The Amman Valley Chronicle and East Carmarthen News

rt. n d. I I Christmas Puddings, j i About 12,500 tons of currants, raisins, and sultanas will be released this month. The currants and raisins are due first, the sultanas following towards the end of the month. Shopkeepers will receive stocks in proportion to past sales, and will be expected to distri- bute them fairly among their customers at the fixed prices. There would be enough fruit for three-quarters of a pound per head were it not that some goes to cake manufacturers.

POLITICS FOR WOMEN. I By WOMAN VOTER. I Strange as it may appear, I find there are only two political organisations that have prepared what can be termed a real woman's programme. Tiie.,e. are the Women z Party and the National Party. They both promise whote hearted support to Mr. Lloyd George in his campaign for victory. They both claim that only Britons of Jon g-stan rI i r] g- British descen t and of wholly British connections shall lIe allowed to take public offices. On there points they deserve the entire support of women voters, as in my opinion this J8 one of the first things to secure in order to bnng- about the numerous reforms which are essential to the well-being of the iiiti,ir, Where the fwo programmes differ is that the National Party demands first and foremost, that no political organisation bo allowed to keep secret the wiiirce from which it derives its fii iids. Ilow can au organisation honestly demand a real British policy when fereigncrs. and very often enemies, con- tribute iargely to its maintenance. There- fore, ever y woman should demand before giving a vote to any candidate that the organisation tlie candidate represents should publish a complete, audited balance-sheet, showing whence it derives ii.s financial sup- port. It is quite obvious that the only reason foT not, doing- thH IS the fear of ex- posing an ;ilien somce of wealth There are severa l other questions which women should ask candidates lielore giving them their vote I have prepared twelve questions, but mn n Iraid there is not suffi- cient tjpace to give t-hesn all this week. The following five are the most important, for which you should demand satisfactory answers: 1. If elected, will you promise to support the employment in ill I?itl)lic positions only of persons both of whose parents are British born citi'^ens. and who if married, are mar- ried to persons who are British born citi- zeus? 2. Are you in favour of stringent immi- gration laws, so as to restrict the inflow of aliens and undesirables from abroad? 3. Are you in favour of women being paid the same rate as men for the same work? 4. If elected, will you promise to support legislation which has for its objects the abolition of secret party I midland the sale of honours? 5 Do you favour a minimum wage in all industries and. if so. how do you propose to maintain a minimum wage under a free im- port system? It will be exceedingly interesting to note what answers the various candidates will give to these questions. To turn for a moment to the more or less domestic questions. I find that my very numerous correspondents generally agree on tho following points:— 1. We must secure adequate housing on lines approved by competent women, cheaper electrit system for heating,* lighting, and for the reducing of household and agricul- tural labour. 2. That food should he cheapened by pro- viding better and cheaper distribution, both by canals and railways. 3. Provision should be made for public washhouses and creches. 4. A Health Minister with a proper repre- sentation of women, and the medical insur- ance scheme should be thoroughly over- hauled. 5. That the licensing trade should be en- couraged to reform the public-houses, and to conduct them in a manner that they can be used without shame "by both men and women, and that only pure beer and other drinks should be allowed to be sold. Of course, many women support the soheme of prohibition, personally, I prefer public-houses to be so conducted that they provide' for the working-clausees a decent and comfortable meeting place,, similar to the clubs which are patronised by the more well-to-do. Next week T hope to deal with, and reply to, some of the question* addressed to me by xeadess of tbo* articles. -'r"

Underground War. [By W. O. MALYN, D.C.M.] I went into a world the other day where no shells, bursting high or bursting low, can have any effect upon our men who live there. No German barrage can put the wind up," because in this world there is no wind. Visibility may be good or bad, but the enemy has no observation here, though he is on the top all "he time. I went out into No Man's Land beyond o; lines, and was as safe as being at home, l:hf.j{jh only a few yards away from the enyny s outposts. For this world into which I wei- leaving the blue of the sky and the noise of things that go off sud- denly, was deep underground. it is a place of long galleries 60 feet below the outside earth, in which one may walk for hours and hours and not comr to the end of them, In writing of my own exploits with a Tunnelling Company of the Engineers, I must comment on the excellent work done by the Welsh miners from the various coalfields of South Wales; hard, tough fellows with a special code of their own as regards their nays of discipline and work, but experts at their job and with all their pride in it, and a courage which would frighten the devils oi heii if they happened to meet in the dark. When they first came over with their plant, the Germans were mining actively under our lines, and blowing up our infantry in the trenches. It was the worst terror of the war before poison gas came, and i used to pity our poor oiheers and men who knew, and hated to know, that the enemy was sapping his way under thc.n, and that at any moment they might be buried in a crater or hurled sky-high. It is many months now since the enemy's mining activities were reported in our communiques. They were beaten out of the field by Engk-.n, Welsh, and Australian miners, who tought the Germans back under- ground from gallery to gallery, blowing them up again and again whenever they drew near, and racing them for the possession of the leads whenever they tried to regain part of their destroyed systems. The Welsh tunnellers had a race with the German then, and the lives of many men depended on their speed. They could hear r im tamping or charging the mine, but they drove in at three times his speed—when they are all out they can do this every time-—blew in the ends of one of his galleries, and then broke through his timber into the tunnel. The dash through with rifles and revolver was an exciting adventure. The enemy had escaped, but their system was destroyed before they could touch off their mines. The Gnriswae know now that they are beaten underground, aid it is an honour of which the W dsh miners may well be proud of. It gives one an uncanny feeling to walk through this subterranean world. It reminded me of the Time Machine," by H. G. Wells, where the traveller in the fourth dimension goes down the shaft and discovers the underground people, and hears the throb of mighty engines and feels the touch of soft bodies in the darkness. It was dark in the beginning of the tunnels and down some or the galleries running out to the fighting points, and men pressed against the chalk walls to let us pass, and I heard their breath, and sometimes there was the clank of steel hat against steel hat here and there. For 500 yards or so the tunnel roof was so low that we had to walk half doubled, and even then hit one's head sharply against the timber props. A candle held by the man in front was the only light in the darkness, but pre- sently the underground world became more spacious, and lightened. A tall man could walk upright, and long galleries were lit by bulbs of electric light. On each side of the galleries were rooms carved out of the chalk. They were fur- nished with wooden tables and benches, and the miners were playing cards there. A foggy smell and a dampish mist crept towards us, and my guide said, There are a good many men' hereabouts." Through holes in the chalk walls i looked into caverns where men lay asleep in bunks. The voices of men yawning and humming, and the echo of whistling came through chinks in the chalk to the silence of the galleries. Later on, after much more walking, there was a queer throb- bing and whirring, and in a big vault was a power house with three electric engines provid- ing the light of the galleries. Not far away was a room from which a fierce heat came and a smell of good food cooking. It was the kitchen, with big stoves and ovens, where meals were being cooked by sweltering men within a few yards of the front line trenches. In a little while ? big electric fan would blow a draught through the kitchen and take away the heat. In other rooms were field dressing stations, and we came to a subway with trolley lines, down which the wounded are brought from the battlefield up above, so that there is none of that stumbling and drooping and danger of death on the way as when stretcher bearers have to carry men over shell cratered .land and down narrow trenches under fire. The roofs of the tunnels were richly coloured with a reddish fungus, which hang. down like stalactites. Listening to the Ger- mans, we went deeper down and further for- ward. In one room men were listening like telephone operators, but the instrument to their ears tells stranger tales than those that travel along overhead wires. They were listening to the sounds of German life in other tunnels like these the sound of men walking and talking and. filling sand bags and moving timbers. The listeners are so expert that they can tell by the nature of sounds exactly what the enemy is doing through a chalk wall 70 feet thick. Their knowledge of enemy life is so exact by this means that, when they captured some of his galleries, they found them exactly as they had mapped them out beforehand by the indications of sound. Presently we went into one of the_ fighting points driven out beyond the lateral galleries, and my guide said: Here we will be quiet, because we don't want the enemy to get suspicious. We are now out in No Man's Land." It was a safe and pleasant way of wandering into No Mar's Land. The war seemed to be a world away. It was only some hours later, after a good lunch with good fellows in the bowels of the earth, when we came up to the surface and saw the sky again and the dreary waste of the battle, field, and heard the cry and crash of scattered shells, that we remembered our whereabouts and this business above ground. The Welsn miners played a gallant part in driving the enemy from Nlesfiines Ridge. It is a strange life in this modem world below the fields of death, and there is a sinister purpose at the end of the tunnels. But these men, by their toil and courage with picks and explosives and listening insfrUflnenis, have saved the lives of many hundreds of British soldiers, and long after the war is finished this underground world of theirs will remain as a memorial of splendid labour.

) I Our Poultry Column. i I UTILITY DUCKS. I Those who have a farm or any land could take up almost any breed of ducks with suc- I cess. It is often said when it is raining, Nice weather for voung ducks," and yet it is the worst thing they can have. Although these birds will stop on a pond all night and never take any harm, yet they need a dry soil and comfortable surroundings if they are to succeed. Where the soil is heavy, wet, or clayey, they soon tread the grass down so that it becomes a quagmire, and no bird or animal can thrive under such conditions. Con- tinual rain is bad for young ducks, for they soon get cramp, and unless moved at once on to a dry place, they get past recovery and are best killed. The usual duck for the farm is the Aylesbury, though any white duck goes under this name, whether they are pure or cross-breed. An Aylesbury duck should have a pure white plumage, with a long body and head, flesh coloured bill and pale orange legs. The skin will be white, and when properly red the flesh also white and soft, with fine pit holes in the skin where the feathers come out. To produce the best results for table, use an Aylesbury duck and Pekin drake, while for the next year you can save some young ducks for breeding, but be sure to get i a pure-bred drake again, no matter if an Aylesbury or Pekin. A continuance can be made with young ducks every year, bul change the drake round, Pekin one year, Aylesbury the next, and so save the expense of buying a lot of fresh stock every season. For the heavy breeds, use one drake to every three ducks, though for the lighter varieties you can use four or even five ducks. Where there is a liking for more colour, the Rouen is an ideal bird. In shape, size and character they are just like the Ayles- bury, but the colour is varied, with several shades in the drake and two rich shades of brown in the ducks, the one being a special pencil mark running all round the feather and up the inside of the shaft. When bred up to the ideal standard they make a pretty pic- ture, and look particularly handsome when out on a pond in the sunlight. The drakes have a colouring of their own, and the metallic blue on the wing, together with the claret neck and breast, forms a striking con- trast to the grey of the under body. They can be made as big as the Ay lesbury, although as a general run they are not bred to this standard. Having a dark plumage, the spin looks dark when plucked, and yet they always sell well in the shops. The flavour is rather more gamey than the Ayles- bury, and they grow fast; hence the young- sters can soon be turned into money. Those who are wanting duck eggs at once should keep the Indian Runner, many of these turning out up to 120 eggs in the year. It is not much for table, being too small, though the quality of the flesh is good. When crossed with a heavier variety like the Burl Orpington, they maintain their laying quali- ties, and yet turn out much belter for table. Even a cross of this kind will not produce a bird like the Aylesbury, but it is useful where a man wants a bird for both purposes and cannot keep a big stock. One great advan- tage with the Runner is that they are small feeders, and yet, when giving a lot of eggs, they are profitable to keep. The Buff Orpington is a very nice all- round duck, for it has a unique colour, and will lay as well as the Runner, and yet make a better table bird. Of course, one cannot get big weights from them, but they shew a plump breast and easily come up to 4 lbs. weight when given suitable food. Another great advantage is that the Buff can be bred on an ordinary grass run without swimming water, providing they have been reared in this way. When put up like this with four ducks, they have turned out 90 per cent. of the eggs fertile. The colour fades a bit in the sun, but when kept for utility this is a point to be considered. Another good duck is the Cayuga, but being black in plumage; they do not go ahead. In shape they are like the Aylesbury, and nearly if not quite as heavy, while the flavour is more like the wild duck, hence more appreciated in the stately homes of England. j

To POULTRY KEEPERS. Give Your lIENS SPICK GRIT, The New Shell Grit. Sold by all Corn Dealers. Write for samples and name and. address of nearest Agent. SOLE MANUFACTURERS: LIVERINE LIMITED, GRIMSBY.

END OF CONSCRIPTION. The Secretary of the Local Government Board and Ministry of National Service make the following announcement:— The Government has decided that all recruiting under the Milfkry Service Act is to be suspended. All outstanding calling-up notices, whether for medical examination or ser- vice, are cancelled. All cases pending before tribunals should be suspended.

II Tile Soya! Engineers ¡ WELL may the Sappers" claim that tliey-lili-le the Gunners whose I motto they share—can "go anywhere 0 ;5 < and do anything." Bridging rivers while the enemy shrapnel whips the current into foam working railways while the Hun night-bombers hurl down I death from the clouds repairing the shell-strewn roads tunnelling deep through darkness and danger to lay their deadly mines far down in the bowels of the earth; and fighting-fighting with rifle and bti-onet and pick in many a desperate encounter-that has been the task of the Royal Engineers. i Lend them a hand. Every War Savings Certificate you buy does something to lessen their peril, to lighten their toil, to shorten the I War and to bring nearer that Victorious Peace which is your heart's desire—and theirs Keep on buying War Savings Certificates War Savings Certificates cost 15/6 Post Office, Bank or Shopkeeper each. Their value in five years' time acting as Official Agent. will be bleach. This is equivalent to If you have not yet joined a War compound interest at 5t per cent. Savings Association it is your free of Income Tax. patriotic duty to do so. Apply to You can get your money back in full the Secretary of your local War at any time with any interest which Savings Committee, or write to the is due. You can buy War Savings National War Savings Committee. Certificates from any Money Order Salisbury Square, London, E.C. 4.

The Premier and Mr. Tovin Jones. Mr. J. Towyn Jones, M.P., has received the following letter from the Prime Minister:— 10, Downing Street, Whitehall, S. W. 1, 7th November, 1918. My dear Towyn,—From my heart I wish you every success at the coming Election as the Coalition Candidate for the Llanelly Parliamentary Division of Carmarthenshire. I cannot forget the debt 1 owe you for the invaluable assistance you rendered me åt my first election in the Carnarvon Boroughs- assistance which in no small degree contri- buted to my entry into Parliamentary life. Your Liberalism has always been un- questioned, and has been, and now is, of the soundest character. Before and since you became a member of the House of Commons, youi support of Liberal principles has never swerved, and the work you have done for Wales has been of the utmost possible valu° to our beloved country. From the opening of this great war you have done everything ir. your power to forward its vigorous prose- cution to a successful issue, and the help you have given has materially aided the Govern- ment of the day. And from the time when, on my recommendation, you became a mem- ber of the Government, 'he diligence and enthusiasm with which, you have pursued the best interest of the nation have not been ex- celled. Circumstances may make it impossible for me, as I had fully intended, to visit the con- stituency on your behalf before the Election, but I have every conifdence that the members of the Liberal Association of the Llanelly Division will select you as their candidate, as you have never embarrassed the Government' during a period of unexampled difficulty and anxiety for everybody, when a Prime Minister has the right to expect not only help from his friends and fellow-countrymen, but also the goodwill of every loyal and patriotic citizen, who places the welfare of his country and the world above personal aims and ambi- *ions. I am sure yovir unfailing fidelity to your Parliamentary duties and your willingness at all times to sacrifice yourself for the sake oi your country and people, democracy and humanity, will be remembered to your credit on the day of the poll.-Ever sincerely, I (Signed) D. LLOYD GEORGE.

"For the Blood is the Life. If it is any such Disease Eczema, &rofula, Bad Leg;, I Sa C ?l?o€M6<, Ulcers, 6'?<K?M?a?' B as 5'M?M?N?, Boils, Pimples, ?o/'e? E and Eruptions, Piles, Rheumatism, S Gout, $e., don't waste your time and B money on lotions and ointments B which cannot get below the surface of the skin. What you want and what you must have is a medicine that will I thoreughly free the blood of the poison- ous matter which alone is the true cause of all your suffering. Clarke's Blood Mixture is just such a medicine. It is composed of ingredients which quickly attack, overcome and expel the im- purities from the blood, that is why so many truly wonderful curea stand to its credit. Over f/ccesl f TAKE TAKE Pleasant Plea*s\ ant /C!arke's? -? ? Blood 1 ? Mixture Ml Sold by all Che?s? ?AND BE CURED.  ? I and Stores, Refuse AN EVERYBODY'S I Substitutes. BLOOD PURIFIER." ■

WEIGH YOUR COAL RATION. With the approach of frosty weather, householders will have to tighten up their coal consumption and fix in their minds the exact proportion of fne-ir twelve months' ration they will allocate for daily consump- tion. It has been found that in the great majority of households the winter consumption (November to April inclusive) is twice' as much as the summer consumption (May to October). It is the patriotic duty of every- one to burn less than their rations, as even in the event of an armistice with Germany being signed, there will be little or no alleviation of the serious coal shortage for many months. The best method to ensure keeping within the coal ration is to -weigh it daily. At any rate, every householder should weigh the contents of the kitchen and other coi l scuttles, and find out how they can be adjusted to the daily ration. It should be borne in mind that broken coal occupies about 11 times the space of large lumps, i.e., a scuttle contain- ing 12 lbs. of large coal will hold 18 lbs. of small coal. One pound of solid coal is a little less than the size of a man' s fist, and should keep an average fire alight for about an hour.

Liver Trouble Is the cause of much suffering. Headache, Biliousness, Constipation, Sour Stomach, Indigestion, Flatulency. Wind, Despondency, and much Ner- vous Excitement follows derangement of the Liver. lff'Z-w T??'???'??'? HUGHES' BLOOD PILLS Have a most beneficial and immediate effect upon the Liver, though acting upon and eradicating every vitiating elements from the Blood which cir- culates through it. NOTE.—Bad Blood disturbs the action of every Organ in the Body. I have euf- vfta feted agonies from Lumbago or Rheumatism in my Back and Limbs, a I so A In Piles. Hughes's Blood Pills cured me in a Jgp, Y M] short time. Also J ji™ my wife from Headache aad Mf £ j Liver Trouble." The People from all parts testify to the wonderful power of these Pills in restoring sufferers from Skin Disease, Rheumatism, Backache, Constipation, Piles, Skin, Liver, Stomach and Kidney Troubles. TRY THEM. They will soon prove their great value. Sold by Chemists and Stores at 1/3. 3/ 5/- (including War Tax). Ask for HUGHES' BLOOD PILLS with the tra de mark —s h ape of a heart, 4 ':7n-fS t h us— Take no ot her, or L sen d va l ue in stamps or P. O. to— W JACOB HUGHES, M.P .S., L.D.S. MANUFACTURING CHEMIST, PENARTH, Cardiff.