Welsh Journals

in a Bill to be introduced at the commencement of the next Parliamentary session. So far as we are aware no organised effort has been made to bring to the notice of the Govern- ment the claims of Wales to special treatment, and we fear that in this as in various other matters which vitally affect the interests of the Principality Welsh interests will again be ignored. It seems probable also that the Welsh National Health Insurance Commission will be merged in the English organisation, and that no separate Welsh department of the Ministry of Health will be established. Have the Welsh Members of Parliament no proposals to submit to the authorities on the subject? County In response to the recent circular on Councils rural development sent out by the and Rural Minister of Reconstruction, the Devon Development County Council, through its War Agri- cultural Committee, is taking sreps to investigate rural conditions with a view to the fuller develop- ment of rural resources. A sub-committee has been appointed to carry out a survey of transport facilities, of areas suitable for reclamation, drainage, afforestation, irrigation and water power, and of housing conditions and needs, and to consider and report on such questions as farming accounts and methods of securing the co-ordina- tion of various rural societies and their co-operation with the Agricultural Committee. In order to facilitate the work it has been decided to provide the sub-committee with a qualified secretary and clerical assistance, and a sum of Y.1,000 a year has been allocated by the County Council for the purpose. In the current issue of The Athena-urn- the organ par excellence of reconstruction-a writer strongly urges the need for the consideration by local organisations of reconstruction problems, and the Devonshire develop- ment seems to us an excellent method of giving effect to the proposal. We suggest that Welsh county councils should copy the example. It is constantly and truly contended that Welsh conditions differ very materially from those of England, and it is essential that these should be carefully investigated in each county, and land schemes propounded for submission in due course to the Ministry of Reconstruc- tion, or any other Government departments which may be charged with the duty of carrying them into effect. The Govern- In our last issue we published an article ment and dealing with the Government's housing Housing policy, and pointing out the directions in which modifications are desirable. Since its publication a deputation of members of both Houses of Parliament has been received by Mr. Hayes Fisher, and in reply to its representations, which embodied several of the suggestions made in the article in question, Mr. Fisher made it clear that the Government would not depart from the essential principles embodied in the Local Government Board circular, and that the proposed partner- ship between the State and Local Authorities would form the essential feature of the Government's policy. It is satisfactory to note, however, that Mr. Fisher will exercise very generously his discretion to limit the liability of the local authority to a rate of a penny in the pound. The interesting announcement was also made that the Local Government Board had divided the country into twelve areas each of which would be in charge of a special housing commissioner whose functions apparently will be to ascer- tain the extent of local housing needs, and to stimulate and assist local authorities in carrying out satisfactory housing schemes. We understand that Wales has been divided into two areas, and that Mr. Edgar L. Chappell, of the Welsh Housing and Development Association, has been appointed to take charge of South Wales and Monmouth- shire. The name of the North Wales Commissioner has not yet been disclosed. We would draw the attention of Welsh local author- ties to the announcement contained in the Housing Circular that the proposed financial assistance will be available only for a limited period, and that the financial position may be such that it may be necessary to give precedence to the most urgent cases, even to the exclusion for the time being of the less urgent." Our reading of this is that local authorities who delay the preparation of schemes will run the risk of having no special financial assistance at all, and that all the loss on any housing schemes that they may be compelled to prepare later will have to be borne out of the rates. It will not pay local authorities, therefore, to defer housing action, for there can be no doubt that the cost of materials and labour, and the rate of interest on borrowed capital will not for years to come, if ever, return to pre-War levels. It is interesting to note that a "ginger" group of housing reformers has been formed in the House of Commons, and it seems likely that when Mr. Hayes Fisher introduces his Housing Bill next session his proposals will be subject to very close examination. Welsh Farm The Agricultural Wages Board estab- Labourers lished under the powers of the Corn Wages Production Act has now fixed minimum wages to operate in practically all the counties of England and Wales. In fixing the rates regard had to be paid to varying economic and other conditions, and to the cost of maintaining farm workers and their families at a reasonable standard of physical efficiency and comfort. It is not surprising that the scale proposed for Glamorgan and Monmouthshire is the highest in the country. This scale provides for a wage of 36s. 6d. for a week of 57 hours in summer, and of 491 hours in winter. Overtime rates are payable for Sunday work. To these proposals the farmers offer strong opposition. This was only to be expected, for farmers in other counties have already objected to the minimum wage of 30s. that has been fixed for the country as a whole. We are not inclined to sympathise much with the farmers in their opposition. The manner in which agricultural labourers in Wales have been treated in the past by their employers has been most unsatisfactory, and we think it is full time that a drastic improvement in wages and conditions of work should be effected. Cheap labour is inefficient labour, and its existence militates against the improvement of agricultural processes and the application of science to the develop- ment of natural resources. When farmers are compelled to pay their employees a living wage they will learn, we hope, to adopt new methods of farming and sane methods of marketing and accountancy.