Profossor J. A. SCOTT WATSON (Professor of Rural Economy in the University of Oxford)
In his survey of rural Britain, Professor Scott Watson has now moved to the West Country and Wales, and in his broadcast this evening will touch on the human and racial influences in farming, and on the aims and difficulties of Rural Community Councils there. He will pass on to what he will describe as ' the decay of an industry '—the problem that affects South Wales so terribly today. For here there are sheep grazing less than their fill on the barren hills, and there are unemployed miners or those working part-time. In the Rhondda Valley, from Pontypridd to Maesteg, every cottage is the home of a miner. Their white faces when off duty, their grime when returning from the pits, the local theatres which give morning performances called ' Miners' Matinees ' for those who have been working on night shifts, are characteristic of these towns. Of this valley, and other whole districts where men of the land depend less on what grows on its surface than on the mineral underneath, Professor Scott Watson will speak this evening.