The Cardiff Times

ITALIANS AND THE KNIFE. I Before the Common Sergeant, at the Central Criminal Court on Monday, George Cortesi, aged 26, a-wirewbrker, and Vincent Sabini, aged 24, a carman, both Italians, were indicted for maliciously wounding Francisco Pacinco, alsoan Italian, on the night of Christmas If ay. According to the prosecution, the prosecutor, whois a firemattrwas staying at a house in Little Gray's Inn-lane on Christmas Day, and at night a crowd-of men, amongst whom were the prisoners, came to the house and created a disturbance. -The prosecutor went outside, when Sabini wentbehind him and stabbed him in the back. Cortesi was seen to pick up the knife which Sabini dropped and conceal it in his sleeve. The wounded man was taken to the Royal Fret" Hospital, where he was de- tained for some days. Madame Ferrari, at whose house Pacifieo was staying, said that she saw Sabini give him a blow when he had something shining in his hand. Sabini, on oath, in answer to Mr Purcefl, who appeared for him, said that he lived at Manor House, Woodford, and on Christmas Day night he came to Little Gray's Inn-lane to see a friend. Prisoner, who had a grudge against him, met him ooteide a house and threatened him with a knife. Witness ran away. He denied that he had a knife or that he stabbed the prosecutor. The something bright which he had in his hand was a police whj^ble- He ran away because he knew the prosecutor was fresh over from the mountains of Italy, where he had seen men playing for a penny bottle of wine, each of them with a knife under the table. The Common Serjeant directed a verdict of not guilty in the case ofCortesi. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of common assault against Sabini, and Detective- Sergeant Mercer said that Sabini had previously been convicted for an assault on the police. The Common Serjeant passed sentence of two calendar months' imprisonment with hard labour.

CONVINCED L.G.B. Mr John Allcock(citytreasurer)reported to the Cardiff Finance Committee on Monday (Aid. F. J. Beavan presiding) that, as a result of corres- pondence with the Local Government Board, he had induced them not to persist in their contention that the sinking fund instalment in respect of certain Corporation loans should be invested upon a 3 per cent. earning basis, in- stead of a 3 J per cent. basis. Had the Board insisted upon investment on a 3 per cent. basis, it would have meant an estra charge of £981 per annum for sinking fund. It should be explained that the Corporation not being allowed to liquidate its debts by instalments creates sinking funds for the ultimate liquida- tion of these liabilities, and these sinking funds are invested- Thus it is that the Corporation are creditors for loans extended to a large number of public authorities throughout the country, these loans representing the sinking fund and earning interest at the rate of 3A per seat.

"BAD MANNERS." Mr Balfour's Lecture. OLD AGE PENSIONS AGAIN f Mr Balfour visited Trowbridge on Monday and addressed a large meeting of the Unionists of Wiltshire on behalf of the Unionist candi- dates for the various divisions of that county. Mr Balfour said we had the results of one day. (A Voice." We are doing very well," and cheers.) He agreed with his friend that the Conservative party had no great reason to complain of having gained eighteen seats on the first day of this great contest. (Cheers.) But he was not sure now that the contest had actually begun. He took the opportunity of calling attention to certain peculiarities of this election which marked it off from any elec- tion that he had ever heard of in British history. Was it not true that in this election men of great official position had indulged in language and employed methods which men in their position had never employed since the British Constitution became the great instrument for popular freedom which it now was. (Hear, hear. Cries of Lloyd George." He did not deal with individuals. He mentioned a notorious fact not to be denied by anybody. He did not know that the particular statesman to whom refer- ence had been made stood alone in the special style of which he was so unapproached a master. (Laughter.) He did not make his criticism upon all members of the present ad- ministration. Quite the contrary. The Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister had con- ducted the controversy-as great English states- men had been in the habit of conducting great political controversies. They had conducted this great battle in the spirit which used to animate their forefathers under similar cir- cumstances, but they stood alone. High Spirited Pupils. When he turned from them to those over whom they might be considered to be in charge he found that they had very little con- trol over their more high spirited pupils, that the whole interest of the Radical and Socialist public was concentrated upon those extreme politicians, and that the others existed in order to reconcile the morerespectable elements in the Radical party to a policy with which fundamentally and really they were in pro- found disagreement. It was the pupils who were inspiring such enthusiasm as still existed for the Radical policy. It was not the Prime Minister it was not the Foreign Secretary it was those members of the Government who did not argue the great question of policy before the country, but who seasoned their speeches with invectives against individuals, with bitter attacks against classes, and who appealed to passion to which if ever this country gave uncontrolled play the days of our greatness, whether as a commercial or as a colonising, or as a military Empire, would indeed be numbered. Might he point to another element in which this election differed from some others in the degree of misrepresentation which accompanied the Radical propaganda. Here again let him make deliberate exception to certain members of the Government, in- eluding the Prime Minister. Old Age Pensions. He was not talking of the leaders of the Radical party—he was talking of those who,, avowed or unavowed, official or unomcial,, were carrying on, sometimes openly sometimes secretly, sometimes reported sometimes un- reported, a propaganda of misrepresentation which was far more formidable than any of the arguments they advanced from a public plat- form. He did not know that-arrything-worse than Chinese labour had been started at the present election, and yet he was not sure that the old age pension falsehood, though it had far legs general circulation, was not as in- iquitous, not as inconsistent with honest methods of political warfare, was not as fatal to the possibility of carrying on free institutions by full and fair discussion (which was what he meant by democracy) even as the Chinese falsehood. Every man in that room knew there never was a more monstrous fiction forced upon a too-credulous country. (Cheers.) "Old age pensions," Mr Balfour continued, first suggested by Mr Joseph Chamberlain —(loud cheers)—are Jnow, as far as they go, on the Statute Book of the country. They cannot be dismissed without a new Act of Par- liament, and let me tell you that no new Act of Parliament for which either party is going to be responsible connected with old age pensions is going to do anything but extend the benefits which oldage pensions give. (Renewed cheers.) I do not pretend that we have the monopoly of anxiety to improve the existing system I do not-deny that our opponents are as anxious as we to make the system as good as it can be but I do protest in the name of political honour against this misuse of political insinuation, political calumny, political whispering behind doors intended to prejudice the minds oi electors when they have got national and Imperial interests to decide upon. (Hear, hear.) The Cost of the Pensions What was, after all, Mr Balfour went on to say, peculiarly grotesque in the charge about old age pensions was that it had its origin in the mistaken idea that Tariff Reform would not give money enough to pay old age pen- sions, and that therefore the present Budget was the proper policy, and everybody inter- t ested in old age pensions should support it. It now appeared, as far as he could under- stand it, that it was the present Government and not Tariff Reform which was going to fail to get the money. (Cheers.) There was every indication that the taxes which the present Budget imposed would not produce either the revenue which was anticipated by the Minister who put on the taxes, or the revenue to meet our Naval and Imperial responsibilities. (Cheers.) Another peculiarity of this election was the alliance between what called itself the Liberal party and the Socialists and semi- Socialists. It was perfectly true that in some cases there was a real division of electoral policy, but in how many cases had not a Radical and a Socialist joined hands for the purpose of preventing a Unionist bcingre- turned. He had no objection to that what- ever. The Socialists. If there was an agreement let there be an alliance. But what was their agreement ? Where were we in this matter ? Are the Social- ists and the semi-Socialists merely the tail end of the party which has at the other end men of moderate opinions, who if they had their way would be as cautious, if not as courageous, as the great audience I am addressing ? This alliance means no community of opinion between the head and the tail, and even the body of it has little to say to 4. (Laughter.) Everybody knows that the party to which we are opposed is not a party with anything ap- proaching a coherent body of political doctrine, but that it contains a vast variety of opinions which are brought together only by the action of the political caucus. (Cheers.) There has always been a whig end to the dog and a Radi- cal end to the dog. but I do not think that ever before there has been an old-fashioned Liberal end and a new fashioned Socialist end to the dog. That is a physiological phenomenon to which history gives us no example in the past. (Laughter and cheers.)

GERMAN NAVAL SECRET^. Berlin. Monday.—The Admiralty, in reply to a question in the Reichstag, states that the transfer of the headquarters of the Secoud Squadron of the High Seas Fleet from Kid to Wilhelmahaven takes place on April 1st. It admits the absence of housing accommodation at Wilhelmshaven for officers and officials of the squadron. Count Reventlow, a well-knovn writer on naval subjects, in an article in the Deutsche Togeszeitung," headed English Espionage and German Warship Guns," quotes a long extract from an English service journal, minutely describing the new Krupp 28 centi- metre gun, and giving details of the trial of the gun at Kiel at various times. Count Revent- low says: —" It is a singular and serious matter that a foreign journal should be able to give such exact details as to the time of the trials at the Imperial yards. Thsee details could only be obtained through the gross carelessness of the officials or by bribery, for the presence of a foreigner on the spot is impossible." He advocates the raising of "the subject during the Naval qstimates debate in the Reichstag, so as to give the matter the widest publicity, as paid traitors are more easily caught when the whole public is educated to the necessity of attention, and a. feeling of responsibility.— Reuter.

EIGHT DIVORCES PER HOUR! While the electkm fever has generally domi- na.ted the Law Coiirts during this opening week of the Hilary sittings, vastly to the detriment of that happy despatch of business so much to be desired, there has been one conspicuous er- ception to the rule. The Divorce Division, with two judges sitting, has seen no diminution in the spirit of hustle which is characteristic of the.ppening week each term. Sir John Big- ham and Mr Justice Bargrave D«ane between them tackled a list of 40 cases during three days of the week. and in a general way decrees have been granted at the rate of two every quarter of an hour of the time the courts have been sitting. As many as 120 suits have been listed, and well over the hundred have been brought to an issue. These have all been un- defended cases, which, once in court," as a lady respondent wrote in a letter which was read during the week, are all over in ten minutes."

DESERTION AND DIVORCE. Proof was led before Lord Cullen in the Edinburgh Court of Session on Saturday in an action of divorce by James Hay, Glasgow, against J canic Steel or Hay, Springtrtirn, Glasgow. PtrrsTjcr (32) said he was married to defender in August, 1901. There were fwo children, but both had died in infancy. In December, 1902, defender left him, and went to reside with her mother. He had never lived with her since, before finally leaving defender had been in the habit of spending much of her time at her mother's, and neglecting her own. duties. After hearing evide-nce to the effect that defender was now living with another man as his wife in a one-roomed house in Spring- bum, his Lordship granted decree.

■ H —— THE "GREAT COMMONER" AND A LITTLE ONE. • .v- -I p- lii r r( THE SPIRIT OF THE GREAT COMMONER You claim to be a "House of Commons man Why do you not defend its Constitutional rights ? Cairtoon by Sir F. C. Gould. (By permission of the Proprietors of the « Westminster Gazette.") THE ELECTORATE AND THE LORDS. PEER Look here, John, chuck the House of Commons business and votin' and all that representative rot and let me do the rulin' ELECTOR Not likely-there are about eight millions of me and about six hundred of yon- PEER But I'm select- ELECTOR Who selected you ? I Cartoon by Sir F. C. Gould. (By permission of the Proprietors of the Westminster Gazette.") I The above Figures relate to Merchant Steam Shipping only. (Merchant Sailing Ships are out of date for Ocean Trade.) (Published by the Free Trade Union, London^ I

STRUGGLE WITH ARMED MAN. A violent struggle with a man, armed with a loaded revolver, was described on Monday, »b Hampstead Police Court, when Frederick Fraser, aged 21 years, who-Jrefused his address, was charged with being a suspected person found loitering on the previous night with in- tent to commit a felony at Lang land Gardens. Detective Young stated that for an hour he had followed the man andjiad seenhim enter two garden gates. He obtained the assistance of Police-constable Norflttan and Goodman, and the man suspected was stopped at Arkwright-road. On the way to the police station, Fraser asked to be aJlowed to get his handkerchief ant. iipon being refused became extremely violent, and flung the three officers to the ground. lIe then attempted to pull something from his inside breast pocket. Before he could do so, howevq, the officem closed with him and managed to get from his pocket a loaded six chamber revolver. On being searched at the police station he was found to be in possession of a table knife, a screwdriver, a chisel and 29 live cartridges, which fitted the revolver taken from him. On the application of Detecctive-inspector Wallace, accused was remanded.

YEAR'S FATALITIES. The advance return of the tables of fatal accidents in the mines and quarries of the United Ivingddm for the past year has just been issued. It shb\vs that the total loss of life by accident in the mines under the Coal Mines Act was 1,447, O. 139 mor-e than in the year 1908. The increase was shown in Durham, York, and Lincoln, the Midland, and the Car- diff districts. Explosions of fireda.mp or coal dust caused the loss of 227 lives, falls of roof and side 602, shaft accidents 82, and miscellan- eous uderground 406, whilst the balance was loss of life through accidents on the surface.

NEWPORT TRAGEDY. Robert Dobson Watson, a fireman of the s.s. Axonite, was again brought up at Newport on Monday o* a charge of violently assaulting J. McGregor and throwing him into the hold of the ship, thereby causing his death. The police asked for a further remand, which was granted. In the afternoon Mr Lyndon Moore.. coroner opened an inquest ,on the body of John Mac- Gregor (24), seaman, who died on Saturday morning at Newport Hospital. after falling down the hold of the Axinita at the Blaina Wharf, Newport. It will be remembered that Robert Dobson Watson, fireman on the same Bhip, was on Saturday charged with the wilful murder of MacGnegor, and remanded. The evidence then showed that MacGregor and Watson had quarrelled, and that after strugg- ling for some time the deceased fell down the hold of the ship and received internal injuries as well as injuries to the face and body. He was coTivcWd to the hospital, where he died later, in iho morning. Mr C. Acone watched the proceedings on be- half of Watson., who was present during to- day's inquiry. The only witness called was Kate Whiston, John-street, Newport, who said deceased stopped at her boarding-house. I The inquest was adjourned until Friday-

I CAPT. COOK'S MONUMENT. The monument to Captain Cook at Keala- ¡ kekua Bay, Hawaii (where the explorer was killed), has fallen into decay, and the spot js overrun with weeds. A ship used to be sent yearly to keep the stone in good order, but this practice has been given up. A correspondent suggests that, in order to keep t he monument in order, it would be a. simple thing for the Admiralty to give orders to any warship visit- ing Hawaii to land a boat's crew, who could do every thins; required in a few hours."

SAVAGE ASSAULT ON POLICE Before Judge Lumley Smith at the Central Criminal Court on Monday William Kidd, 22, labourer, of Bosworth-road, Westboaxme Park, and William Eaton, 21, coster, of Cfccencester- street, Paddington, pleaded guilty to assault- ing P.C. Gregory, at Harrow-road, on Boxing Day. On Saturday Arthur Strange, 23, coster, of Desborough-streest, was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to the constable and Kidd and Eaton were acquitted on that charge. On the night of Bank Holiday P.C. Gregory, after ejecting Strange from a public-house, was attacked by a gang of men, Strange, who ap- peared to be the leader, striking him several blows on the head with an iron bar and severely injuring him. vVhÿe lying on the ground in a semi-conscious state he was kicked by the other prisoners. Another constable was also knocked about. For the defence of Strange it was suggested that he had gone on the drink after being enlisted to distarb election meetings. Strange was sentenced to three years* penal servitude, Kidd to ten months' hard labourand Eaton to eight months' hard labour.

NUISANCE FROM LOCOMOTIVE. The Great Eastern Railway Company were fined 40s and 23s costs at the Thames Police Court on. Saturday for having-permitted a railway engine to emit volumes of black smoke in such a manner as to create a nui- sance. In the case in question the engine was standing on the railway bridge at Royal Mint-street. A representative of the London County Council stated that it was not neces- sary that so much smoke should is.'Xi& if the appliances were efficient, the filel satisfactory, and there was no carelessness. For the com- pany it was admitted that sufficient care had not been exercised by the engine-driver.

Land Values Taxation v, Tariffs. THE EFFECT OF TARIFFS AND LANDLORDISM. UNITED STATES EXPERIENCES. Reduced Wages and Starving Children. (By JOSEPH FELS.) I have before me two letters from the United States. The first is from a friend resident in Nashille, Tennessee. It gives a striking pic- ture of the effects of high tariffs and land- lordism on wages. Here are some extracts :— From 1900 to 1908 inclusive—nine years—I lived at Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, the centre of the Tennessee phosphate field. Several thousand men were employed imthe industry at or near that point. Wages prior to the panic two years ago were 6s a day for 11 hours for common labour, white or coloured. For the past two years wages have been 4s for 11 hours. One of the large companies in the field was the Central Phosphate Company, of Paris, France. A look at their books will verify these figures. When I went to Mount Pleasant 10 years ago this company had 800 men at work in one field besides others in another field, and about the two plants. This year two men were employed, a night watchman and a day watch- man. The other companies have likewise been running with few men. 1 was in the retail grocery business. One man who dealt with me for eight years at Mount Pleasant is trading with me now. He is now working with the Nashville Railway and Light Company, the traction and lighting company of this city. Prior to the panic this company paid its labourers 7s per 10 hours. It now pays 5s. An English customer was in a few minutes ago. He was a lawyers' clerk in Gray's Inn, making £100 a year and upwards. His wife had charge of a department in a dressmaking establishment in Bond-street, London, and made at least a pound a week. Here the hus- band makes 4s a day of ten hours, and there is no work for the wife. They pay £2 a month rent, and complain bitterly of the famine prices of food and other commodities. The husband declares he could get as good a suit of clothes in London for £2 as would cost him here £7. "There is another customer who is a section hand (tracksman) on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. He tells me that where wages two or three years aero were 5s per day, they now vary on the different branches from 4s to 4s 7d. Fortunate is the salaried man in this State who is receiving as good a salary as ten years ago. notwithstanding the fact that the cost of living is 50 per cent. higher. The latest news in the labour world here is the proposed 8 per cent, reduction of wages in all New England cotton mills." The other letter, from Kansas City, tells me that as a result of a medical examination of school children in that city, it has been found that a large number of children receive insuffi- cient nourishment, and that many doubtless go to school without breakfast. An investiga- tion is to be made, and will probably result in free meals for some of the children. Kansas City, with a population of 200,000, is situated in the great middle west of the United States, in the centre of the wheat growing district where land is enormously rich in production. This is the story from a country where tariffs are as high as any Tariff Reformer could -wish. A dismal tale of reduced wages and starving children which contrasts vividly with tthe stories of mushroom millionaires. And we are told that Tariff Reform (in other words "Protection) means work for all" and higher wages." Here wehave a sample of ifthe real result; a practical object lesson. The Effect of Land Values Taxation— Increased Wages. I have also beforeme a copy of the Sydney ^Morning Herald of October 27tb. It saya "that the building boom in Sydney is approach- ing a climax. In certain departments there is a dearth of labour, and in one of the trades— :-which would involve qthers-tbere is a very ugly threat of. a strike. The quarry men have decided to go on strike unless their wages are increased by a shilling a day. The movement everywhere is for in- creased wages. The condition of activity in 'the building" trade has been unequalled in the history of the State. For number of contracts .in existence, buildings in course of erection, and plans on the boards in architects' offices, this year will easily be arecordone. The supply of material is higher in quantity -than it has ever been. Brickmakers are working overtime. The demand for stone is increasing, while the output of timber is larger than ever 'before. There is a scarcity of leading mechanics, and stonemasons are difficult to get. Bricklayers are scarce, while good joiners are at a premium. The bricklayers and quamy- men are really the only two bodies that have. not yet detennined.togain an increase of wagm and better working conditions by means of legal industrial machinery. In the same issue I see that slaughtermen are receiving increased wages. The wages of carcase butchers have been raised 8s per week. Where piecework is done there is an increase of 2s 6d and 3s per 100. This is a sure sign of prosperity among the working population. The South Wales Coal Trade Conciliation Board agreement will expire, subject to three months' notice, at the end of this year (1909). At one of the miners' district meetings held on November 29th a member of the miners' executive stated that the council had decided to demand (1) payment for small coal; (2) payment for abnormal places (3) raising of the minimum wage to 40 per cent. above the 1879 rate (4) the raising of the fixed wages rates of labourers, and (5) the payment of six turns for five for working on night shift. The miners have been receiving for the past four years an average wage rate of 48.41 per cent. above the standard rates of 1879. The taxation of Jand values has been in operation in New South Wales since 1897 for State purposes at the rate of Id in the £ Since 1905, however, rating on the unimproved value of land has been gradually adopted in the various municipalities. The rates vary, and while the average is about 3d in the £ in some cases it is as high as 4W or 5d. The beneficial effect is showing itself in a marked degree. Which Shall We Have ? The contrast in labour conditions is so marked between these two countries, the one labouring under high tariffs and landlordism, the other working its way to prosperity under land values taxation laws, that there should be no hesitation on the part of electors in this country in declaring in a whole-hearted man- ner for the Budget. The Budget contains pro- visions for a complete valuation of all land, and so a basis for effective land values taxa- tion. There is no doubt about tha advantages of the one system over the other. New South Wales and New Zealand with land values taxa- tion have practically no unemployed prob- lem." The same cannot be said of any. coun- '.trywith high tariffs.

BORROWED MONEY. At the Barry District Council on Monday (Councillor D. Moyd, J.P., presiding) consid- erable time was spent discussing the proposal of the Public Works Committee tospend about £2,500 on laying out the land in front of the Public Offices, Barry Dock—Barry s" Trafal- gar-square "—the expenditure being divided as follows :-£1,325 for the laying out of the ground, and £1,225 for proposed underground conveniences in the square. Eventually by 11 votes to 8 the scheme was agreed to. The Chamber of Trade wrote objecting to the erection of underground public con- veniences in the only public square of the town. 'Underground conveniences, it was pointed out, were only constructed in large towns where land was very limited. Couru J. T. Hogg said some members of the committee had a perfect genius for spending money. If they borrowed at 3i per cent. for forty years, he said, they paid the money back two and a half times over. There ought to be more care in spending public money. Coun. W. Lee was appointed vice-chairman of the Council, rendered vacant by the resignation of Coun. D* Morgan of his councillorship.

YOUR FOOD WILL COST YOU MORE! They have got it at last! The Tariff Re- formers have been bullying Mr Balfour for years to get him to promise to tax food, and now at last he has promised. You must put a tax on food," said Mr Joseph Chamberlain, on October 6th, 1903, at Glasgow. It has taken Mr Balfour more than six years to sur- render to that challenge, but he has done it at last. Yea, but even now Mr Balfour refuses to accept the eonsequencœ. Mr Chamberlain' and his son have alwaysbeenrea-dy to acknow- ledge that a tax on food will mean higher food prices, and they have offered in exchange to reduce the taxes on otherforms.of food. That offer has now disappeared. In place of it we have Mr Balfour's extraorduiary paradox that you^an tax food without raising its price. That is as if Mr Balfour said that the thermometer can go below freezing point j without water freezing. And yet it will be believed by some. There are those who go about saying that the corn tax of 1903 did not raise the price of bread. That duty was only a duty of Is a quarter— a very small dnty-and yet it did raise the price of bread. If anyone disputes that statement let him read what the late Lord Ritchie, the Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer, who took the tax off, said in the House of Commons on April 23rd, 1903 Mr Chaplin says the corn tax has not in- creased the price of bread. But that is an impossible thing to say. Undoubtedly the price of flour has increased to the amount of the tax and a good deal more, and, as a good many people make their own bread, the cost of the latter must have been in- creased. If this is not enough, then, take the fact that in 1903, when the Tories took off the tax, they paid back the duty to the dealers and merchants who had in stock a large quantity of corn un which the duty had been paid. If the foreigner haAi paid the tax, surely they ought to have paid it back to him. But, in- stead of that, the Tory Government paid £362.,000 to the dealers and merchants who had bought the corn from the foreigners.

By D. EMLYN EVANS. WEkSH CHORAL SINGING FROM AN AMERICAN POINT OF VIEW. "American choirs lead all others" is tho heading of an article from the pen of Mr D. E. Jones. Mus. Doc., musical editor of The Druid," a weekly newspaper published in the States and which was written after a recent visit to Wales, when—to be particular—he had the" opportunity of hearing the Carnarvon Choral Society in a concert at the Llandudno Pier." This choir, "being the last National Eisteddfod winner, he naturally felt," he tells us that he was privileged to listen to one of the best representatives of the great Welsh choirs. The first pronounced impres- sion on his mind was the magnificent tonal effect produced. There was great wealth of vocal material, and evidences of long association J a splendid cohesion, a. definite purpose, and a true espirit de corps.' It was strong in every department, from a vocal view-point for- tissimos were crashing thunderbolts, pian- issimos the softest zephyrs and the gradations between, these extremities were calculated with almost mathematical accuracy. With such wonderful vocal technic this choir would in a. contest have atremendous asset to begin with," in the writer's opinion—" It would amount to an advantage in many an eisteddfod." Such were his impressions at the conclusion of the first section "—a set of Breton folk-songs. Then followed a set of Welsh folk-songs and the test pieces of the London Eisteddfod. But as the programme proceeded a change came over the spirit of our visitor's dream—he was" rudely shaken from the pinnacle of his high admiration." The Welsh folk-songs were as they always are very beautiful having a charm, a grace, and a touch of antiquity which clothes them in especial delicacy and tender- ness and sung by even such a large choir as this they did not suffer, although the con- ductor had," as it is averred, many flights of fancy' in the matter of tempos, which often harassed and molested the rhythm." While Mr. Roberts's part-song, Rest, soldier, rest," appealed strongly to the choir its quiet and reposeful passages invoking their masterly technic." Unfortunately however, "this magnificent choir did not reach the heights of Bach's nor even of Cornelius' music; they were sung with machine-like accuracy, but suffered by the very process." Such music demands diapasons — not fancy stops," so we read. And a Bach chorus is eternal." There are many unwritten laws to be con- sidered in the performance of Bach music, and which the Carnarvon Choir did not observe," according to our critic. It sang the chorus with great precision, buttheir marvellous tech- nic and magnificent tone production did not avail them there. The precepts of the Bach cultareopposed tosuch performances. It there- fore betrayed a lack of sound musicianship. The pleading, prayerful notes of the chorals were obscured by the attempt to secure a smooth and uninterrupted flow of the choral phrases." Have the great choruses of Wales then, it is asked, been developed along fines of unr blemished technic and amazing tone prey duction, at the expense of true and soun<V, musicianship 1" Through both these qualities are most essential," it is contended that they are by no means the 1 sine qua non' oC choral perfection. The bewildering technic alone of De Pachman does not make him the excellent interpreter of Chopin that he is, and the flimsy statement that Welsh choirs sing from the heart does not excuse them from the error of neglecting a deep study of the greatt masters. A splendid engine may be on the wrong track." The final summing up is thatt Heretofore, the writer would have held the Welsh choirs as an example to the world to* day he pins his faith on American choirs." Although exception may be taken to the soundness of some of Dr. Jones' logic, and pep, haps the correctness of his judgment or verc diet, his fairness and courtesy are beyond cavil and in this has example may well b# followed by other writers—not excludmg even in his own paper. We have no intention of discussing Mr John Williams and his talented choralists, nor the Bach cult." The forme"; can take care of themselves no doubt; an £ the lattersobject is getting somewhat tiresomfy But Dr. Jones can hardly mean to argue thaw great precision," marvellous technic," and magnificent tone production are perform- liach cat OtJijUSnci,-—swft wt* betray a lack of sound mUsicianship" The various positions assumed by the writer —apropos technique, sound musicianship, study of the great masters, and the reference to singing from the heart (which almost; sounds like an echo of the controversy of outf quondam friends emotion versus accuracy* —seem to be rather rontrad5ctmg; or the fault mayvery possibly bein our limited powœ of perceptivenesS^ .But, be that as it may, this marvellous technic," and high quality of tone production," are usually supposed to bo the very points neglected by Welsh choirs, and which account for their vulnerability when opposed by those of England—we do not sub- scribe to the correctness of the bare statement as it stands, but simply cite it as a matter 01 fact. It is, however, in his closing paragraph, brief, though it be—only three or four lines-that" Dr. Jones delivers himself of his most momenta ous statement; in that respect, not nnlibf what postscripts to ladies' letters are repute*^ to be. The worthy doctor had come to Wale# prepared and ready t.o back its choirs as a4, example to the world but. in an evil horr# for poor little Wales, he visited a Welsh water- ing place where he heard a choir rendering 9i few pieces, notably a chorus by Sebastian Bach. As we a re told that a "Bach chorus is eternaL, and as the poor choir was but mortal, it is D:4' wonder, perhaps, that the performance was not in accordance with the precepts of the Back, cult." In any case, our champion withdrew his protection promptly from that day, and now he pins his faith to American choirs.^ It is quite possible that the American choirs msf fully deserve the writer's faith in them. though transference of that faith from Welsh choirs, solely on account of the alleged shortcominst of just one of the number, is scarcely logical* but is to assume certain general conclusion^ from a particular instance. True, the Carnar- von choir won chief honours at -last year** National Eisteddfod, but it cannot, and doot not, claim any precedence, nor to be represent- ative of all that is best in the choral singing of the whole of Wales from Llanellv to London, and from Cardiff to Liverpool and Holyhead.

ALLEGED BANK NOTE FORGERS Two Foreigners Charged. At the Bow-street Police Court on Monday before Sir Albert, de Rutaen,-Joseph Peter, a 27. a fireman, a Hungarian subject, and Kalma^ Etriene Albrecht, age 3Q. a civil engineer, A French subject, both lately living at a board- ing-house in Bloomsbury-street, were charger on remand with being in the unlawful possea. sion of photographic glass plates for producing Austro-Hungarian hundred kronen and fifty kronen banknotes. There was a second chargt against Peter of unlawfully and maliciously throwing corrosive acid over Albrecht, wi& intent to do him grievous bodily harm, whft9t. Albrecht was charged with assaulting Peter b1 striking him on the head with a bottle. Mr Ac, H. Bodkin appeared for the Director of PubB( Prosecutions and Mr Barrington Mattheo* represented Albrecht. In opening the case. Mr Bodkin said that prisoners took rooms in Bloomsbury in Sept tember. They were not on good terms for few days before December 31st, on which day Peter went to the Consulate to give informs tion about what Albrecht had been doing. Peter, when he went to the Consulate, scem«4( to have thought he would be able to make bbf own position secure. He was, however^ referred to Scotland Yard, where he mad* some statements. Peter had been engaged 0It; work referring to perpetual motion, and warn recently tempted by Albrecht to embark on the forgery of foreign notes. The quarrel which grew up between them culminated one night in Albrecht being refused admission b«^ Peter to their joint room. Next morninjr* however—on January 1st—Peter opened thrf door and Albrecht went fn. Cries were heard and Albrecht ran out and it was found that his head and eye had been injured by hydro- chloric acid being thrown over him. therf would be evidence that at Broadstairs the tnEIt. were busily engaged in using photograph*) appliance for the forgery of A us tr o- H unjeariaj* notes, and at Bloomsbury a large quantity oit appliances. Since Albrecht had b.t-en in custody some parcels and letters froo. abroad had been delivered, addressed to him. at tWt General Post Office. There was reason to think they might contain things connectnq with this offence, and he asked that the poItM should have authority to open them. The magistrate assented to this, and tho, parcels and letters were opened in court. Twrt lasge skins were found in the parcels and the letters were in a foreign language. Directions were given for the letters to bf translated and the prisoners were thew remanded.

SURVEY OF RAINFALL RECORDS. Proposed Inquiry. The Mark Lane Express says :—Gre*, value would attach to an agricultural an crop survey following the rainfall records a 1909, and the Board of Agriculture would weli-advised to institute such an inquiry, I only for the sake of establishing its own era# estimate. The Meteorological Office migiq well itself be made a branch of the AgriCaJ* tural Department. The United States in. 19Ct produced crops rained at £ 591,765,000, biq the quantities grown were so large that oot$ very moderate selling prices were indicates Wheat works out on the production at 31s 6t per quarter. The English farmer got 368 111 per quarter.