The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard

AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS. WHATEVER may be said about Mr. LLOYD GEORGE'S scheme of land reformr there can be no doubt that it has helped already to create deep and Widespread interest in the numerous subjects which have to do with the land. Will the great landowners help him ? He is not their enemy, and is very human. We are not going to deal with his Glasgow speech, which shows that he is master of the subject and is prepared to deal with it on broad, impartial lines. He offers landowners a great opportunity and, in a sense, is more Conservative than most of them. Farmers are at last realising that they are going to obtain security of tenure or compensation for removal. This real- isation in itself is giving a new impetus to the farming industry, as tenants will no longer be in danger of having to pay increased rents on their own labour, skill, and investments. There surely is nothing wrong in this. Landowners are learning, slowly we admit, that the reform scheme is not in- tended to do injury to them, or to rob them, or to place them under any dis- advantages. We think it will be admitted that landowners ought not to pocket increased land values which they have done nothing whatever to bring about. Land increases in value in proportion to the growth oi popula- tion, as is seen in the difference between the value of land in London and other centres of large population, and land on the slopes of Plynlimon, Cader Idris, Snowdon, and elsewhere. Without population land is absolutely worthless. Landowners are not going to be wronged, for it is absolutely cer- tain that the proposed legislation will bring about great additions to the population in small towns and rural dis- tricts. This will mean increased land values over large areas where there are now no roads, or railways, or popula- tion. If landowners were wise, we think they would prevent, as is quite possible, the land reform scheme from being dealt with on political party lines. The State itself is a great landowner, and one of the worst and most hopeless in the country. Many municipalities, again, are great owners of land and are insatiable grabbers. What we want to make clear is that it is not only this or that great landowner who wants to claim ad vanced land values which he has done nothing whatever to bring about. What is true of one is true of all, and the great questions are what share the whole population are to have of land values which they themselves have brought about, and how they are to secure their share without doing in- justice to anybody. Last week, a deputation was received by the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER when several important sides of the agricultural question were dealt with, J and among them preference given by j great railway companies in this country to foreign producers. The CHAXCELLOR said that this important matter would | receive attention. Then there is the great problem how cultivation is to be brought about in areas where there are no railways, no roads, or other means oi transit. What is needed, and is absolutely essential, is State control of railways, so that preferences to foreigners can be abolished and means of home transit can be provided, so as to make cultivation practicable where it is now impossible. This subject we have dealt with in former articles. The housing problem is a great one, but that is already being grappled with. We have recently shown that in many parts of this district there is manifested tendency among certain sections of the people in centres of large population to come to live in small towns and rural districts. This is a quite reasonable tendency. Those people arc fairly well off, but they want small cottages, healthy surroundings, little gardens, and freedom from the ceaseless turmoil of centres of large population. We refer to this fact merely to show that if houses were provided the congestion of population in large towns would be re- lieved, rural districts and small towns would be benefited, and the value of land would be increased. There is welcome action among loiati- owners, tenants, labourers, and others who are directly or indirectly interested in agricultural progress. At the annual dinner of the Wrexham District Farmers' Association, last week, the Hon. W. ORMSBY GORE, M.P., said "that the farmers of this country had .7 "not done half enough yet in the direc- "tion of co-operation, either by co- I "operative buying and selling or by "co-operative ownership of thorough- "bred stallions and bulls. At this "moment co-operation was necessary "among farmers owing to political cir- "cumstances. The reason railway "rates were unfair to farmers was be- "cause foreign shippers were able to "deal in bulk. By doing likewise the "British farmer woulcl gft better terms "from the railways. He hoped the "mainspring of the Board of Agricul- "ture would come from the farmers "themselves, and not from a doctrinaire "sitting in London." We may state I, that a doctrinaire is one who would apply to political or other practical concerns the abstract doctrines cr the theories of his own philosophical system a propounder of a new set of opinions; a dogmatic theorist. We take interest in Mr. ORMSBY GORE, as our readers know, and we believe in his political future. We hope he will rot become a doctrinaire. That would be fatal. There is great work for him in this new land reform scheme if he would sink his party politics in dealing with this great national subject. t., Addressing a gathering- of South Wales agriculturists, at Carmarthen last week, Mr E. R. DAVIES, secretary of education for Carnarvonshire, said "that in connection with the farm "school at Madryn Castle the policy "adopted was to concentrate on the "more important things which a "farmer's son or daughter could never "hope to learn at home. One of the "most important functions of a farm "school was to convince the pupils that "farming is a business concern, which "must be carried out on strictly "business and economical lines. This is certainly just what needs to be taught. Dirty milk, unclean wool, dead manure, salt butter, tasteless cheese, mongrel cattle, broken-down fences, and Impure water are not desir- able in farming. A meeting of the Cardiganshire Live Stock Committee was held at Lampeter last week. Mr. VAUGHAN DAVIES, M.P., was appointed chairman. The Committee made arrangements for the division of the county into areas for the purpose of the live stock scheme, and it was decided to recommend to the Board of Agriculture to grant premiums for shire horses to the North Cardigan- shire and Mid-Cardiganshire Horse Societies grants for the Bull Societies of Talsarn, Llanrhystyd, and Devil's Bridge1. Mr. VAUGHAN DAVIES has been prominently identified with agri- culture for many years. Cardiganshire is well to the front, and Lampeter horse fairs are widely known throughout the United Kingdom. We are not going to try to teach Mr. VAUGHAN DAVIES any- thing about agriculture in Wales. The Marquess of LONDONDERRY, pre- siding over the annual meeting of the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society, held at Belfast last week, said "in all parts "of the' country they saw increasing "agricultural prosperity, even in those "parts which some years ago were con- sidered hopeless from an agricultural "point of view. Agriculture, as they "knew, was the principal industry in "Ireland, and employed more male per- "sons than any other class of occupa- tion—721,629 male persons as com- "pared with 665,529. It was, there- "fore, to his mind very important that "that great industry should be bolstered "up, if he might use the expression, "and be assisted by every means in "their power. The Agricultural "Department was established in 1889. "Without entering into politics, he "would like to remind them that that "Department was created by the "Unionist Government, and since that "time it had greatly assisted in the "development and promotion of agricul- "tural interests in the country." Why should not the Marquess of LONDON- DERRY, who is a good business man, and other Unionists do what is possible to hit agriculture out of the area of party politics. The Marquess of LODONDERRY, we are sure, would like to see done for Wales what has been done for Ireland, and would also like to help to do it. He could do more, we think, than he realises to be possible. The work now being done by the University College of Wales at Aber- ystwyth and, by the Bangor University College is being accepted more freely than in the past bv the average .armer, and the Agricultural Commis- sioner for Wales, Professor BRYXEH JONES, is bringing the Government Department into closer relations with the various agricultural movements which we believe are going to result in a measure of prosperity which has never previously existed. Will Conservatives help to increase the prosperity of the agricultural population? There is no reason why they should not do this.

CHRISTIAN UNITY. THE need for what is called Christian unity is being discussed "freely in pulpits, in newspapers, and in all sorts of public bodies and associations. We admit the need fully and frankly, but whether Christian unity is possible or not is a question for our reacers to decide. What we want to do in this article is to show our readers, as far as possible without prejudice or bias, clear cases in which unity is desirable but is apparently impossible. We are not going to discuss the reasons why lack of unity exists, nor do we intend to suggest remedies, or to impute blame or responsibility. All we want to do is to show our readers that there are numerous cases in which unity is not only desirable but is absolutely necessary, and that it does not exist and seems to be absolutely impossible. There is no subject, perhaps, of more importance to the public gener- ally than elementary education. Re- ligion is an essential part of elementary education. Children must be taught what is right or wrong, what is moral or immoral, andJ what is wicked or virtuous. There are many religious denominations in the country, and it might reasonably be thought that every denomination, including the Church of Rome and the Church of England, could agree on a system of religious teaching that would meet the requirements of children in elementary schools. This appears to be impossible. The churches cannot agree even as to what religion shall be taught to children who do not know anything about theology, or creeds, or origins, or destinies. Some of our readers may ask, why teach religion at ail in elementary schools? The reason is that good and bad, right and wrong, vice and viitue, reverence and contempt, Inc and death, and past and future, cannot be ignored in the teaching of children. What is hard to understand is why all the churches cannot reach a unity that would enable teachers in elementary schools to teach a religion that cm bodies the fundamental principles of Christianity. This unity is apparently impossible. The Church of Rome and the Church of England are wide apart, and there are differences among Non- conformist bodies that make united action impossible with either the Church of England or the Church of Rome, or with themselves. The impossibility of denominational unity is not less obvious. Can anybody believe that the Church of Rome, the Church of England, the Trinitarians, the Unitarians, the Calvinists, the Baptists, and other bodies are going to sink their differences in order to reach unity that would embody Christianity and yet leave individuals free to hold their own views as to origins and destinies? Our readers may ask what is relig- ion ? We are not going to try to answer that question in this article. Our point is that whatever religion is there can be no doubt that the denom- inations cannot reach unity or the point. Every church has its own concep- tion of what are the essential features in religion, and there is no chance what- ever, as far as we can see, of unity. One denomination declares that some- thing is essential to true religion which another denomination deems to be of secondary importance, or of no import- ance at all. Then there are creeds, acts, oblations, services which divide profes- sing Christians as if those things were fundamental principles of religion. Unity appears to be impossible. Sects are established to emphasise them, and any attempts to reach unity are looked upon as attempts to destroy the sects. Our case is that the Christian churches are themselves divided in ways that, as far as we can see, render unity impos- sible, quite apart from the importance of the reasons' why there should be unity. For instance, it is not likely that the Church of Rome or the Church of England is going to imperil its dis- tinct existence merely in order that in a village or rural district there should be only one elementary school. Certainly not. There is the question of marriage. What is marriage? Whatever it is there can be no doubt there was marriage before there was organised region, or churches, or statute laws. There is,, as far as we can see, no, pos- sibility of unity in reference to marriage, separation r and divorce. J Some people say that marriage is a re- ligious ceremony, others say that it is „ a legal ceremony, while many say that I it is an individual arrangement that has nothing to do with religion or law. In a recent speech, Sir A. CONAN DOYLE said that "the inequalities now existing "as between the legal positions of hus- "band and wife were monstrous, and "the Separation Act the most ingenious "Bill ior producing immorality that the "mind or legislators ever evolved. "There were in England 200,000 people I "who were free on the terms of the I "Act, though they were unable to "marry again. They were poisonous "units wandering about—sources of "infection. Compulsory celibacy was "not the way to enforce morality." VV e do not want to make out a case for or against the lawrs of separation or divorce, but what chance is there of anything like unity among people who diher as to what is meant by marriage, separation, and divorce. To expect the Church of Rome, or the Church of England, and many other churches to look upon marriage as a mere individual arrangement that can be set aside at the will of the contracting parties is out of the question. There are millions of people who will not cease to look upon marriage as a religious act, and upon divorce as an outrage upon religion.. What we want to show is that unity on this subject is impossible that is all. At the present time there is before the public the subject of Irish Home Rule. How, are the Roman Catholic majority of the people of Ireland and. the Church of England minority to be brought into 'unity? The thing is im- possible. The minority say that they .will resort to civil war if there is Home Rule, and the majority say there will be something- much worse if-there is not Home Rule. To talk, about unity between the conflicting Irish section is b hopeless. There is nothing for it but that either the Government must back out to avoid civil war, or those who threaten civil war must back out, or the Government must enforce the decisions of Parliament and everybody must take the consequences. Unity is as impossible as between dog and cat. What is true of Irish Home Rule is equally true of Welsh Disestablishment. The Church of England will not accept Disestablishment. The Nonconform- ists will not abandon it, and to talk about unity is to show that the subject is not understood. \Vhat is the use of asking the Bishop of ST. DAVID'S to take a reasonable view of the attitude of a Calvinistic Methodist life-long deacon's view of Welsh disestablish- ment. Then there are the people who are neither for nor against disestablish- ment. They would change their opinions as often as they heard contrary speeches. Unity is 0 impossible, it seems to us. There is, again, the ever-increasing expenditure on armaments. On one side are those who believe the safety of the empire depends on more warships and bigger guns, while their opponents believe that the empire is being degraded by the ever-expanding ex- penditure. To expect the two sides to reach common ground is out of the question. Unity is impossible. All that can be done is for those who are in favour of peace, retrenchment, and reform to become a majority and to force the armament expanders into un- welcome reduction of expenditure. What will happen nobody knows, but it is quite certain that there will be no reduced expenditure if we have to wait for unity among the contending factions. There is another great subject, namely, the women's enfranchisement and complete emancipation. Is there possibility of unity 011 this subject? Certainly not. Think of a woman being the Archbishop of Canterbury, or York, or the Prime Minister, or a Judge of the High Court, or a life-long deacon of a Calvinistic Methodist Church, or the Pope of Rome But a woman may be Queen of England. Unity Does anybody expect unity in reference to the status of women? Certainly not. But it will come, but not by unity. There are many other subjects which we might refer to where unity seems to us to be impossible, and among them social reform, system of governments, the drink traffic, and many others. Our space is exhausted. What we want to show is that unity is not easy, even if it js possible, which we doubt. The subject is one well worth careful con- sideration. We may deal with it again on a future occasion.

NEEDED ZEtlNICiPAL REFORM. IT is believed that Mr. JOBS is going to be removed from the Local Government Board and will become the President of the Board of Trade, if there is reconstruction needed in any State Department, it is in the Local Government Board. Mr. JOHN BeRNs has probably done all that it was pos- sible to do under the present system, but efficiency is obviously impossible where it takes any time from three to six months to get an answer to a letter. Defective local governing bodies are able to set the Local Government Board at defiance and to delay any necessary work, and to ignore any existing laws. Let our readers try to realise what the work of the Local Government Board must mean, seeing" that it has to do with Boards of Guardians, Parish Councils, Rural District Councils, Urban District Councils, Borough Councils, County Councils, and other bodies. The work is inconceivably great, and is not done simply because it is impossible to do it under the: present system, or lack of system. It seems to us that the only way to secure efficiency would be by throwing upon local g-overning bodies, from Parish Councils to County Councils, full power to act and entire financial re- sponsibility for whatever expenditure is incurred, all the bodies being- super- vised by Government Inspectors, as Boards of Guardians are supervised. Whether there ought not to be some re-arrangement of areas is a. question that ought to be carefully con- sidered. Under the present system towns can enlarge their areas, which means reduction in revenue from rates for rural districts. If the town areas are not enlarged, then towns have, in a measure, to meet the cost of what are nominally rural districts, but are prac- tically parts of towns, the rural councils taking the rates and refraining as much as possible from doing work. The only local governing bodies that seem to us to be efficient are County Borough Councils, and their efficiency is due not to exceptional ability on the part of the representatives of the ratepayers, but