A SUGGESTION FOR ABERDARE
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sza,—May I venture to put forward a proposal for the relief of unemployment in the mining areas which, I feel convinced, deserves the most careful consideration ? The mines of north- ern France are so short of French labour that enormous numbers of foreigners have to be employed, particularly Poles. In some districts all [public notices are in Polish as well as French. .
. I feel convinced that by arrangement with the French authorities work for large numbers of British miners could be found there. The pay is not very high but it is high enough to enable the men to live in comfort, and the conditions are extremely good. The miners live in " corons " or garden villages, in which they can grow cabbages and rabbits, there is an excellent welfare service, the electric lighting is practi- cally free, and in time a man can become reconciled to the French beer, which is very cheap.
I believe that an immigration of British ex-soldiers would be greatly welcomed in the villages around Lens and Bethune, for instance, for Britishers who have married into French estaminets seem to get on very happily there. The present foreigners are often'of a rough type and not much appreciated by the natives. They cannot speak French and are regarded somewhat suspiciously. They murder each other from time to time, and every •Friday they get fighting drunk— hence the local saying—" Jour de la paie (paix), jour de in
guerre." (After the last Pole-fight which I attended I picked up several handfuls of human hair off the pairement.) Finally, they pluck geese alive and in other ways shock the French (who are not over squeamish in such matters) by their cruelty to animals It would be to the advantage of all concerned if some at least of this influx of low-class foreigners could be replaced by honest British miners.-H-I am, Sir, &c.,- C. W. Husui. 14 The Hawthorns, Pinclaky, London, N. 3.
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