Welsh Journals

dressed the Conference on "The Case for the In- ternational Labour Organisation and the Work- ers' Claims." An Elementary School in Carmarthenshire has given a splendid example which we hope will be widely emulated. The Headmaster hopes to pro- cure this term a set of readers bearing on League work for the upper standards of the school. The book selected is Jones and Sherman "The League of Nations for Schools." It is no new venture on the part of a Branch to ON Monday, March 11th, the bronze bust of Robert Owen by Sir Goscombe John, R.A., will be presented to the Governing Body of the International Labour Office at Geneva. Mr. David Davies, M.P., has accepted the invitation to unveil the bust, which is to be placed in the library of the new building of the I.L.O. Some day there will be memorials in the I.L.O. library to other early pioneers like Colonel Frey of Switzerland and Daniel le Grand of France. It is fitting that the first memorial should be that of the greatest of the workers in the 19th century towards the ideal for which the I.L.O. stands-a permanent organisation for the adjustment of labour conditions by international action. January in Geneva saw the League ot Nations, for the first time, tackling a practical problem in world economics. Eleven experts sat round a table to think out the question of coal and of the mining industry. They were drawn from "con- suming" as well as "producing" countries, from Austria, Spain, Italy, and Holland, as well as from Germany, Belgium, Poland, France, and Great Britain. The interrogatives to which they had to seek an answer were not easy. Was the present over-production of coal permanent or passing. What was likely to be the permanent effect of the competition from other forms of fuel, a competition much accentuated by the war? What was the effect upon the coal mining in- dustry of import and export regulations. What was the effect of price control on existing sys- tems? A mass of statistics is now available, and the world's coal crisis is being considered as some- thing which effects every country and every interest. Hitherto one country's trouble has led to another's enrichment. A Polish friend assured produce a play, but it is few that have the courage shown by the Ammanford District Committee who at their first venture have chosen "Arms and the Man." We look forward with confidence to a splendid production in the near future. D.H.L. Information concerning the League of Na- tions or the Welsh League of Nations Union will be supplied gladly by the Secretary, League of Nations Union, Welsh National Council, 10, Museum Place, Cardiff. WALES AND THE WORLD by Rev. Gwilym Davies, M.A. me that our coal stoppage of 1926 was to Poland "a perfect godsend," as no doubt we reaped from the difficulties in the German mines in 1923. It may happen that little practical benefit will result for some years from the deliberations in Geneva. Nevertheless, the League of Nations has never been nearer to certain areas in Wales than it was in January. Opium has again been discussed at Geneva, and it is a pleasure to acknowledge a great lead given by Spain. I was present at many of the sittings of the Geneva Opium Conference of 1924-25. It was there that I saw something of the spirit which has led to the formation of the new Nationalist Government in China. The Chinese representative, who seemed to me to be extraordinarily able, was Dr. Sao-Ke Alfred Sze (pronounced 'Say'). He has now been appointed the Ambassador of China in London. In an interval, when we did not talk opium, Dr. Sze spoke of North Wales, and especially of Llan- dudno. The Opium Conference of 1924-25 re- sulted, after much compromise, in a new Drug Convention, which, for its signatories,replaced the Hague Convention of 1912. It was a dis- appointment inasmuch as it did not finally dispose of the root of all the mischief-that the output of the drug factories is vastly in excess of the world's legitimate need. In Spain there does not exist a single factory for the manufacture of narcotic drugs. She has to obtain from beyond her borders all that she needs for medical and legitimate scientific purposes. And what Spain proposes to do is to announce publicly, not only the amount which she will purchase in the course of a year, but the names of the countries from which she will buy. If every other non-manu- facturing country follows the example of Spain,