Letters to the Editor
OUR ADOPTION OF ABERDARE
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sni,—What is the Government going to do about the recog- nition of the. many " 'adoption " schemes ? It is' a matter of vital importance to us in Aberdare, and already we have cause for some complaint that a decision is so long delayed. Are none but the moneys paid into the Lord Mayor's Fund to be recognized as qualified for the subsidy of £1 for £1 ?—but n6: so ill a return, for doing a piece of work which needed to be done, and which' the Government has since quite definitely encouraged people to do, is quite unthinkable. What was right for the House of Commons in December cannot have been wrong for the readers of the Spectator, and the •Rural Deans and other worthy people in NoVember. What are the facts ? We here in the coalfield were slipping down into the darkness and cold of the .winter : October was' past and NoveMber in these 'hills seemed 'colder and more bleak than
ever; and we all thought we were quite forgotten. • = •
The Lord ,Mayor's Fund barely reached 1100,000, the Money- was all spent, and there seemed no prospect of More. - the • Rural 'Deans' Appeal in - the Times on NoVember-- illrd; with its plan of linking up " units of need " with "units of help " at once captured the imagination, and had a splendid Piess. Men of good will everywhere began to consider what `they could do about it, and within a fortnightmoney and eta in kind from " units of help " everywhere began to pour in In another month we might have covered the field, but then came the new plan of £1 for £1 for the Lord Mayor's ,Fund, and the magnificent appeal of our Prince, and, of course, we 'rejoiced greatly. But where do we come in, in this new Scheme of things ? Are we the little dust in the bureaucratic 'eye; or are we just feIloVi-woakers with our part and place in a big eanapaign ? • The work: and the administration of the "Spectator Fund" here in Aberdare are quite straightforward with a duly accredited and thoroughly representative Service Committee functioning, not for a section of the community only, but for the whole.
The unemployed men themselves, as beneficiaries of the fund, are' nowhere directly' participating in its 'administration. The miners' agent here, a very sound and experienced man; thought the men themselves would prefer to be excused. One of the officials of our SerVice Committee claims that our Aberdare Coinmittee is quite the best in the whole coalfield. The whole town is mapped out into eighteen areas with eighteen area committees, with the elementary school and its head teacher as the centre around which each arearevolves. The clergy and ministers and Viiorkera of all grades and stations are pressed into the service and with genuine knowledge and experience there will be increased efficiency and adjustment of
diffieulties. '
Nothing could be better, and certainly no Government could devise a better scheme. It was helpful to have many avenues along which to bring gifts to the field for the ChristmaS season. , But in the long run the best work is sustained and 'well-planned work for a definite period to cover a well-defined need. That lathe problem which now hai to be faced both by the official central organization and by the Service Coni mittees. Here we need wisdom and prevision, and above all, a steady flow of income. It can only be a matter of book:: 'keeping between us in Aberdare and the official " Coalfields -Distress Funds," and any reasonable adjustments of moneys 'can easily be arranged. There can be no sort of reason why 'a guinea to.the Aberdare Service Committee from a reader of the Spectator should be of less value than the same guinea if sent to the Lord Mayor's Fund.. It will do the same work for the same people in what must be in the end the same way. We await a 'decision with some confidence.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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