Welsh Journals

Search over 450 titles and 1.2 million pages

to realise that although the construction costs of a new industry are paid by the company concerned, the resulting costs in the form of increased demand for such things as houses, schools, and roads, have to be borne by the community, this community, because of the journey to work, extending beyond the immediate vicinity of the industry concerned. As important is the realisation which this study brings, that to solve local unemployment problems it is not necessary to attract industry to the town in which the unem- ployment exists. With people now willing to travel further to work, new industry can locate several miles away and still con- tribute to solving the problem. In South Wales as a whole and in the Swansea region in particular, this is important. Sites around the fringes of the coalfield and along the coast have recently proved much more attractive to industry coming to South Wales, than have sites located on the coalfield or in the older industrial areas where the unemployment occurred. The unemployment has been alleviated, however, by the workers being prepared to travel from the latter to the new sites over distances of up to fifteen miles or more. Thus new industry in such places as Swansea and Neath, as is shown by the journey to work figures, is providing employ- ment for workers living in such places as Pontardawe and Llwchwr, or even Ammanford and Ystradgynlais. The point that emerges is that the various local authority areas of the Swansea region are now functionally interdependent. In the past this was true primarily in the field of services, but today this is true of industry and employment as well. Although the study is of academic interest in establishing the pattern of Swansea's links with sur- rounding areas, the results also have real practical implications for those concerned with the future prosperity of the region and its various parts. Notes on some Gower Fossils by T. R. OWEN The GOWER PENINSULA is an excellent area for the student of geology. Magnificent exposures of Carboniferous Limestone occur in the southern portion of the Peninsula whilst the many narrow valleys in the northern part of the area expose sections through the Millstone Grit and the Coal Measures. Fossils occur abundantly in many units of the limestone, but in the overlying Millstone Grit and Coal Measures, these remains of earlier life are restricted to certain bands, which may be only a foot or so in width. This contrast is mainly a reflection of the sharp change in geographical conditions which occurred in the