STRIKE’S AFTERMATH.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 November 1921, Page 11

STRIKE’S AFTERMATH.

CONDITIONS AT HOME. AS SEEN BY A NEW ZEALANDER. Although nearly killed, by kindness during a seven months’ tour of Wales and other parts of the world, Mr. John Jones, the G.O.M. of Wanganui East, returned on Saturday evening, looking remarkably fit and well. Mr. Jones moved in a circle of friends whose entre was all that he could desire, and having invested in a bicycle, he saw the country as he never saw it before. Mr. Jones realised thatq it was useless trying to see the countryside from a fast moving train. He toured on his bicycle for twelve weeks, and he now declares: “I had not seen the old country when I left it, but I have now. The roads were good and travelling on a bicycle was absolutely delightful in the mornings and in the afternoons. I could go where I liked and could stop when 1 liked.” Mr. Jones said he travelled very light, and changes of clothes were sent on to future addresses. The only things that had gone astray were six collars, and even these might be sent on here. The season was an exceptionally dry one. It suited the tourist admirably, but it did not suit the country. However, said Mr. Jones, rain fell before he left, the grass came away as rapidly as it can in New Zealand, and the whole countryside was beautiful. A sad feature of the visit was the strikes and the unemployment. The great coal strike was at its worst when Mr. Jones was in Wales. In fact, he was in a big pumping station when it was surrounded by 11,000 men who wanted to pull it down. The special constables arrived only in the nick of

Mr. Jones stayed with men in all walks of life. One of them was an exmine manager, who said that of all the mad things the strikers did, the mad-: dest was to allow the mines to be flooded. This man told Mr. Jones that the smaller mines would never work agam, and this would keep 170,000 men out of work. Mr. Jones said that when he reached Melbourne he read a cablegram in the papers to the effect that 170,000 men were idle in South Wales. The ex-manager’s forecast had therefore been endorsed. The miners had been sadly misled. The men in South Wales had no strike pay to draw and the distress was great. When he jumped out of the train at Newport to tread Welsh soil after a lapse of 60 years, the first sight that met his eyes was a big hulking chap holding a box* collecting money for soup for children. Soup was distributed to children twice a day. In one house in which he stayed there was a schoolmistress of Ystrad- She told him that in the house in which she lived there had been 3 or 4 men working in mines, and drawing £lO to £-20 a week when things were flourishing. In homes with 3 or 4 miners, incomes of £5O .to £6O a week were common . “The state of affairs in South Wales,” said Mr. Jones, “absolutely got on to my nerves. The north looked beautiful, but my old acquaintances had gone. I met only six that I remembered, but thirteen claimed to know me. The kindness I received everywhere was overwhelming, in some places far too much, and that from the children of the boys with whom I used to play. Mr. Jones said when he was in Wales 250.000 men were idle in the Rhonda Valley. In that valley oi¥ l could not tell where one town ended and another began. On all sidings there w’ere miles and miles of empty coal trucks, and in less than a fortnight after work resumed there were just as many full trucks. They could not get rid of the coal, for the markets had been closed. Big ironworks had had to close down. In connection with this, Mr. Jones instanced that the Athenic, instead of taking only 700 tons of coal at Colon, took 2000 tons, to last to England and back again, and thus she did not leave £1 in England- The Athenic also passed 26 steamers heading for Colon for coal. These were hard facts, and the men went back to worse conditions than they previously had. The general run of the people blamed the foreign element and the younger men for all the trouble. The worst feature, to Mr. Jones’ mind, was that such a large number tried to live on the unemployment money, and would not go away to seek work. That was the sore point with the industrial people of England. As indicating the amount of distress caused by the strike, a member of the Mountain Ash Guardians (charitable aid) said they had paid out £30,000 in the first month.

Mr. Jones said, in demonstrating the foolish spirit of some of the miners, that .ie had seen records of the working days of men when they were earning big money, and when they felt independent. When asked to work on certain days, they would hold up a fistful of notes and say: “Not while one of those is remaining.” “Were the leaders satisfied with the results of the strike? Nearly reached revolution, did it not?”

“No,” said Mr. Jones. “The strikers lost all sympathy. They overdid it. There was no chance of revolution. And the most loyal men in Britain are the ex-service men.” Mr. Jones said he was present at a meeting where a balance sheet was read out. It showed that an official drew £7 10s a week. The men drew nothing. The public and miners themselves were very angry, and in public meetings that were held on the hillsides on Saturday afternoons, they did nothing but curse their leaders, and a large number withdrew from the Federation. Asked as to his opinion of Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. Jones said that whether one agreed with him or not, the British Premier was an artist. At first, Mr. Jones thought, he played to the gallery, but it is the reverse. Mr. Lloyd George said things at the National Eistedfodd which required the greatest courage to mention. There were 10,000 present. Miss Rosina Buckmann was one of the soloists. On the chief day of the Eistedfodd, Welshmen from overseas were invited on to the stage, and the different countries were asked to stand up. “After the ceremony Miss Rosina Buckmann sang ‘Home Sweet Home, and the occasion will never be forgotten. There were thousands of pocket handkerchiefs out, and mine was one ot them,” said Mr. Jones. Mr. Lloyd George spoke again on that occasion, and .spoke in Welsh. At the evening meeting Mr. Thomas, a Labor MJ tried to speak, but he did not get a hearing. Mr. Lloyd George dresses plainly, and, when travelling along a road, lie never passes anyone without oflerin" a lift, if there is room in his car. Mrs. Lloyd George is the homeliest of women, and anyone from Wales is welcome at Downing Street.” —Chronicle-