Chapter 15
THE COLLAPSE OF THE COAL TRADE
IN THE ABERDARE VALLEY 1927–1939.

1. Wages in 1927.

When the miners of Aberdare returned to work in 1926, their wages were as follows:—

(a) Hewer —	£2. 11.6. week of 48 hours
(b) Haulier —	£2. 7. 0. week of 48 hours
(c) Labourer —	£2. 0. 0. week of 48 hours

No paid holidays, no fringe benefits, only cheap coal.

2. Amalgamations.

To offset the decline in the demand for Welsh coal the owners and the government made large-scale mergers.

In 1930 the Llewellyns of Bwllfa, Aberdare, who were now the industrial heirs of the great Rhondda Group coal combines concentrated all their interests into a new firm called the Welsh Associated Collieries Ltd.

The Powell Duffryn Co. Ltd., of Aberdare had grown much larger since 1921 and was interlocked with the banking firm of J. Schroeder of London and Hamburg.

Thus, two giant companies that had originated in the Aberdare valley in the 1840s now disputed the monopoly control of the Welsh coalfield. The purpose was to concentrate production in the most economic pits, and to restrict output in order to keep up the price of coal. In this, they were helped by the Labour Government’s Act of Restriction of Output (1930).

With the continued crisis of the South Vales coal industry in the early 1930s the two companies were forced to come together, and in 1935 they were amalgamated into a new firm called “The Powell Duffryn Associated Collieries Ltd”. But the Powell Duffryn had won the fight for the dominance of the coalfield.

3. Dominance of the Powell Duffryn — 1935–1947.

The dominant role of the P.D. could be seen in the figures of production in the years 1935–1939.

Production in the South Wales Coalfield.

1935
All South Wales	40 million tons.
Powell Duffryn Ltd.	13 million tons.
Llewellyn Group	10 million tons.
1939
All South Wales	35 million tons.
Powell Duffryn Ltd.	20 million tons.
Llewellyn Group	Merged with P.D.

 

The Powell Duffryn Ltd. had won the struggle for the major control of the coalfield because it had always been technically and managerially the most advanced company in South Wales.

(‘Powell Duffryn Review’ — 1942–43).

4. Conditions of the People in the Aberdare Valley — 1927–1939.

Whilst the Powell Duffryn Ltd. and the Llewellyn Group were fighting for the mastery of the coalfield, the bulk of the working and trading people were going through a very difficult time. Between 1927 and 1939, eighteen large collieries closed down. The ways of living that had developed over nearly 130 years of ironworks and collieries were passing rapidly away. Pits closed, the clerical staff, craftsmen, miners and ancillary workers of all kinds were dispersed. Every day the streets were thronged with thousands of good workers with absolutely nothing to do, except to go to the spoil heaps to dig for a few bags of coal to supplement the meagre unemployment pay. There were 12,000 to 15,000 persons out of work in the valley.

Considering the state of civilization in Britain in the 1930s their suffering was as severe as those of the workers in Britain in the 1840s.

Unemployment pay at this time was:—

Man — 17s. 6d.    Woman — 8s. 6d.    Child — 2s. 0d. per week.

5. Reactions of the People to these Poor Conditions of Life.

Those people who could leave the district went elsewhere to live. This is shown by the dramatic fall in the population.

Population in the Aberdare Valley.

1921	1931	1939 Est.
98,297	87,137	78,205

Thus, over 1,000 people had left the district every year since 1921.

Those people who for various reasons could not leave the Aberdare valley consisted of two basic types:—

The second type kept up a persistent agitation for the bringing of factories to the area, and for improving the conditions of the people.

The policy of the central government was to let the area run down economically under the impression that the operation of a free-market economy would eventually stabilize the population and the coal industry at a more realistic level than that existing in the 1930s.

6. The Unemployment Assistance Act 1934.

In the autumn of 1934 the then Government introduced a new unemployment assistance act, the net effect was to reduce seriously the income of the unemployed. When the act came into force, there was a burst of outraged indignation from nearly all sections of the population. Huge demonstrations took place everywhere, including Aberdare, so the act was withdrawn.

This fresh outburst of feeling against the folly of the Government’s lack of real policy for the distressed areas of Britain led to strong pressure from all sections of the public in Britain for action to cure the unemployment situation in the Distressed Areas.

In 1935 the Government set up the Special Areas Commission under Lord Portal. This Commission recommended that the Government give financial aid to firms to go to the depressed areas of Britain. This was done and a small migration of firms began to go to the areas of severe unemployment from London and the Midlands.

A new era was about to begin in the long industrial history of the Aberdare valley.

(“Aberdare Leader” files — 1930–37).