"LITTLE MOSCOWS " IN SOUTH WALES [To the Editor of
the SPECTATOR:]
Sitt,—In your •last issue Mr. F. Yeats-Brown draws a tragic picture of the conditions of `.* semi-starvation that existin the mining area of the 'Rhondda- Valley., ". Dire diiftsesf101;
• " drawn and harassed women," " insufficient clothes," " leak- ing boots "—these are a few of his, illuminating expressions. And he quotes the Medical Officer of Health -that some thousands of children are suffering from malnutrition." "'Never," he ends, were a people more in need of help." From Shropshire comes the same tale. Of the men dis- missed in November, " many of them have no longer insurance benefits."
The Save. the Children Fund, concentrating its forces on , the most vulnerable of the victims, is, organized through its special " Mining Areas " Fund to give that help without delay. It has the needed experience, fort during and since the strike, it has administered relief in twenty different counties—
mostly. supplementary, food_ the shape. of cod-liver oil, Malt and dried milk, to expectant and nursing mothers, and to infants and toddlers, and boots, to school-children. The genercuis.funds which.were put atits,clisposaI by the National Union of Teachers were administered, mainly in Yorkshire, and on the greatly needed boots, by the school-teachers
_ themselves with their special_ _knowledge of individual conditions. In Wales the Medical Officer of Health for Glamorgan has lent his admirable organization. In addition to this emergency relief, the fund supplies the machinery of a, system—one already proved invaluable in numerous stricken Continental countries, as also in, the slums ,of London and _our, great cities at ho_me-by which, for the annual donation of.1.6:5s. (payable by monthly instal- ments if preferred), a needy, or weakly. child is " adopted" and supplied with ,continuous help over a Jong period, in the shape of extra ,nutritious food and of clothing. The donor .receives; a.-photograph of, the, child and, is put into touch with him or her, and, L. can testify from personal experience that,* may rely on the watchful eye of an administrator to prevent his continuing to give the relief when it is no longer needed.
- Anyone who 'mows of. long ,.unemployment conditions— the inevitable debts, the Mahility -to meet rents and insurance payments—will realize the enormous value of this sustained and carefully-thought-out assistance. Funds and adopters are urgently needed, and needed at once. Please send them to-day, to the Save the Children Fund (Mining Areas), 26. Gordon Street, W.C. 1.—I am, Sir, &c., 14 North „Street,.
VICTORIA. DE BUNSEN
( Member of the Council S.C.F.).
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