Welsh Journals

of relief resulted in large and wisespread reductions. The industrial towns were in an uproar and a political crisis was only averted by a hasty compromise the Standstill Act of February, 1935. This provided for applicants to get the' best of both worlds. Cuts in benefit would be restored, and wherever the Board's awards were greater than those formerly made, the higher amounts were to stand. This dual system, appalling to administer, continued until December, 1936. It so happened that the subsistence production societies were launched within a few weeks of the passing of the Standstill Act. The liberal policy forced upon the Board by the need to keep the government out of trouble also worked in favour of the new societies. The Board encouraged its officers to interpret the rules generously and stated publicly that benefits received from the subsistence schemes would be wholly disregarded in assessing needs. Without this assurance from the Board enrolment in the new schemes would have been even more difficult than proved to be the case. Since withdrawal from the Labour Exchange, as practised at Upholland, would not be possible in the new schemes, it had to be determined under what conditions members would be permitted to remain registered at the Labour Exchange while taking part in the Subsistence Production Societies. A test case on behalf of two former Upholland members was submitted to the Ministry of Labour umpire at Wigan. He ruled that Subsistence Production members would remain eligible for benefit as long as the scheme operated under the following conditions: that membership of the Society was voluntary; that members remained eligible for work; that members were not required to work a stated number of hours each week but could come and go as they pleased; that the organisers' control over the members' work was not sufficient to constitute a contract of service; that no products would be sold outside the membership. In August, 1934, while the Upholland Experiment was in progress, Peter Scott secured an interview with R. S. Hudson, then Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour. Himself under pressure to "do something about unemployment", Hudson took up Scott's ideas with enthusiasm and urged him to launch five schemes in different parts of the country, each for 500 men. Scott had not the personnel to operate on this scale, but felt he must commit himself to at least two schemes. Hudson offered to find funds from government sources. Knowing how deeply the mining communities distrusted government intentions, Scott declined this offer. Instead, an introduction to Lord Nuffield secured a promise of £ 30,000 which Scott and his colleagues thought would be sufficient to set up the Wigan and District Subsistence Production Society in place of the Upholland scheme and to form a sister society in the Eastern Valley of Monmouthshire. Both were to open on 1st March, 1935. Both adopted the initials S.P.S., and this abbreviation will be used henceforward in this account. Peter Scott, Sir Wyndham Deedes and Lord Forrester became Trustees of a 'Subsistence Production fund' in November 1934, and a public company was registered with the name 'Subsistence Production Societies Ltd. the name being changed from 'Societies' to 'Properties' when the Wigan society closed in 1938. The Prudential Assurance Company approved a mortgage loan of £ 24,000 to be secured against properties purchased. During 1934 public opinion had forced the government into fresh action. In April, four investigators had been appointed. Their report on conditions in the depressed areas painted a grim picture. The outcome was the Special Areas (Development and Improvement) Act of