The South Wales Star

Mr. H. L. Jones, Kejristrar of Births and Deaths, resides at Holtoll Komi, Barry Dock, where he may be seen daily from 9 to 11 a.m. BIRTHS. PCXLEY. —On the 13th March, at Maesmelyn, Pen- caerau, Neath, the wife of Captain George Puxley, of a son. 'I MORGAX.-On the 13th inst., at 18, Penypeel-road, Cardiff, the wife of William E. Morgan, of a son. DEL AH AY. —On the 16th inst., the wife of Mr. Robert Delahay, coal merchant, of a daughter. GROXOW,-On the 13th inst., the wife of William Gronow, Brackla-street, Bridgend, of a daughter. EA8T.—On the 14th inst., the wife of Mr. East, Brackla-street, Bridgend, of a son. MARRIAGES. HAMILTON—RICHARDS.—On the llth inst., at St. Mary's Church, Aberavon, by the Rev. Henry Morris, vicar. James Hamilton, of Cwmavon Works, to Mary Ellen (Nellie) Richards, eldest grand- daughter of the late Mr. William Button, formerly postmaster of Cwmavon. No cards. SMITH—JONES.—On the 14th inst., at the Con- gregational Church, Bridgend, by the Rev. J. Gvvilym Jones, pastor, Mr. James Smith, blacksmith, Blaengarw, to Miss Annie Jones, Dunraven-place, Bridgend. DEATHS. THOMAS. —On Friday morning. March 13th, Amelia Thomas, aged 75, widow of the late Samuel Thomas, Penarth. at the residence of her son, Penarth Dock. Peacefully passed away. DAVIES. —At Ystrad Rhondda, the 10th inst., Evan Davies, Primrose-hill, aged 81. Funeral Friday, for Nebo, at 2.30. CORDETT,-On the 15th inst., at Pontcanna, Cardiff, Vincent Edward Corbett, eldest son of the late J. A. Corbett, Esq.. in his 12th year. WILSOX,-On the 10th inst., at Newton Court, near Bridgend, William T. Wilson, aged 42 years. Deeply regretted. EVANS. —On the 10th inst., at Oddf Hows-row, Bridgend, Catherine Evans, aged 70 years. THOMAS. —On THOMAS. the 10th inst., at Kenfig Hill, Olive Thomas, aged 2 years. FRANCIS. —On the 10th inst., at Coity-road, Bridgend, Margaret Francis, aged 44 years. JOHX. —On the 14th inst., at Clifton House, Margaret John, aged 78 years. LEWIS. —On the 14th inst., at Penyfai, John Lewis, aged 44 yaars. WILLIAMS. —On the 15th inst., at the Royal Oak, Kenfig Hill, Jane Williams, aged 70 years.

BARRY DOCK WEEKLY TIDE TABLE. The weekly tide table at Barry for the seven days commencing to-day (Friday) is as follows :— Morn. After. Ht. a.m. p.m. ft. in. March 20 Friday 2 52 3 41 25 4 21 Saturday 4 24 4 59 27 5 22 Sunday. 5 27 5 53 29 10 „ 23 Monday 6 14 6 32 31 0 24 Tuesday 6 50 7 6 33 0 „ 25 Wednesday 7 21 7 37 34 6 2G Thursday 7 52 8 6 35 8

IMPORTANT NOTICE. Owing to Friday next being GOOD FRIDAY, THE SOUTH WALES STAR will be published on THURS- DAY NEXT, instead of Friday.

OUR CONFESSION OF FAITH. Ours is an age of newspapers. During the last an years-ever since the abolition of the duty on paper in IHôO-the number of newspapers has been steadily increas- ing, and the number of readers has kept pace with the increase in the number of papers. The power of the press has proportionately increased. The preacher or the orator no longer speaks to the audience which listens to him but to the thousands who will read their words in the morrow's papers. We do not, however, base our anticipations of success on such general grounds, but on the fact that their is a wide-spread and ever increasing need in our district of such a paper as we hope The South Wales Star will prove to be. It is our intention to provide our readers with full, reliable, and accurate local reports and district intelligence. Our criticisms of men and things will be strictly fair and impartial, and our object will be not to exalt or depress individuals but to advocate what in our opinion will be the best interests of the district. This we will at all times endeavour to do with honesty and consistence, neither adding nor with-holding aught through fear, favour, or affection. We intend to give full reports of the proceedings of our Local Boards and committees, so that the ratepayers may have an opportunity of judging for themselves whether public money is spent to the best advantage. Our columns will always be open to fair and honest discussion and criticism by any who have a grievance to ventilate, or 'a "job" to expose. We have appointed correspondents in every important town and village in the district; and we shall, Z3 set apart a column or two to reports of local sport. In political matters we shall be strong advocates of Liberal views and principles. The policy of Home Rule for Ireland will meet with our earnest support, and that for three main reasons because it embodies the old Liberal idea of placing confidence in the people, believing, that when confidence is given confidence will be deserved because it will remove a great obstacle to needed reforms at home and because it recognises the growth of the spirit of Nationalism. We shall advo- cate the Disestablishment and Disendow- ment of the Church, not out of any hostility to the Church as a religious institution, but because we honestly believe that the Establishment by the State of one set of religious doctrine places other religious bodies in an invidious position and impairs the influence and the spiritual power of the Established Church itself. We believe that the sever- ance of the connection between Church and State will purify and exalt the Church and will make it once more, what it has ceased to be in Wales, the messenger of peace and good will among men. We are at present confronted with the great question of the relations of capital and labour. The year 18D0 may be called the year of strikes and the present year has opened with a great strike in our immed- iate neighbourhood. While regretting the necessity of such insurrections of, labour, we shall endeavour to see on which side justice and truth lie, on which side oppression and tyranny. Tyranny and violence—whether on the side of the employer or the employed, we will always unhesitatingly denounce and con- demn and we shall always endeavour to promote a fair and conciliatory spirit in the adjustment of our labour disputes. We cannot, however, help recognising that in this Industrial Age more regard has hitherto been paid to the protection of our trade and commerce than to the comfort and well-being of the thousands, who by their toil have helped to make English commerce what it is. While the Captains of Industry have been growing daily in wealth and luxury, the nameless masses have been sinking more and more deeply into degradation and misery. One of the great problems which this genera- tion will be called upon to solve, is how to do away with the abject poverty so visible in our great, and indeed in all our towns without impairing our progress as a great nation. This is no question that can admit of being shelved. The miser- able ragged children who are to-day running about our streets, shoeless and foodless, will be the English citizens of to-morrow and on their stamina and moral and physical power will depend the greatness and prosperity of England. Every measure that will tend to increase the comfort and elevate the tastes and ideas of our poor we will do our utmost to promote. Education, next to religion, we consider to be the best means of doing this. We shall therefore be in favour of universal Free Education, of greater facilities for the establishment of Free Libraries, of the wider extension of Higher Grade Schools. The phyiscal comfort of the people must not however be left out of account. We shall therefore support a liberal measure for the Better Housing of the Poor, and in order to induce the artisan and the small trades- men to do for himself what the State will do for his poorer neighbour we shall welcome a bill for the Enfranchisement of Leaseholds. To promote a greater self- respect among the poor, we shall ad- vocate the abolition of what is known as the Sweating System, and in order to lessen the competition which is its cause, we shall be in favour of State-aided Emigra- tion. Analogous to these problems of the town, we have in the country the question of the reform of our Land Laws. Though we are strongly opposed to any schemes of Land Nationalisation, we are constrained to admit that our present Land Laws are not satisfactory. They have not proved an unmixed success in England, the home of the capitalist farmer whence they derive their origin but in Wales where the formation of the country and the nature of the soil renders it impossible, for the most part, that the tenement should be large or the farmer a capitalist, they have proved a serious drawback to the prosperity of the country. The evil has been aggravated during the last quarter of a century by the great increase of population, by the reluctance of Welshmen to emigrate, and by the consequent keen competition for land. In order to do away with the evils result- ing from such competition—where the competition is confined to but one of the parties and that the weaker of the two— we are earnest advocates of fixity of tenure whereby the tenant may be rendered inde- pendent of the caprice or greed or tyranny of the landowner, of fair rents which may be assessed by Courts similar to those already established in Ireland, and of full compensation for all improvements. These however, are but steps which will lead to greater changes in the future. We are of opinion that the day of the great landowners is passed. It is becoming more and more clearly recognised that the only true way of creating a real interest in the state is by giving its citizens a stake in its continued prosperity. While therefore deprecating any system of Land Nationalisation as expensive and unnecessary, we shall maintain any measure which will give the tillers a personal interest in the land. It is with mixed feelings that we view the question of an Eight Hours Bill. While recognis- ing that in a dangerous or unhealthy occupation, there should be a fixed limiT. to the period of work, we are uncertain whether such a limit should be fixed by the state or by agreement between the employer and employed, and whether, when fixed, it would be possible to enforce such a limit. We shall be glad to throw open the columns of th,, South Wales Star" to the discussion of a question which will so nearly affect many of our readers. In addition to these, there are some questions which appertain more directly to Wales than to the rest of the United Kingdom as for example, the educational needs of Wales and the bi-lingual diffi- culty. We have lately received a generous measure of Intermediate Education and there are not wanting signs that in the near future we will get at all events a partial measure of Free Education. When these Free Elementary Schools and Inter- mediate Schools are well established, it will only need a Welsh University to perfect the Welsh Educational fabrice. The bi-lingual difficulty, we hope, is being solved by the efforts of the Society for utilising the Welsh language." No Welshman of to-day entertains the slight- est hostility towards the English tongue but he may be pardoned for clinging to the language he first was taught and in which he has been accustomed to worship. Nor is the retention of the Welsh language a mere matter of senti- ment it has a great educational value. A man who can think in and speak two languages is better educated than he who can speak and think in only one. There are thousands of Welshmen to-day whose home language is Welsh is it not more reasonable to make use of the knowledge already acquired in proceeding to further knowledge, to learn English through the medium of Welsh, as an Englishman learns French by means of English ? We shall therefore advocate the retention of the Welsh language, not only for its history, its associations, and its literature, but as affording a most valuable training and education. As a slight though inad- equate acknowledgment of this fact we shall devote two columns to Welsh litera- ture and Welsh notes. These are but a few of the questions that will meet us on our course. We trust that what has been said of them will serve as an index of what we will think of others. We are settjng out on a strange voyage, teeming with dangers and hidden rocks. But our courage is high, and our faith is strong, that by an honest endeavour to do our best to benefit the public we will not meet with a grudging support. -♦

THE END OF THE STRIKE. The Great Strike is over, and people have leisure now to think over the whole question, and to learn what useful lessons they can from it. It is a misfortune that the real cause and the real effects of a strike are not so apparent that lie who runs may read." Men in our times are so engrossed with their own affairs that they have little inclination or time to devote to the affairs of other people. Thus it is that such crass ignorance prevails of the real cause of the Cardiff strike, and of its real effects. Many intelligent men still think that the tyranny of the Union was the cause of the strike, and that the effect of the strike has been to "smash" the Union. We are indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Harrison, the local secretary of the Seamen's Union, for much of the facts which are here produced to prove that neither of these beliefs is correct. Strikes have been called the insurrec- tions of labour, and before we can well understand them we must look upon them as insurrections. Everyone who has the slightest knowledge of history knows that the ostensible or immediate cause of an insurrection is seldom its real cause. A poll-tax of 4d. or the insolence of a small official may be the spark which ignites the flame, but such slight causes could not fire a people to revolt were there no other and deeper grievance behind. It is the same with strikes. The blocking of the Glen Gelder was the immediate cause of the strike, but those who know the history of that vessel know also the justification of the strike. The facts are these. The Glen Gelder left Barry Dock with an Unionist crew on board, but she collided with the Alert in the Channel, and was sunk. The owners then., dis- missed the men without paying them the month's wages in lieu of notice to which they were entitled. "rhe Seamen's Union took the matter up, and by a threat of litigation obtained their pay for the men. When the Glen Gelder was raised, she was taken to Cardiff where a non-Unionist crew were shipped, out of revenge, so the men say, for the action of the Union in defending the interests of the men. The principle of Trades Unionism was at stake. Here was a ship whose owners were trying to frighten the Union into betraying the men's cause by refusing to employ Union men. A Trade's Union, if it exists for any object at all, exists for the protection of its members and if a shipowner or a body of shipowners refused to ship Union men, because they had a Union to protect their just claims, then the men were quite right in saying that the object of the owners of the Glen Gelder was to smash the Union, and were equally in the right in doing their utmost to re- taliate by refusing to load the vessel. So much for the cause of the strike. The men have got what they really wanted. The invidious preference clause of the Federation ticket has been withdrawn the payment of Is. for the ticket and od. half-yearly for its renewal has been abolished and, more than all, Section 7 of the Amendment to the Merchant Shipping Act of 1880, will be more strictly enforced. The clause provides that no one can be rated as an A.B. unless he can produce discharges that cover a period of four years. It is most import- ant that incompetent men should not be shipped as able-bodied seamen, as the lives of so many- would be jeopardised and if it were only for the stricter enforce- ment of this clause, the strike has not been wholly in vain. +,

WELSH BILLS IN PARLIAMENT. There are two Welsh Bills of great im- portance now being discussed in Parlia- ment, the Tithes' Bill and the Liquor Traffic Bill. The fate of the Tithes' Bill hl the Lords points to two conclusions, one of which is probable, the other cer- tain. The first is that the Government have acted with despicable meanness to the Welsh Members, and the second is that the House of Lords, as it is at present constituted, ought soon to be ended. The Tithes' Bill was passed in the House of Commons with the Amendments of the Welsh Members saddled on to it, and now the House of Lords has refused to ratify these Amendments. We believe that a second Chamber is necessary, and that such a chamber would be useless without the power of vetoing Bills in the House of Commons. But such a chamber should be above suspicion of party, or class, or sectarian feeling, and this cannot be said of the present House of Lords. The practical negation of a Tithes' Bill, passed by the representatives of the people and sanctioned, or, at all events, acquiesced in by a Tory Government, comes with very bad grace from a body mainly com- posed of bishops and Churchmen. Our wrongs will never be righted as long as an irresponsible chamber holds the power that the House of Lords exercises in our Constitution. We would not wish the second chamber to be so directly repre- sentative as the House of Commons, but we must insist that the Upper House should be in some way responsible to the people, as the Senate of the United States is. The rejection of the Welsh endowments are also likely to create an uneasy suspicion that the Government, while pretending to acquiesce in them ,in the Commons, knew the fate that was in store for them in the Lords. If this suspicion turns out to be well founded, we cannot characterise such a shuffling policy as anything but despicable and mean. Our only comfort is that this will be a further incentive to mend or end that antiquated chamber of fossils of temporal and spiritual lords. In passing the second reading of the Welsh Liquor Traffic Bill the Welsh members have scored another decided success. Much has been said in the past of the inefficiency of Welsh representa- tion. That reproach can .no longer be levelled against us, after two such splendid triumphs as they have won in this session. By the Liquor Traffic Bill, jt is intended to give the ratepayers the power of determining whether they want a public house or not in their district. Surely if the ratepayers are competent enough to send representatives to Parlia- ment to rule the Empire,, and can be entrusted to manage their own affairs, they ought to be able to judge whether a public-house is required in their district or not. We have nothing to say against the way our local magistrates exercise their power of granting or witholding licences, but we do say that in the past, and, indeed, in the present, the Great Unpaid have not used the licensing powers in many parts of Wales to the interest of society, of morality, and religion. We are glad to see that one Welsh magistrate has set his brethren an excellent example. Mr. Edward Davies, of Plas Dinam, Montgomeryshire, has decided to ask the ratepayers whether they require some or any of the public- houses on his estate. Were this example widely followed there would be no need of applying to Parliament for this Bill but unfortunately a public-house is a more valuable property to the owner than v a private house. As long as this con- tinues to be the case, and as long as the power of granting licences remains in the hands of the class who are benefitted by such a grant of licences, it will be useless to expect Mr. Davies' example to be widely followed. The power of granting licences must be transferred to the rate- payers, who receive no material benefit from the grant, and who have to support those whom the Liquor Traffic has brought to misery, destitution, insanity, and crime.

w THE INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL. The Intermediate Education Act has given Wales an opportunity of providing I for a deeply-felt national want. Like the rest of the United Kingdom, we have elementary schools. We have also got University Colleges, but we have not got intermediate schools. In England there are a large number of endowed grammar and other schools Avhich provide an education beginning Avhere elementary schools end, and ending where Universi- schools end, and ending where Universi- ties begin. It was in order to supply this distinct want in the Principality that the Welsh members carried through Parliament the Intermediate Education Act of 1881). The Joint Committees under the Act were appointed some time ago, and in this county they have decided to establish intermediate schools in certain places, on condition that each place so selected provides (1) a freehold site and (2) £ 15 per head for every scholar for whom provision is made. Barry has been chosen as one of the places where an intermediate school can be placed, and the number of scholars has been fixed at 100—namely, 70 boys and 30 girls. The Joint Education Committee, therefore, made us this offer-If we can obtain a suitable freehold site and raise the sum of £ 1,500 towards the building, they will establish an intermediate school at Barry. Through the generosity of the Barry Dock Town Syndicate (Limited) and Mr. Basset, a freehold site has been promised. We propose to briefly point out the advantages which this district will obtain by raising the necessary money and getting an intermediate school established here. First of all, we say the provision of such a school will be a great saving to the ratepayers. There is no doubt that we must have either a higher grade or an intermediate school in this district. Large sums of money are being spent, and rightly spent, on the provision of elementary education and if we wish the children of Barry to be placed on an equal footing with the children of other towns, we must provide good secondary education. In our opinion the private ventures do not, and, indeed, cannot, unless they are well tjndowed, meet the requirements of the district. Several of our readers have come to Barry from Cardiff, where they had the opportunity of sending their children to one of the best Higher Grade Schools in the King- dom. We want a school of this sort in our midst, and the main question to decide is, whether it is better to have a higher grade school or an intermediate school. Let us look at some figures. The poor rate assessment of the Local Board District is £ 144,420 (;s. Od. An Inter- mediate School at Barry would also serve the following parishes — Sully, St. Andrews (including Eastbrook and Dinaspowis), Wenvoe, Highlight, Pen- mark (including Rhoose and Aberthaw), Llancarvan and Porthkerry, so that we may safely estimate the poor rate assess- ment of the district which would be served by an Intermediate School at Barry as £ 144,000. Whether a school is placed at Barry or not, we shall have to pay a rate of one halfpenny in the £ annually towards intermediate education. This rate is levied all over the country quite irrespective of the fact whether a school is established in the district or not. This halfpenny rate amouuts in our district to £ i}()0. The joint education committee will receive from the Imperial fund, a sum equal to the amount raised by the halfpenny rate. They will, there- fore, receive t) from the Imperial funds in respect of our district. Under another Act of 1881), the Local Board can levy a rate of one penny per annum -in support of technical education. If an intermediate school is established here, it will have the following sources of maintenance, viz. (1) The halfpenny rate in ) Xi,,nn n n our district ) 0 0 (2) The Treasury Grant. 300 0 0 (3) A Technical Instruct tion rate (Id. in the t I on £ 7(», 1)20 the assess- y 320 0 0 ment for the general I district rate j £ 1)20 0 0 (4( The Scholars' fees (5) Arts and Science grants J earned in connection •> with the South Ken- sington Scienee and Art examinations. When it is remembered that the build- ing will be free, it will be seen that it will be very easy to maintain the school on the above income. The only extra cost to the ratepayers will be Id. in thg t per annum, because they will have to pay the •>d. county rate towards Intermediate education in any case. Let us now see what a higher grade school will cost. First of all, the site must be purchased and the school built. An acre of land in the centre of the district would cost about £ 1,000. The building will cost £ 2,000—just the same as an interme- diate school. We have seen that an intermediate school will have an income of £ D20 besides scholars' fees and South Kensington grants. To have an equally good higher grade school we must have an equal income. The annual cost of a. higher grade school would be as follows Repayment of £ 3,000 spent on site I and building, with interest at £ 130 3v, per cent., spread over 50 years J Annual income (similar to amount | o,»9(k spent on intermediate school j ,£1050 A rate of Id. in the t in the School Board District brings in £ 3D0. A higher grade school would therefore require a :21d. rate. We are therefore in this 4 position A penny rate is sufficient to carry on an intermediate school: a higher grade school would mean a 2;Jd. rate. It is surely unnecessary to point out which is best for the ratepayers. On a future occasion we hope to be able to show the other advantages which will be obtained by the establishment of an intermediate instead of a higher grade school, but we must leave that for the present, and be satisfied if we have shown beyond all shadow of doubt that, other things being equal, an intermediate school will be much cheaper for this district than a higher grade school. There are many in our midst who are very loud in their protestations of regard for the interests of the ratepayers. Here is an opportunity for them to prove what they so often state. If the sum of £ 1,500 is raised the ratepayers of this district will have to pay a rate of one penny in the £ annually instead of an annual rate of 2;|d. in the 4 ,t:. There are higher grounds on which we might appeal to our fellow ratepayers to assist in raising this money, but we leave those for a future occasion, and this week urge upon our readers the desira- bility of joining in this movement to raise the sum of £ 1,500. This will mean a saving of Il(l. in the .-E to the ratepayers. 4.

BARRY DOCK CRICKET CLUB. LIST OF MATCH FIXTURES, 1891. is-r XI. D "te. Club. Hayed. Apiilllth Scratch mutch April 25th St. Andrew'* 1st Barry St. Paul's Cardiff ? Canton Cardiff -May 16t11 Broadway eslevans Barn- May 23rd St..Johns Barry May 30th Y.M.C.A Bam June 6th Cathavs 1st [' liarrv June 20th St. Andrew's 1st Cardiff June 27th .MX.A Cardiff July nth Ely my July 18th Canton BaiT." July 25th St. John's Cardiff August 8th St. Paul's Barry August 15th Broadway Veslevans Cardiff August 29th Ely Ely September 5th Cathay < 1st Cardiff 2nd XI. May 2nd St. Andrew's 2nd Cardiff May 16th I'enarth 2nd Penarth June 6th Cathays 2nd Cardiff June 20th. St. German's Cardiff June 27th Penarth 2nd Barry August 1st St. Andrew's 2nd Jiarrv Aujnust 22ml St. German's Barry September 5th Cathays 2nd Barry

VOLUNTEER INTELLIGENCE. llth BATTERY 2nd GLAMORGAN* ARTILLERY VOLUNTEERS. BATTERY ORDERS. Cadoxton, 20th March, 1891. Parades for the ensuing week as under :—Monday, 23rd, Gun Drill Wednesday, 25th, Gun Drill; Friday, 27th, Gun Drill. Houn; of Parade 7.30 to 8.30 p.m. By Order, (Signed) J. JUST. HANDCOCK, Capt., Commanding Battery.