed to allow the Eastern Yallevs men, whose notices terminated last Saturday, to carry on for this week on the t.t. 12s. 6d. standard. Mr. Tom Phillips, of Messrs. Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds (Ltd.) and secretary to the South Wales and Monmouthshire Iron and Steel- masters' Association, was present at the Panteg interview and he has since hastened into a re- pudiation of the state-ment that the men iu the- Kastern Valleys are continuing work on the basis of £ 1 12s. tkl. The men. he says, are proceeding under the old conditions. However, there is considerable optimism that the Fa stern Valleys workers will gain the :£-1 12s. 6d. standard and this granted it ii-ilill be difficult for the Dowlais. Ebbw V ale and Tredegar owners to persist in* their antagonism.. Conferences of the employers have been hcl'5 but no official reports issued.

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address reminding us of "the line solidarity of the railwaymen as evidenced in. the recent strike. The manner in which the men in a body "downed tools" as the hour of 12 o'clock struck was, he sa,id, an event never to he forgotten. He spoke of the Trades Congress as an obsolete- body. They met and passed resolutions, but Governments did not mind that. What they feared was ac- tion—industrial and political. Mr. Morris pro- phecies a general election for January, 1920.