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THE WELSH LANGUAGE AND COUNTY…

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THE WELSH LANGUAGE AND COUNTY COUNCILS. MR. SAMUEL POPE, Q.C., was the chairman at the first meeting of the Merionethshire County CJouncil. Two weaker* gf the Council, in some observations they made, Used the Welsh language. The chairman thereupon ruled that theprogeedings I must be conducted in English. He did not give his opinion decidedly as he had not looked up the law, but he believed that a statute of Henry VIII, enacted that all legal proceedings in the counties of England and Wales were to be con-; ducted in tbe English language. We believe; Mr POPE is right as to the law, but surely members of County Councils who do not feel able to express themselves in the English language ought to be allowed to speak in Welsh, although; the minutes and resolutions might have to be recorded in English. There is a widespread notion that somebody or other wants to suppress the Welsh language. This is a mistake. Besides it is impossible to suppress a language. The fewer Welshmen can speak English the more places in Wales will be open to Englishmen, and the fewer Welshmen will go to compete for places over the border. If there is a statute of the kind Mr POPE believes, that statute must be repealed. The advocates of Wales for the Welsh, and England too, will make great capital out of Mr POPE'S ruling. Dr EDWARD JONES'S Welsh speech at the Council would no doubt, quite accidentally suggest to those present how in some respects Dr EDWARD JONES was fitter to be chairman than Mr POPE, who not only cannot speak Welsh, but actually thinks if there is a law pro- hibiting Welsh that the law ought to be observed. We have never been able to see why Welsh should not be taught in schools and be spoken wherever and whenever anybody wants to speak it. We think Mr POPE made a I mistake. Even if there is an Act passed in the time of Henry VIII. which would make English the official language of County Councils, nothing on earth coull prevent the members from speaking Welsh. The Welsh might be defective, and very much of the cc walkio," jumnio," ,'i smokio" order, but it would be used as a protest-a very reasonable protest—against an attempt to burke the people's native tongue. Languages live or die according to laws which reach far back, and very little can be done either to kill a language or keep it alive. Whatever may ultimately be- come of Welsh there can be no question that English is spreading in the Principality, and the English spoken in Wales is more correct than that spoken in many an English county. It. is now generally admitted that although Welsh should not be abandoned English should be at- tained, and the more English is attained the better it will be for all those who profit by Wales being one of the most beautiful playgrounds England possesses. A good deal of unnecessary feeling has been worked up in Merionethshire in consequence of Mr POPE's ruling. The Welsh- speaking members of the Merionethshire County Council have the matter entirely in their own hands. They can speak in Welsh at the next meeting from beginning to end, and they can do the same at all succeeding meetings. 'There need be no angry feeling. Mr POPE cannot abolish the Welsh language. The English members of c the County Council may ask as a slight con- cession for the points of the speeches to be translated into English, as it is not yet a crime to be ignorant of Welsh. Let the Merioneth- shire County Councillors remember that they are masters of the situation and kesp calm. If Mr POPE has forfeited the honour or being chairman of the Council, perhaps the Council will lose more than he would have gained. There is ofcviously no cause for disturbance or illfeeling. The more Welsh is spoken the better it will be for some people, and anybody who has heard many speeches in English may rest assured he is not losing much when they are delivered in Welsh.

LOCAL AN]) GENERAL NOTES.