Pioneer

Rheumatism- Kidney Trouble. I FREE TREATMENT. I Rheumatism is due to uric acid crystals in the joints and muscles, the result of excessive uric acid in the system that the kidneys failed to remove as nature intended, to which every qualified physician agrees, and this acid is also the cause of backache, lumbago, sciatica, gout urinary trouble, stone, gravel and dropsy. The success of Estora Tablets, for the treat- ment of rheumatism and other forms of kidney troutbl, e, is due to the fact that they restore the kidneys to healthy action and thereby remove the cause of the trouble, which necessarily re- moves the ill-effects that spring from it, and have cured numberless cases after the failure of other remedies, which accounts for them fast superseding out-of-date medicines that are sold at a price beyond all but the wealthy and so often fall short of the wonderful claims made that confidence has been lost in them. To prove Estora Tablets fully warrant the is dese,ription--a,n honest remedy at an honest price—one full oox of 40 tablets will be sent to readers of the Pioneer a a free sample on receipt of this notice and 3d. in stamps to cover postage, packing, etc. Sold by chemists, 1/3 per box of 40 tablets, or 6 boxes for 6/9. For full box sample address Estora Co 132 Charing Cross Road, London, W.C. Bargoed and Aberbargoed Agent—W. Parrt Williams, M.P.S., Chemist.

Pay for Overtime, I UNIONS DISLIKE AN ADMIRALTY PRO- I POSAL. The Federation of the Engineering and Shipbuilding Trades last Fridav at Aberdeen discussed the proposal by the Admiralty to prevent unnecessary time being lost, no over- time be paid for unless the standard number of hours each week had been worked, except in cases where time was lost from special causes. A resolution was adopted that the proposal was not calculated to increase output. Recog- nising the necessity of increasing and accelera- ting supplies. of munitions and naval and mer- chant shipping, the delegates agreed to ap- peal to the respective Unions to urge their mem- bers to work full time and to curtail holidays I)e,r, to woj,l? fiill tiin-e qnd to cu rt-ail holidays

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Emrys Hughes' Defence I WILL NOT BE A SOLDIER WHATEVER I THE COST. THANKS MILITARY FOR COURTESY. I We have pleasure in giving a fuller report of the defence of Emrys Hughes in the Court Martial last week than was possible in our last issue. After Captain Oremlyn, the prosecuting coun- sel, had opened the case against him, Emrys Hughes made the following statement: — I am in civil life a school teacher. I and the son of a Nonconformist minister. I am a Socialist; a member of the I.L.P.; Secretary to the Aberdare No-Corweription Fellowship, and a member of the South Wales Anti-Conscription Council. I hold that all war is detrimental to the interests of the working classes. Under these circumstan- ces I appealed under the Military Service Act to the Mountain Ash Local Tribunal. (Here the President interposed that he did not think it necessary they shoud have. all that: but Hughes contended that it formed the background, as it were, of the charge .against him.) I was asked three questions about a newspaper with which I was connec- ted, and none relevant to my appeal. The appeal was dismissed on grounds of insuf- ficient evidence. I appealed to the County Tribunal; they dismissed the appeal. I was arrested and brought before the local magis- trates at the Abercynon Police Court. Sit- ting on the Bench were the Chairman of the Local Tribunal, the Militarv Representative, and another member of the Local Tribunal. I was fined 40/- and costs, to be deducted out of my army pay. I was taken to Cardiff under military escort, together with Smith, Morgan and Kendall. I was taken to the re- cruiting office. A man. whom I have since recognised as Sergeant-Major Ashton, called our names. We replied. "Here, where- upon Ashton said, We'll teach you to say 'Here. sir,' you h- We were then taken upstairs to the stripping room. and courteously gave names, addresses and other partioulars, which were taken down. We were ordered by Sergeant-Major Ashton to strip for medical examination. We refused, there- upon Ashton described us as rf swine." Several times he used indecent language, and urged on several privates in the same way. One of these soldiers said to Smith: Be- fore God. if there were no one else present, I would tear you limb from limb." Major Lucas was sent for. and the situation was explained to him. He told me, "Y ou will have hell at the depot, and will be fed on bread and water." A civilian clerk also insulted us. We were taken in to the doc- tors who were courteous. Major Lucas was present there, and there he was courteous. The doctors said it was a request, not a command. I replied, Without any dis- respect to you personally, I refuse to obev military orders." He pointed out that I was Hable to be shot, and I replied," You can bring in your firing party." He told us to go downstars for half an hour to think the matter over. At the end of that time we saw the doctor again, and explained to him that it was our intention to refuse to obey miltary doctors. Then an armed escort of 16 men, carrying fixed bayonets, escorted us to the depot, where, apart from missing my watch, we have been treated civilly and courteously. Captain Tristram Your watch is being kept safely in the guardroom. Witness: No, sir; the sergtant. of the guard hasn't got it. It is missing: it is not in the guaaxl room. On the 25th we were marched to the recruit- ing office under escort. Ashton again was present, and used abusive language. We were again ordered to strip and attest by Major Lucas. As we were leaving under escort, Sergeant-Major Ashton remarked, "I hope you will get shot." I replied. "We will meet again. Cross-examined* by Captain Oremlyn Your statement is an admission of the charges, barring the third, in which you are accused of using threating language? Do you deny having used the expression If I don't do you in, someone else will do it for me"? Hughes: Most decidedly J do; I never use such Billingsgate. Captain Cremylu: With the exception of that particular charge, you admit that you refused to obey military orders ? Hughes I do. Percy Kendall was called as a witness on behalf of Hughes. Captain Cremlyn pointed out that as E. Hughes admitted the first two charges, it would be necessary for Ken- dall to testify only in regard to the third. Kendall stated that when they were mov- ing away from the recruiting office back to barracks on the 25tli April. Sergeant-Major Ashton called out to the accused, "I hope you will be shot," to which Hughes replied, "Never mind; we shall meet again." Cross-examined by Captain Cremlyn This occurred outside, in the Arcade, and not in the room. He did not hear Hughes say, "If I don't do you in, someone else will." B. W. Morgan (called for the defence) gave the same testimony as Kendall, but ad- ded, after saying that lie had heard Hughes say, We. will meet again." I dfldn't healr- him say anything further. although I was standing only about two yards away. Cross-examined: We were outsid e in the Arcade. I didn't hear Hughes say. If I cannot do you in, someone e lse will." As far as I ain concerned. I am prepared to swear that the words were not used. I am sure that had Ashton spoken with as much force as he did inside. I should have heard him. In his defence Hughes stated: In the first place I should like to thank the Court for the leniency with which I have been treat- ed Not being a lawyer I have felt han- dicapped in defending myself, but I must say that I have been treated with more tol- eration than at the Mountain Ash Tribunal, the Appeal Tribunal, or the Police Court. As to the'first two charges, I admit having disobeyed military authority. I had intend- ed doing so. The inevitable result of Con- scription was to make a soldier of me, but I was not prepared to become a soldier un- der any circumstances whatever. When the law declared I was to be a soldier, I could do nothing but disobey the law. I did so and intend to do so. I am one in a minority: a minority which is unpopular. I am not perturbed about it. In all the war- ring. countries of Europe men of my per- suasion are opposing the military machine. Dr. Liebknecht and his comrades in Ger- many the Socialists in Russia; the Social- ists in Italy; and the minority among the Socialists of France are taking up this at- titude of opposing war. I am talcing the same attitude in this country. I am not go- ing to be a soldier. Whether it means be- ing sent to your prisons; whether it means < ■ v a dank ceft or irons, or any other of the new methods of torture which are being re- vived whether it means being sent to France to be shot for disobeying orders, I etn pre- pared for it. In regard to the third charge against me, the witness Ashton used violent language throughout. The whole atmosphere of the recruiting office was one of bullying and cowardsce. The stripping-room was a den of bullies, blackguards and liars. President: I am not sure whether the two first charges matter more to you than the third. Hughes: The third matters more to me, because it is an attempt to vilify me in the movement with which I am connected. President: Do you deny the charge ? Hughes: I do. Captain Cremlyn (in closing the case for the prosecuiton): The first two charges are admitted by the prisoner, and his own de- fence only confirms the case against him. The Court had a full opportunity of listening to him. He is an educated man, fully aware of what he was saying. He admits to delib- erately attempting to propagate his Socialis- tic and other opinions, even in defiance of the law of the land. With reference to the third charge (of ha- ving said to Sergeant-Major Ashton, "If I don't do you down, someone else will." the last witness (Morgan) declares that he did not hear the words used. it was possible that he could not have heard them. I must ask lie Court to take a serious view of this case. No matter how sincere, how honest, the prisoner might be. these people cannot be allowed to resist the law. because history shows that revolutions are easier to promote than to control; and revolutions had nearly always been promoted by misguided and fanatical people who believed they had a mission to perform.

An Open Letter to Coun- cillor Morgan Jones. Dear Comrade,—As a Socialist and an Anti- Militarist you have long been the special ob- ject of popular fury. You have, since the out- break of war. been subjected ,to the most vile form of persecution, because you have preached the high Pacifist faith, and because of your steadfast adherence to your profound beliefs. This you have borne with singular fortitude and dignity. You have, on more than one occasion, pub- licly declared that you regarded human life sac- redly and therefore could take no part in the prosecution of the wa-r. You have publicly declared that you would rather suffer for prin- ciples that you cherish than for those you de- nounce. Seeing that you have asserted the supremacy of the individual conscience, by maintaining that the individual should at any cost refuse to be coerced by any human authority or Tri- bunal into a course which his own mind con- demns as wrong, your persecutors have regard- ed the Military Service (No. 2) Act as a test of your conviction and of your firm resolve. They have thus committed themselves to the fact, that the noblest service a man can render his generation is a service that he can render only at peril of his life. Most have been satisfied as to your sincerity and determination by the firm stand you have made against an onslaught of grim intolerance. All are now expecting to learn at any mo- ment that you have been arrested, and already those of your traducers who have been most bitter towards you. speak with sympathetic un- derstanding of the position in which your cour- age. your energy and your determination have placed you. When reason was in prison, your steadfast adherence to your profound beliefs brought you persecution; but now that reason is once again free, it has brought you an undying admira- tion. even at this late hour, that steps may be taken by the Government to prevent you being handed over to the Military power. I know that the appalling horror and madness of war is with you day and night like a ghastly nightmare; and I can imagine you. when in the hands of the military authorities, in a living tomb receiving messages from the ghosts of the slain to succour your outraged conscience. Last August, you and I spent a holiday ro- gether, and I vividly remember a grand conversation we had. We sat on a mound un- der the ancient Castle at Criccieth. It was a beautiful da.),-a siinny day—an element that gave us a luxurious appetite for a deep and earnest talk. You spoke of your mission in life—and that mission meant the uplifting of humanity. I asked you about your principles, if adherence to them meant death. Your an- swer was this: -Well, Dai, I do not know what death is-it may be a good thing, and 1 am not afraid of it. Put I do know that it is a bad thing to forsake one's principles, and I prefer what may be good to what I know to be bad." Comrade, you have been true to your word, and we are proud of you. I say we advisedly. Being a young man myself, I move among I young men. I know what they are thinking, and are saying. They rejoice that you have given expression so accurately to their feelings and aspirations. And they represent the Future. Therein lies our hope and justifica- tion You are making^ history. Your plea for edu- cation and for justice, the foundation of friend- ship and love, though it now falls upon a. dark and sleeping world, will be, read in the future by boys and girls, just as Shakespearce is read b, the boys and girls of to-day. You have thrown the seeds of brotherhood and of sound economic principles upon a soil which hitherto has been deemed unfruitful, but the children of to-day and of the morrow will be engaged in the glorious work of har- vesting. They will be astonished at the rich- ness and quantity of the crop. Then will the; visions of the existence of Morgan Jones flash like comets across the skies, when your private opinions and convictions will be the private opinions and convictions of the generations that are to come. Fre this letter appears in the press, you may have been taken from our midst, possibly never to return and if this possibilitv is realised at the hands of Fate, I shall say. "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, Fare thee well, Comrade! Fare thee well! DAVID S. BLATCHFORf). Bargoed, May 15, 1916. [The above letter was received last week. but was "crushed out" at the last moment.—Ed."]

HAVE YOU PAIN ? J. Swift, Attercliffe, Sheffield, says The first dose."gave me great relief. I can confidently say that one box of these prills has done me more good than all the medicine I have taken." Mrs. A. Wilkinson, of Nelson, states: My sister, who suffered from weak kidneys, took one box, and it has done her more good than pounds spent on medical men." HOLDROYD'S GRAVEL PILLS, a positive c?e for Gravel, Pains in the Back, Dropsy, Bright's Disease of the Kidneys, Gout, Sciatica; Is. 3d., all chemists; post free 14 stamps.— HOLDROYD'S MEDTCAL HALL. Cleckheaton.

I Retail Food Prices. I UNITED KINGDOM AT MAY 1, 1916. I Comparison with April 1. tieteil prices of food showed an increase of about 4 per cent in April, says the Board of Trade Labour Gazette. Both beef and mut- ton showed an advance of about 6 per cent, i.e, of from id. to !d per Ib on the average. The decline in the prices of flour and bread recorded last month has been continued to a negligible extent only. Potatoes, which have been hitherto subject to little more than the normal changes in price, show this month an advance of 42 per cent, from an average of 5d per 71bs to over 7d. The increase in the tax on sugar is reflected in a rise in the retail price of about 10 per cent, or td per lb. The average prices of fish, bacon and cheese were slightly higher at May 1 than a month ear- lier. Tea, milk, butter and margarine showed little change in price; apart from an increase from 5d to 6d per quart of milk in a great part of London. The seasonal decline in the price of eggs continued. Comparison with a Year Ago. I As compared with May 1. 1915, the general level of prices showed an increase of about 23 per cent. The increases may be summed up as follows -The prices of sugar and potatoes were about 30 per cent dearer than a year ago. Bacon, milk and tea had risen about 20 to 25 per cent in price; and butter, cheese and eggs 17 or 18 per cmt. Margarine prices showed an advance of 12 per cent; and bread and liour were dearer by 7 and 4 per cent respec-lively on the average. With the recent increase in the tax on sugar the price of granulated si-igar was at May 1 21 times that for July. 1914. British meat had .risen over 50 per cent on the average, imported beef over 70 per cent. and frozen mutton about 80 per cent. The increase in bacon prices averaged 37 per cent. Flour was about 60 per cent and bread 50 per cent dearer than immediately before the war. The increase in tea prices approached 50 per cent, an increase of 9d per lb, 7d of which is owing to increased duty. As a consequence of the large advance in the prices of potatoes during last month < the average price at May 1 exceeded that of July, 1914. by about 47 per cent. Cheese was dearer by about 50 per cent; butter and milk bv 34 per cent. Margarine prices were about 17 per cent higher. The price of fish varied very much in different places, the average nrice being about double that of July, 1914. Eggs are. of course, subject to seasonal fluc- tuations in price and the comparison with the corresponding date a year ago has already been given. Taking the country as a whole, and making allowance for the relative importance of the various articles in working class household expenditure, the average increase in the retail prices of food since the beginning of the war may be put at 55 per cent. This figure relates to food only, and in estimating the in- creased cost of living this percentage must not be applied to the total family expenditure, but atily to that proportion which is expended on food BERLIN IN MARCH. During March an increase amounting to 8 per cent was recorded in the general level of retail prices of certain of the more important. articles of food in Berlin as compared with February; while retail food prices a whole rose to 100.5 per cent above those of July, 1914. In arriving at those results allowance is made for the relative importance of the various articles in working class consumption. As compared with the preceding month re- tail prices showed no change in the case of 7 out of 19 articles in the table, and one even showed a slight fall. There were, however, such marked advances in the prices of meat (beef 29 per cent; mutton 26 per cent; veal 15 per cent; pork 16 per cent). coffee (29 per cent) and potatoes (37 per cent) as to eause the general level of retail food prices to show a, substantial upward movement. As compared with July, 1914. everv article was dearer; the general result shown by the fi- gures being that the retail cost of a fixed scale of food consumption would in March. 1918, have been just over twice as much as in the last month before the war. As an index to the state of food supplies in Berlin, the above figures can only be accepted with reserve. The prices recorded :1'" in several instances maxima, above which retail dealers are not legally permitted tt) charge. Moreover, many articles, e.g. bread, flour, butter, lard, potatoes, may only besold- in strictly limited quantities; while others, such a.? peas and beans, would appear to be unobtainabl at the ordinary shops. For the two last-named articles Berlin quotations have ceased for some months and the figures given in the table are based on the average prices for the remaining towns in Prussia. Lentils would appear to have practically disappeared from the Prussian markets, since no prices are recorded for March, either for Berlin or for Prussian towns generally. VIENNA IN MARCH. In March a searcely perceptible rise (0.1 per cent) was recorded in the general level of retail food prices in Vienna: but in coutfia- rison with July, 1914. that level showed a rise of .110.4 per cent. There are no data as tothe relative importance of the various foods in household consumption iN Vienna, and in com- puting the general index numbers it has been assumed that the same .standard exists there as in Berlin. As compared with February six articles out of the 15 shown in the table were dearer in March in proportions varying from 3 per cent in the case of sugar to 7.8 per cent for pork. These advances were, however, just about bal- anced by decreases in the prices of three articles -bo,con, la.rd and eggs—with the result already stated that the general level showed scarcely any change as compared with February. As compared with the month preceding the outbreak of war, every article in the table ex- cept potatoes was considerably dearer. Rice cost over six times; lard. bacon, margarine and beef over three times; and haricot beans, wheat, flour. pork, butter, eggs and veal more than twice as much as in July. 1914. The officiail returns no longer give the prices of split peas or lentils, and these articles dis- appear from the table; the prices of haricot beans have been substituted in partial (substitu- tion. As an index to the state of food supplies the above figures, like those relating to Berlin, cam only be accepted with reserve, since many of the most essential kinds of Sood—including bread, flour, potatoes, sugar. Tbacon and lard- are no longer sold in a free market.

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