A VALLEY OF STARVATION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14452, 26 May 1911, Page 3

A VALLEY OF STARVATION.

lit OX Y OF THE 'JEFF VALE.. COAL STRIKE. • ls a general impression outs.de South \Yalo« (says a Cardiff re port oi 3lny 30) that ono of tlie yhings to be found in large quantities iu South AVulcs is coal. Hie impression deepens as one approaches Cardiff and' Glamorganshire, and becomes a conviction eta ralsinc a. lide up the U'aff Valo lino' to t-ho irnn.'l'n M , <""> l«gil)S tO wonder rather whether there is anything in • Glamorganshire but coal, and the apparent abundance of it is borne l m „1 y V s ™ orn "'e's news that tho in" ° ardj,f boom15' , nlore slu p s al '° required just now to cle.ir tho coal nwav. „ els . so milch coal about that sou see armies of men uj> t'he vall<»v« with coal-blacked faces; and vet there is one spot Hi South Wales where coal arc reduced to stealing it m order to make a. bit of a fire at home to warm their chikji'en't,

lliat spot is the Mid Ithondda Valley around lon-y-paudy, and the men J &t<Hac tho coal iiro not g;nsies or tramps, but men who havo worked ~ , lr ' l , v<?s i ll tio mines' above wlncli they live. . mirnoci' oi' these coal enatchers VJ in ' ld oI e ? al were prosecuted at 1 orth tn-day lor stealing coal irolu one of tho naval pits at Pcn-y-rnait-' where the iai>t of tho Ton-y-pandy riots occurred. It was said that fiicy broke open some shed doors to (ret the coal, and that their depredations were becoming a nuisance. They were fined 15a each for tho offence. ihey were some of tbe men who are on strike.

Iho strike .at tfic Cambrian Combine pits has lioiy lasted nearly live months, ana there is no prospect of a settie"!e,nt-. .'■ rJle owners to-day told .Mr Askwitli m Londun, 60 ive hear, that they are not prepared to ro-open negotiations unless the men have nc.nle modi ncation of their demands to offer. as , w<J , ca ! l gather, there is no likelihood .of t'he strikers agreeing to any such modification Five months' privation doe.s not seem to June shaken them :i jot on the point, and so the strike on, J. lie pits are stili picketed by police, am. some of the soldiers reimiin in then- temporory barracks overlookim: the power-house which -eras the scene oi the early riots. Neither aide budges an inch. and tlieie is talk of th-0 elriko goinu; on now until summer. Tiio onlv real result of it seems to be that it*is gradually driving the population awnv, and reducing tfio fanuhes by line degrees or privation to a state of poverty and bitter want.

1 sat in the school-liouse of Trinitv Uiapel to-day and saw men, women', and.' children file by for the receipt or a four-pound toaf, a pound 1 of sugar, two ounces of tea, ana a quarter of a pound of butter.

Nine lumdre<l families were relieved bomo of the tradesmen, I was told) flip all but ruined. Others have •pLled up liabilities by hundreds pf pounds by giving credit, and will not see their money for years, if ever One striker told me to-dav that ho already lias debts at one shop v hic-h "Will take him four years to pav suppling he gets work again, and ho is or half niind to omigrala rather than j await tli6 strike's problematical end. The etrike has lasted su long, and prH'ation has become so accustomed that the valley talks and thinks of otlj-er things -when it can. Vou can visit the picture palace* in Ton-y----pandy for a pouny, and many a peniiv purchases such forget-fulness, or vou can listen to tho nr.'zo band as' it inarches up the town street briivolv blaring its trumjMta. Tho shops are "Pen, and in tlio evening ilio street is thronged with many a ohoc-rful f nre ' lou can tear folk singing t »? r - pl S ct,sl^ B choruses from J aust :n the schoolroom. Ton-y-pandy is attempting to tliat it is half starved, l m t it is Qf starved or whole starved, neverthele-.s