The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard

BARMOUTH AFFAIRS. IT would be mere affectation to pretend not to know that the RECTOR of Barmouth, who is the Chairman of the Local Board, is also the Reporter and Editor of a local newspaper. We are not going to enter into an Eatenxwill GaziMc. sort of qua.rrel with the HECTOR in any of his capacities, nor are we going to defend ourselves, in Z5 Z5 these columns at any rate, from charges of any kind. We may tell the RECTOR, what he ought to beware of already, that a newspaper may know facts which it is not ) legal to publish. That is our condition, n, and that is the reason why we urge the ratepayers of Barmouth, amongst whom we are numbered, to see that their financial position is immediately and accurately ascertained. We say deliberately, and with fuller knowledge of the case than the nECTOR may believe, that Barmouth public liabilities are greatet than are known that the place is practically bankrupt; that the rates are much more than six shillings in the pound and that nobody knows at present how the place stands. It is the duty oi the Local Board to ascertain ths town'; financial condition. It is the Local Board that ought to know what the financial position of the town is, and the Ratepayers' Union must be careful not to make the mistake of usurping the functions of the Board. It would be impossible for the Ratepayers' Union to make the financial examination which the Board ought to make now, and which will certainly be made when the pre-ent body passes out of existence and the new District Council is elected. We state without the least1 ambiguity in terms that in our opinion neither the CLERK, the CHAIRMAN, nor any member of the Board knows, or can know, the position of the Board financially until the affairs of the Board have been thorougly investigated by a properly qualified ac- countant. The claims of the CLERK for hundreds of pounds may be most reasonable claims, but what is the extent of them ? The position of the waterworks may be I most satisfactory, but who knows what it is the condition of the loans and repayments may be just what i ought to be, but there is no evidence of it. Every- body may be as honest as daylight, and as honourable as it is possible for human beings to be, but that is no reason why there should not have been great carelessness, apathy, extravagance, and disorder. The ratepayers themselves have been careless and apathetic. There has been for many years a penny wise and pound foolish policy at Barmouth, and the time has come when it must end. When we think it is necessary we will defend ourselves, but in the mean- time we urge the ratepayers not to allow themselves to he diverted from the main issues. The proposal to go for a new Act of Parliament has been defeated. Nothing serious can happen by putting a stop to all possible public expenditure until the ratepayers ascertain what it is necessary to do, and how the money to do it is to be obtained. As regards the financial position of the Board, it is nonsense to say that the Board have no power to pay for the finances to be put in order. Is this not the CLERK'S work, if it were done regularly ? Have the Board no power to get clerical work done which may have fallen into arrear, by, let us suppose, the illness of the acting CLERK ? In December a new order of things will con!e into exist- ence. The majority of the Board have plenty of power if they choose to use it, and they would be wise to use it now while there is time. We repeat the advice we have given before. Let the Rate- payers' Union and the Members of the Local Board pull together, and whatever else they do let them be careful not to be drawn away from really great issues into small personal squabbles. The rate- papers are on the right tack, and if they only are united they will be strong enough y Z5 n to retrieve the position which they have allowed to be lost. Nobody in Barmouth needs to be told that the place has power of recuperation. What is said is that the situa- tion is one for strong men to deal with. The RECTOR has power to render assistance-- valuable assistance, and we hope that for once he will forget that he is anything but a representative of the ratepayers, and will do what as a man of affairs he knows ought to be done. The members of the Board and the ratepayers are alone responsible for whatever is wrong, and they, and they alone, must see that what- ever is wrong is put right. The great thing for the ratepayers to do is to see that they put an end for the time being to capital expenditure, and that they secure the financial investigation which it is fully in the power of the Board to provide. It will be time enough to talk about surcharging when the ACCOUNTANT'S charges are surcharged. The ratepayers have gained much. Let them steadily press their advantage, refusing to be lured into personal n 15 squabbles, or side issues. All that is wanted is that the town should be put in a position to carry out necessary works, and to meet its liabilities. Less than this will not be accepted.

LOCAL AND GENERAL NOTES. The North Wales Liberal Federation and the Cymru Fydd League will probably be united. This is the right course to take, unless it is in- tended to swallow the new organisation. >I- It must be an eye-opener to the teetotallers of Aberystwyth to find that large numbers of the working men of the town are in favour of more drinking shops. We have often told the local teetotallers that they were not in earnest, but we did not expect this overwhelming evidence that the working men of the town are of the same opinion. Professionalism is killing the game of football as it has killed other games. The Rugby Union is trying to put down professionalism, but the eifort will not succeed. Football is now a question more of gates than sport, and the professional player is always to the front. The infection has reached the local clubs in this district. » Last Saturday the South It'a/es Daily N(II' re- ported what it called a Disgraceful Case," which was heard in London on the previous Thursday, The enterprize of the South Wl/lc. Daily tveei-, in providing its readers with reports of Disgraceful Cases is decidedly objectionable, especially as our contemporary is exceedingly pious and might therefore try to keep itself moderately clean. Some people are asking why .JEAN INGELOV, could not be the poet laureate Iw is living in an old fashioned house in Kei singtou, London, and is a gentle, grey-haired woman of nearly 74 years. If these people will enquire they will Had that the QUEEN of ENGLAND during her long reign has never done anything for women. The QfEHS might by a single act give a great impetus to the emancipa- tion of women. In a Shetland breach of promise case the SHERIFF said that there is a custom prevailing to some ex- tent in Shetland, and known as Shetland courtship, in pursuance of which young men during winter visit their sweethearts at night, and frequently fdeep with them without undressing. Wales knows some- thing about this custom, which is called in Welsh Caru yn y Gwely. There evidently u nothing new in courting. But whe would expect to find Welsh courting customs in Slietlan(I Mr CHAMBERLAIN last programme has been I riddled and discredited. We never said he was not clever. All we say is that he made an attempt to oust Mr GLADSTONE and failed, and now he cannot get into the swim again. Liberals do not want him and Conservatives do not want him, and so he flits about the political horizon and finds no resting place. What a warning he is to all politicians who arc in a hurry, and especially to those, who drink that they are absolutely necessary to their party. Nobody is necessary. He is short-sighted, arrogant, ) ill-tempered, and unsympathetic. We see nothing l better for him than a peerage. The people he might have led laugh a- him. What an object lesson he is for local politicians who are eager to grab, and loth to wait! Some of the working men of Aberystwyth may think it a good thing that they should obtain a ttmperary advantage by building a place of permanent injury to the town, but they will not expect the majority of people to ngree with them. The working men may say that a drinking place on Constitution Hill will not be a place of permanent injury to the town. There. That is just the question to be argued, but are the working men in a mood to argue' Working men, like other people, should not be afraid of their principlts. ♦ At Aberystwyth the Liberals have behaved badly to Mr GRIFFITH WILLIAMS. They refused to support him on grounds which we think are absurd. Mr GRIFFITH W ILLIAMS made no demur to the action of his so-called friends, and does not seek re-election. He was told that the Conservatives would vote for him, but he said he did not want to be elected by Tory votes. Mr GRIFFITH WILLIAMS honestly believes that it is his duty to support anybody who is willing to expend capital ia the town. In this, at any rate, many working men are at one with him. £ Cardinal VACGHAN has been talking about Christian re union, and he means that the Church of England should go over to Rome. The Church of England has also been talking about Christian re- union, and she means that Nonconformists should go over to the Church of England. The Nonconformists talk about Christian re-union, and tfey mean that all sorts of people should go over to them It is very curious this presumption on the part of all sorts of peopie that salvation is to be found with them, and with them only. The local religionist cannot believe that anybody can be right who ditfers from him. And there is only one GOD, aud He has servants among all the religions. Here is something for Mr JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN to do. Last week, at Birmingham, during the hearing of summonses by the Corporation against Sir ALFRED GOOCH, Bart., requesting magisterial orders for the closing or demolition of a number of houses on his land, Dr HILL, medical officer for the city, stated that there are in Birmingham at present no fewer than 10,000 houses absolutely untit for human habitation. Eve.- since 1873, in this district, the Aberystwyth Rural Sanitary Authority has grossly neglected its duty, and to-day, atter twenty-one years' experience, the work of sanitary reform is still to begin. We do not believe that there will be much improvement under the Parish and District Councils Act. We are sure that the majority of the Liberals of Wales will agree with Mr D. A. THOMAS who, last ] week. in a speech at Merthyr, said that Lord I ROSEIJERY had promised that Welsh Disestablish- ment would be placed first next session, and con- sequently it was the policy of Welsh members to assist the Government to carry out that pledge. He did not believe in mosquito tactics, but if the Government did not fulfil their promise Welsh members could renew their protests. There is sound, common sense in thin attitude. Lord ROSEBERY is not an ideal PRIME MINISTER, but then the man who would make an ideal PRIME MINISTER could not get into Parliament, much less get to the chief place in a Government. The following letter, which appeared in the Standard last week, may be of use to seme Church of England parsons in this district In regard to the Consecration of Churches, the following extract from the Journal of John Wesley may not be inopportune. It is dated August 20th, 1824 :—" I went to Canterbury, and opened our new chapel by preaching on One thing is need- ful.' How is it that many Protestants, even in England, do not know that no other consecration of church or chapel is allowed, much less; "required, in England, than the performance of I public worship therein ? This is the only con-I ''secration of any church in Great Britain which is "necessary, or even lawful. It is true Archbishop Laud composed a form of consecration, but it was: never allowed, much less established, in England. Let this be remembered by all who so idly "of preaching in unconsecrated places." See; 'Journal,' vol. 3, 188 p., ed. 1887." It was the I spread of Nonconformity that made Church of ] England parsons talk foolishly about the consecra- tion of churches. More than once lately attempts have been made! to justify the existence of the do-nothing North and South Wales Liberal Federations, by pointing to the fact that Wales has thirty-one Liberal Members of Parliament to three Conservatives. Mr J. BRYX ROBEBTS, at a meeting held at Rhyl, last Friday, took this course and said the Federation had been very successful since its establishment that was abundantly evidenced by the fact that at the present moment Wales had a representation of! thirty-one members out of thirty-four, and had united North and South Wales into one 14ationall Council." Mr BRYN ROBERTS was quickly corrected by the Rev J. MACHRETII REE, who pointed out that the preponderance of Liberal representation in Wales had been secured before the Federation came into existence. In 1880, before the Welsh Liberal Federation was formed or ■ thought of, they had only one Tory member for; North Wales. Since the Federation had come into existence they had doubled the number. Whether it is wise or necessary t. supersede the Federa- tions or not is a question, but they need not be kept in existence for anything they have done. "*• When the Conservatives wanted to defeat the Ballot Act they said that the ballot would be useless unless canvassing were prohibited. They knew, of course, that canvassing could no more be stopped than influence comld be stopped. Their ridiculous con- tention against canvassing took possession of many Liberals who, to this day, believe that the impossible thing can be done. During the recent contest at Birkenhead two canvassers, who were sworn enemies l in politics, iu personal friendship were so united that each allowed the other to have a look at his book of pledges. They had been covering the same district, and were equally interested in the comparison. Much to their bewilderment, they found nine-tenths; of the people upon whom they had waited had undertaken to support both candidates. This means that electors give canvassers what may be called evasive answers. The ballot has killed the old sort of canvassing in which a pledge was extorted that could, in a measure, be enforced. When objectors to canvassing are pressed they have to admit that it is not canvassiDg. but some particular forms of it, that they object to. The Rev J. FROME WILKINSON (recter of Kil- vington, Notts), has been speaking on the duty of Liberal Churchmen in view of Church Disestablish- ment in Wales in a way that makes it quite dear to us that the Rev J. FKOME WILKINSON has no; present intention of becoming a Bishop. He said "There was in Wales especially the defence of the! landed interest, which siw in the Church a sort of barrier against the Radical land rearms, an unti-democra ic element which helped to keep "back the sociil evolution of the mass of the "people. As progressive Liberals, they could have1 nothing in common with such. When they were 1 asked to join in an Establishment defence under "the sacred name of Church defence, they might well reply For the Church's sake, we will join in no more lost battles on behalf of the Establish- The passing of the bill would pave the way for the restoration of the old Welsh Church, with the seat of the metropolitan ouce more at St. David's, and endowed with the inestimable gifts of freedom and autonomy." This ig the sort ) of person that sees the ditJerence between a spiritual church and a political institution. The Welsh attack is now made upon the political institution, but if that attack fails, then the spiritual church will tall as far as Wales is concerned, | Blasphemy seems to riiii in the blood of the German Emperors. The other day the ceremony took place in front of the monument of FREDERICK j the GREAT of the blessing of 132 colours, presented to the fourth battalions added to the infantry regi- ments by the new army law. The flags were carried from the Arsenal to an altar erected before the monument. On reaching the altar the EMPEROR saluted the German sovereigns and roval princes who attended the ceremony, after which the Rev Dr FROMJIEL, the acting chaplain general, who was assisted by a Catholic military chaplain, offered up a short prayer and blessed the colours, a salute of artillery being tired at the same time. The EMPEROR further alluded to the splendid achieve- ments of the German army in 1871, and called upon the commanders to continue to cultivate those glorious traditions under the ce.v colours, remaining loyal unto death and rendering unconditional obedi- ence to their AR LORD against external and in- ternal enemies. May the blessing of the MO"T HIGH concluded his MAJESTY, Who has hitherto watched over the army, remain with it and may my royal forefathers look down protectingly from above upon the new colours with GOD for the KING and the Fatherland." What do our readers think of this? Do they believe that GOD is in favour of war and all its horrors, and that GaD is in partnership with the dead German Emperors in protecting the German Army ? How long is this sort of dreadful blasphemy to go on ? Just think of representing GOD as in any sense sanction- ing wholesale murder, or as being more the God of Germany than of France The German EMPEROR evidently looks upon GOD as a sort of German officer The Bishop of CHESTER has been honoured with a requisition from the Lord PROVOST and other representative citizens of Dundee inviting him to visit that town, and speak on public-house reform. Mr J. MALINS, the chief of the English Good Templars, has been travelling in Norway and Sweden, and his opinion of the Gothenburg licensing system is that it is no better than cur own system. He says that the percentage of arrests for drunken ness in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and generally in the Scandiuavian countries, is greater than in our own country. The great evil of the system is that, the people get a vested interest in the carrying on of the traffic, and even temperance people, with other philanthropic organisations, have money granted to the.n out of the proceeds for carrying on temper- ance work. Such a system, he thought, wes the worst that could possibly be devised, and that it was no longer satisfactory to the Swedish people was shown by the fact that the leader of the Liberal party in Sweden had applied to him for copies of Sir WILLIAM HAROODRT'S and Sir WILFRID LAWSON'S Local Option Bills, and was endeavouring to get the local veto carried in Sweden. Norway had adopted a modified Gothenbnrg system, which met with the approval of the Bishop of CHESTER but even in Norway that was not regarded as satis- factory, for the Legislature there had adopted a Direct Local Veto Bill. The drink question, we believe, is now in a fair way to be thrashed out. The Executive of the Scottish Temperance Associ- ation have issued a manifesto in which they say that While sympathising with every effort to discourage drinking and diminish drinking facilities, we cannot regard with favour either the scheme formulated by the Bishop of CHESTER or that known as the Gothenburg system, notwithstanding that they may, at first sight, appear to possess some novel and inviting aspects." The Bishop of CHESTER has a tough job before him in tryiDg to persuade the people of this country that the best way to &top the drink traffic is to divide the profits among the people -jI- Here are two er three problems for the Independent Labour Party, which believes that the only solution of the social and industrial questions is by the socialization of land and capital, and of the meane of production and distribution." Mr TOM MANN says that the unsatisfactory state of society was owing to the fact that the raw material whereby wealth was created was in the hands of the few." At the present time raw cotton is beina; sold at a lower rate than on any occasion within the memory of living persons. It is said that tbe present rate does not pay for the growing, apart from the transit expenses, but still the production goes on. A large number of cotton mills in Oldham are worked by the people themselves, and the miits cannot be made pay a profit. Suppose working men owned ships which were carrying cotton at a loss how would they make the ships pay., If one working man makes boots or grows food for another working man who will not give for them what they cost the maker or grower, how is the grower or maker to live ? This is a very simple question that the Independent Labour party cannot answer. Suppose we handed over this newspaper to the Independent Labour Party they could not make it pay its expenses any more than they could make the papers pay which they have started. Of course they could consume the capital which has been painfully saved, but what then ? The Independent Labour Party wants land. Well, Canada consists of 3,315,647 square miles, exclusive of large lakes and rivers. The population is five millions. The total area of the Briti&h Isles is 121,115 square miles with a population of :17,740.28:3. There is surely Ian3 enough in Canada for all practical purposes, but the Canadians, with only the population of London, are crying out. against emigrants from this country, and are troubled with every question that troubles this country. What the Independent Labour Party wants to do is to consume other people's savings. Why not go to Canada, take a tract as large as the United Kingdom, a.nd make a paradise of it ? Why not ? One of the objects we aim at in writing these notes is to provide the thoughtful with food for thought. Here is a story, as s'id as sad can be, and yet not without a glint of hope in it. Last week, at Bow Street Police Court, ELIZABETH KELLY, a thin, pale-faced, little girl, nine years of age, was charged with begging and ELIZABETH KELLY, her mother, a wannly-attired woman, about 35 years of age, was charged with allowing her to go into the street for the purpose of receiving alms. At six o'clock a.t night Mr BRAXTON HICKS, coroner, was in a restaurant in Chandos-street where the little girl entered. She had a box of flowers in her hand, which she offered for sale but in the opinion of Mr HICKS, this Was simply an excuse for begging, and he gave her a penny, and the immediately went away. Noticing that she was pille and thin, and that the few scanty garments she wore were wet through, the Ccroner followed her into an adjoining public-house. The girl did not recognise him. and again appealed to him. He entered into conversa- tion with her, and she said that she was sent out by her mother, who would give her a. "hidíng" unless she took home sixpence or a allilling. The barmaid told Mr HICKS that the child was rapidly getting thinner, aud Mr HICKS gave the little girl into custody, and drove her and the constable to Bow Street in a cab. The girl told the constable that she would rather go to the workhouse thaa go home. Enquiries were afterwards made by an officer of the Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Children. He found that the elder defendant was a widow with several children, all of them looking pale and delicate. She received 5s a week from the parish, and did a little charing and hawking. She said she sent her child out to sell flowers, and had no idea that she begged. The constable stated that when taken into custody the child had five pence in her possession. The case was adjourned for the production of further evidence. Here you have a life that slays the young, with the Poor Law and philanthrophy seeking to save. Bravo, Mr HI^KS. How the modern Pharisee would sneer at the interest he took in this child.

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^dcctirtgs, (Eittcrtaimimtts, (Etc. CYMRU FYDD. A PUBLIC MEETING Under the auspices of the Aberystwyth Branch of the Cymru Fydd League WILL BE 1IKLD ON JIONDA Y EVENiNG, OCTOBER 29 th, AT THE OLD ASSEMBLY ROOMS, ABERYSTWYTH, When addresses will be delivered by Messrs D. LLOYD-GEORGE, M.P., J. WYNFORD PHILLIPS (Late M.P. for Mid Lanark), AND OTHERS. The Chair will he taken at 7.30 by ALDERMAN PElJiiF, JONES, J.P. A limited number of seats (for which early application must be made) will be reserved at one shilling each, tickets may be obtained either from Members of the Society or from the undersigned. Admission to the remaining part of the Hall —Free. J. HUGH EDWARDS I H G J. R. GRIFFITHS ) p3SS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF WALES, ABERYSTWYTH. A J PUBLIC MEETING WILL BE HELD AT THE COLLEGE HALL ON WEDNESDA Y, 31st OCTOBER, ISO 4, WHEN ADDRESSES WILL BE DELIVERED BY T. E. ELLIS, ESQ. M.P., PRINCIPAL ROBERTS, AND OTHERS. CHAIR TO BE TAKEN AT 7.30 O'CLOCK. ADMISSION will be by tickets, which may be obtained free on application (after Monday next) to the Registrar at the College, Mr R. Ellis, chemist, terrace- road, Mr Wynne, Pier-street, and Mr J. P. Thomas, j Great Darkgate street. p 420 NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS We have been compelled to hold over reports of Portmadoc County Court, Corwen, and other news until next week.

THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF IN ALES. THE PRINCIPAL of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, has made an appeal through the newspapers for contributions towards the < £ .j,000 required to meet the conditions imposed by Sir WILLIAM HAR- COURT in reference to the grant of £ 10,000! to complete the College buildings. A con- siderable sum has been obtained towards the required amount, and one sum of L500 has been premised if the whole of the £ 5,000 is obtained before the end of the year. The College authorities have done, we suppose, what they think is necessary; to obtain this sum, and we sincerely hope that they will be successful. The amount still required is about £ 1,800. The Colleg has been successful ever since it was open; d j in 1872, and we believe will continue to be as successful as an institution can be j which is largely managed by people who do n t5- not believe in it, and who would at more stages than one have been glad to see its doors closed. We trust the appeal made will meet with a hearcy response, and have no doubt that it has been well considered. On future occasions we may recur to this matter if it is necessary to do so.

THE PROGRESS OF WALES. AT Cojwyn Bay, lust week, Mr T. E. ELLIS, M.P., made a speech in which he quoted some figures, reproduced in another part of the paper, to show what progress had been made in certain directions by Wales during the last twenty-five years. This progress, Mr ELLIS conclusively showed, had° been slowly won in the face of the opposition of the Bishops and Clergy of the Church of England. The greatest task n accomplished during the period referred to by Mr ELLIS, although it cannot be reduced to figures, was to arouse Wales to action. Even vet that tosk is not completed. "We have taken but little interest, for instance, in the Parish and District Councils Act, for the reason that we believe rural Wales is far from ready to profit by this measure. Look at Tregaron. If we were to describe accurately how public business is transacted at Tregaron we should be accused of gross exaggeration. New Quay has for years '5" possessed a dead Local Board. Aberayron is neither drained nor supplied with water. Lampeter has no water to flush drains, and that is given as a reason for not making drains Machynlleth has drank its own -dirty water for years, and neither sickness nor death can rouse the inhabitants. The Aberystwyth Rural Sanitary Authority has neglected its duties for twenty yeais, and at the present time Talybont is in a con tlition that would be a disgrace to ar: African village. BaJa, is one huge cesspool, and, it is said, cannot be drained. There are hovels in every direction unfit foi human habitation, and in some places Talybont for instance, pigstyes are erected lover the water supplies and drain directly I into them. This is what may be called the social apathy of the people, and it is profound. The great use we see in the new Parish Meetings, and Parish and District Councils, is that in future we shall be able to appeal to the people as responsible for their own con- dition. There is need for continued effort to arouse Wales to higher conceptions of intellectual life. Politically Wales is in no danger of apathy, but intellectually there is room for much progress. We do not wish to be understood as saying that the intellectual life of Wales is below that of England. It may safely be said that there is no intellectual life in rural England, a thing that cannot be said of Wales. What we want is to see Wales rise to the intellectual height that is possible for her, if those who lead her and direct her can be induced to believe in the possibility. Twenty-five years ago it was a common belief that the only leaders Wales had were to be looked for in London, and the suggestion that the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth could be managed away from London was rejected with incredulous laughter. The London Welsh- men marred the Welsh University scheme, but that we believe was their last effort, and in future Wales will find within her own borders representatives, leaders, and administrators. We wish we could believe with Mr T. E. ELLIS that villages will tax themselves in order to establish free libraries. Even in towns like Aber- ystwyth, the difficulty of maintaining a free library worthy of the name is difficult. The perpetual chairman," who does not I know that books are not necessarily a library, kills the desire to establisha library. Is it likely that places which resist rates for physical cleanliness will pay rates for mental cleanliness? During the past twenty-five years there has been great progress in reference to education. This is the department in which Mr ELLIS'S figures tell with great effect. We have been at issue, and still are at issue, with Mr T. E. ELLIS and some others in reference to Intermediate Schools, but everybody in Wales has good cause for pride in the Walsh educational record during the past twenty-five years. We believe that the mistake of establishing more than a hundred Intermediate Schools in Wales will cure itself at the cost, of some loss of time and money, and those places, probably, will make moat speed who make least haste in building Intermediate Schools. Dolgelley is destined to be an educational centre. The Girls' School, under Miss FEWIXGS, is already a school to be proud of, and a sample of what should be done in different parts of Wales. We hope justice will be done to it in the division of public funds. Mr MARSHALL, again, is every inch a schoolmaster, and notwithstanding the impotent opposition he has met with by the Church party, who seem to refuse to benefit by an Act that was intended for all, he will build up a successful School that will demonstrate the unwisdom of establishing five or six schools in counties like Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire. We still hope that in Wales some half- dozen really first class Intermediate Schools will be established for boys and girls. During the past twenty-five years there has been a growth of national life and feeling in Wales which is simply wonderful. There have, of course, been bome spurious j growths and developments, but in the main the new national manifestations have been good and in right directions, and have made for real progress. Wales has rightly refused to be counted numerically in order that her place among the nations that make up the United Kingdom might be fixed. She has those who wished to number her with this object. Where would England be among the nations of the world if numbers were to decide her position ? In religion, again, there has been much progress during the past quarter of a century. We do not believe that religion is to be measured by churches, or chapels, or communicants, or congregations. Wales has been told many tines during the period mentioned by Mr ELLIS that she is losing her hold of religion. We do not believe it. The mystery of life and death, and of human destiny, is not less now than in times past, and we believe that to-day in Wales there are as many men and women who do justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with their GOD as ever there are re. Wales has not gone backward during the past twenty-five years, and is not going backward in the great struggles for religious freedom and for social regeneration which she is bracing herself to meet. We were not in doubt in the dull days of twenty-five years ago, and we cannot be afraid now when the voices of her children are heard pleading eloquently with her Saxon partner for more generous treatment, not only for herself, but for all the Celtic race, and especially for Ireland. There have been mistakes. Progress means mistakes. Nothing is so free from mistakes as profound slumber or immovable apathy. The great point is that there has been progress, and that the record of it is not complete.