6 NOVEMBER 1936, Page 3

The Claims of Jarrow The Jarrow marchers arrived in London

last Saturday, without causing or suffering any of the abuses forecast by those who disapprove of their action : the Chairman of the Jarrow Conservative Association, after referring to the " unparalleled publicity " created by their march, has rightly commented on the skill and tact with which it has been conducted. So far from being " exploited " the marchers have even benefited physically. Mr. Baldwin has refused to receive a deputation of the marchers, but on Wednesday their petition, asking for special treatment for Jarrow, was laid before Parliament. On Tuesday evening, at a meeting of welcome, Sir John Jarvis announced that he was prepared, with the assist- ance of one of the banks and of the Commissioner for the Special Areas, to open new steel-tube works in Jarrow. In his reply of thanks the Mayor of Jarrow, with the scepticism which earlier disappointments have bred in Jarrow, said that, thankful as he was, he could believe it only when he saw the smoke pouring from the furnaces. Sir John Jarvis' plan is a model for the Government, in that, it creates new employment and does not merely alleviate the distress of unemployment. Ministers might well give more sympathetic attention to other suggestions of the same kind, and especially to the possi- bility of restoring to Jarrow the Admiralty work for which its docks and shipyards were built.