[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—As a resident in
Aberdare and as a member of the local Urban District Council, I was very interested in your article on Aberdare in last week's' issue of the Spectator. I feel certain that many people will have reason to be grateful to the Spectator for the interest it has taken in our distressed town.
I think that in the circumstances your readers will be interested to learn that at the last meeting of the Aberdare U.D.C. a motion was unanimously passed to set up a Committee with a view to examining the possibilities of attracting new industries to the town. I feel certain that, after all, this is an essential step in solving our difficulties, for the transfer of labour to other districts must necessarily prove a prolonged, expensive, and difficult process.
Aberdare has very definite advantages to offer to new industries, including : (1) A much wider and more open valley than is usual in the coalfield, with consequently better sites for works and factories. (2) An unsurpassed position as regards communication by road and rail, being almost equi- distant from Cardiff and Swansea and being served by two branches of the G.W. Railway, one on the direct route to the
Midlands and the North via Pontypool Road. (3) An excellent water supply, and, of course, cheap coal immediately at hand. (4) A settled population of over fifty thousand people, many of whom cannot be re-employed in the coal mines and the vast majority of whom desire nothing better than to secure work on any reasonable terms that may be offered them. Industries establishing themselves in country districts have to bring their workers from afar and house them, which expense must largely offset the saving in rates. This will, of course, be particularly the case when the new Derating Bill comes into effect.
I hesitate to trespass further on your space, but I would suggest that this aspect of the problem, the, -as it were, carrying the Mountain of Industry to the Mahomet of Labour, is one that deserves the attention of the Government and of all who desire to find a solution for the terrible plight of the coalfields.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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