The North Wales Express

TO CORRESPONDENTS. W. S. (RrTHIN).-It was our mistake, we should have stated that the medical officer of health returned the death-rate at 93 per thousand, and the birth-iate at 62 2 per thousand, and not vii, verta, as it appeared in our paper. Fass TRADBiL-Under consideration.

SUMMARY OF NEWB. The Dean of Bangor is now staying at New York. S tOn Wednesday night Mr Osborne Morgan addressed a meeting of his constituents at Wrexham. The district meeting of the Welsh Wesleyans was held this week at Llan- dudno, under the presidency of the Rev Samuel Davies, Bangor. The two valuable estates known as Bron Menai and Ty'n Twr, situate in the county of Anglesey, were on Satur- day sold by auction by Messrs E. H. Owen and Son, auctioneers, Carnar- von. On Monday afternoon last the memorial stones of a new Presbyterian Chapel in course of erection at Car- narvon were laid by Mrs Pugh, Llys- meirion, and Mr Richard Davies, M.P. On Wednesday, at a special sitting of the Wrexham Police Court, Tohn Parker, landlord of the Red Cow Inn, Pen-y-bryn, was summoned under the Debtors Act for having fraudulently obtained goods from a number of Wrexham tradesmen a few days before filing his petition for the liquidation of his affairs. At the last meeting of the Bangor and Beaumaris Union, it was agreed to comply with a resolution passed at the Llandysilio vestry, and to apply to the Local Government Board to sell out the sum of £ 330 invested in consols for the benefit of the poor-rate of the parish, and to use the same towards the cost of the water and sewerage works which are being executed at Menai Bridge. The Rev Edward Culvert Hanmer, late curate of Filloughby, near Nun- eaton, who recently disappeared from Falesworth rectory, Leicestershire, was on Friday night discovered lying in an exhausted and unconscious condi- tion, near a pool of water, at Penrhos Meilo, near Holyhead. The annual meeting of the court of governors and of the constituents of the Aberystwith University College of Wales was held on Thursday afternoon in the library of the college. A petition has been presented to the Lord Chancellor by the inhabitants of Festiniog asking for a new County Court at that place, as much incon- venience is being caused to the inhab- it it? of Blaenau through the court bein 7 eld at Portmadoc. Henry \\1 iJ ams, Penmaenmawr, died on Mond night from the effects of an accident wnich befell him earlier in the day, when a mass of loose stone fell and crushed him in a terrible manner. The Carnarvon Borough Magistrates were on Friday last engaged in inves- tigating a singular case of imposture by a female, JllO afterwards transpired to e a native of Abergele. The de- aiit had, through giving false ad- dresses, committed a series of irauds. It was reported thdc --u resh cases of typhoid hac. broKen out in Bangor on Wfjunen'-ay, as compared with three '_n trie previous day. All the cases are of a mild type. Some re- movals to the convalescent hospital have been made during the past two days, and it is expected that other patients will follow in the course of a few days. The expectation of a peaceful settle- ment of the colliers' movement for an increase of pay is, it is feared, not to be realized. In the North Wales collieries notices for an increase of 15 per cent. have been sent in prepara- tory to a strike, and a similar actio n is pending in West Yorkshire.

MR FA WCETT ON THE LAND QUESTION. In a speech which Mr Fawcett de- livered at Liverpool on Friday last, he devoted a good part of it to what will occupy a great deal of the delibera- tions of Parliament and of the country in the near future, viz., the Land Ques- tion. Mr Fawcett deprecated, as we might naturally anticipate that he would, extreme views upon this ques- tion and said, with a good deal of truth, in our opinion, that they will have the effect of retarding more than hastening the settlement of the dispute. He explained the real question at issue in very clear terms, and warned all those who advocate reform against being allured to adopt schemes which hear on the very face of them the stamp of impracticability, and such, if they were practicable, that would be more a source of mischief than of any good. Speaking of the nationalization of the land, he showed that if such a scheme as that advocated by Mr Henry George, viz., the appropriation of the land by the State without compensation, ever became law, the property, not only of the wealthy owner, but also that of the small proprietor, who by force and thrift and hard work had acquired a plot of land, would beconfiscated. No words are needed to show the injustice of a scheme which would end in such wholesale confiscations, for it is patent to every mind. Mr Fawcett also de- nounced, almost equally strong, the more moderate view of nationalization, viz., that which offers compensation to the owner. He said that it would not improve things as far as the tenant is concerned. It would make no differ- ence to the tenant whether he would have to pay rent to the State or to a private individual. All this, of course, is perfectly evident. But Mr Fawcett's contention rests on the supposition that the State would let in an open market, as well as on the supposition that the land would be bought at a competition price. One might think that he is against any State interfer- ence with land further than in remov- ing all obstacles which prevent it going to an open market. We readily admit that dangers might attend the system of associating the ownership with the cultivation of the land, the greatest of which in our opinion would be that it might discourage thrift and tempt persons to become owners who could do better otherwise, and who would never dream of becoming owners if they had to find the money themselves. Without any help from the State, the probability is, that in the generality ot cases no bidders would be found in the market from the tenant class ex- cept those who were known as thrifty and industrious persons. As Mr Fawcett said, there is the most radical difference between giving fair play to a system to develop itself and artifi- cially fostering it with State money. But the question should be viewed in another light. If all the estates in England and Wales went to the market to-morrow,who would be the buyers is not very difficult to state. They would be capitalists, speculators, money grubbers-anyone in fact but the culti- vator of the soil. This could be looked upon as nothing better than a national calamity. We have our experience, bitter enough, on this point in connec- tion with the 11 Encumbered Estates Act," which, we are afraid, would re- peat itself were the land thrown into the open market subject to no condi- tions whatever as to who should the buyers be. What happened in 1850 might also happen in our time. It is quite true that the soil wants capital, and that it sufferf, a: esent from the want of caoit-i., but it is by no means tritf- vhole truth. The eaant also ,nts protection aga;n::t those c may buy the land from no higher motive than that it appears a safe in- vestment and others a fair per centage. People cai. now what they could not see at the time the Encumbered Estate Act" was passed. That act passed no doubt by the English Par- liament with the best intentions, brought many an Irish tenant to grief. It transferred them from bad into worse landlords, most of whom were mer- cantile men, who had saved money in commerce, and sought to invest it in what they thought would bring them the largest returns. There is many an incident similarly true in the history of the English tenant. In all cases where the speculator has been allowed to be- come identified with the land, it has proved for the worst for the tenant. After the removal of all restrictions which impede the free sale of the land and prevent it being brought into the market as some other commodity, unless a provision is made to counter- act it, nothing can be more certain than that the greatest buyers in the market will be those who, having the money in their pockets, can afford to give competition price for it, and in order to have a satisfactory percent- age for their money, will grind the tenant almost to death. This actually took place in Ireland in 1850, and who can guarantee to us that it will not take place in England and Wales as well unless the State will not step in to prevent it. We fully agree with Mr Fawcett that it would be most unjust on the part of the State to appropriate land without compensation, and we further say that it would be quite as well, if not indeed much better in the long run, for the English tenant that the State should not appropriate with the compensation but, at the same time, we would positively affirm, if there is any good whatever to be derived to the English tenant from land reform, that there is an absolute necessity for the State to interfere in the selling and letting ofland. For our part, we admit that we can- not appreciate the difference which ap- pears to present itself to Mr Fawcett's mind, between the case of the English tenant and that of the Irish tenant in this respect The State interfered be- tween the landlord and tenant in Ire- land, and why should the English and Welsh landlords be allowed to take all that can be got out of the land over and above a mere subsistence for the tenant. It is an important question, and a question, there is reason to believe, which will be dealt with by the present Government, and though it would be too sanguine to hope thut the view we have advocated will be adopted by those who will have to dealjwith the question in the first instance, yet with the greatest con- fidence we may predict that to this it will come in the end.

I.'BSERVA.TIOJ.S OF A RAMBLES. [BY JACK HAWKER.] You have already ai;e(i atentjon to the ,rv>roac i. umnieipai elections at Carnarvon, in connection with which there J). s no; rm as far as I nave heard, any particular interest this year. The townspeople should, however, have the greatest interest in securing the best men of the town—not the best that offer them- selves only, t ut that some of the best that c%n be obtained should come foward, and they will most probably come if they are pretty sure of the support of the general public. But'no sensible and honourable man would care to contest with a foeman unworthy of his steel, especially if he cannot depend upon his suppoiters. Should a contest take place between a first and a third or fourth rate man there ought to be no doubt whatever about the selection. Colour or party should never be ex.peC'<d to make up for quality. If a party has t je supply of real good honest men to •» t foward, there is nothing to be done --it or the party to be defeated. Ib t as f. that is concerned, the contest at Caraarv not fought ostensibly on the lines ofp ) 11 parties. I am not quite sure that this is a A public body without parties is a body wit ti out a definite policy. It is mixed up on all points and tor all manner of reasons, not having any ties to bind its parts together. It is thought that bv this meanig the members are free to care for the good of the town, but this is questionable in practice. It is also thought that being mostly made of tradespeople it is not expedient that their party colours should be made prominent, but the re- sult of this is to create a weak generation of men who have no stamina in them. I am in- clined to believf that it would be a gain to all concerned if the parties would be more promi- nent, and the lines of the policy of members more definite and clear. In any case, the electors should be careful to select men of sound and therough common sense, and of business sagacity, and not men liable to be ruled by whims. They should be men of trust and principle,such as could be depended upon, and, above all, incapable of meanness and corrup- tion men who are capable of such things are worthless every w ere, aDd especially so in. public councils. It is requisite also that they should be men of intelligence, and not illiter- ate-men that would be able to understand general questions, and not merely the price of a pound of sugar or a yard of cloth. Pablio questions involve the study of law, political economy and science, and carry themselves to the drains, the quality of the water, the archi- tecture of houses, and many other directions and such matters are not to be left to author- ized officials, the members themselves should understand them thoroughly. And there is no greater drawback to the efficiency of the public boards, whether of town OE country, than the ignorance of their members. In such hands the affairs get into chaos, and the taxation high, and they do not know why. But the elections are now fast approaching, and soon the new members will be elected, the nova mayor chosen, and the MAYOR'S SUNDAY will come, which is a remarkable day for Car" narvon. Those who have not seen Carnarvon on a Mayor's Sunday can have but little idea of the appearance of the town on such a day. 1 remember some years ago some indignation being shown on account of this matter, especially because more than one Noncon- formist mayor kept up the ceremony of going to church on Mayor's Sunday, and some letterg written to the papers to show the inconsistency of such. I remember especially the eloquence of our old and staunch friend loan Arfon wbeff denouncing this ceremony. But it alwalo happened that all this was spoken during the interval between the election of mayor and the Sunday on which the church was visited and for a few days afterwards, and not a worj would be heard until the same time the yeat following. It always occurred to me that silence was kept too long, and speech came too late. The mayor by that time had beml committed to the procedure, and the ma" jority at last of the council quietly, but firmly, in favour of keeping up the custom. It sooma to me that the time to speak was when the voioo of the electors was invited. I may be some-, what mistaken, but as one passing occasionally through the town, conversing with people on questions of the day, and observing as closely as I can all movements, I have never seen the question of Mayor's Sunday brought promin- ently forward at the time of election, and the opinion of tho body of the townspeople elicited on it. Once the mind of the constituents iO understood, the corporation and mayor would soon follow. loan Arfon was a man of princi- ple, and objected to the procedure on principle on the same ground as he objected to the Church as an establishment, and it is difficult to see the consistency of Nonconformists who dO not object to it on the same ground. Bu apart roua this, there are phases of th0 matter which are worthy of the consideration of the ratepayers generally, of all parties 60(1 creeds. The procession and the preparation fot it makes the Mayor's Sunday such as there is n0 Sunday like it throughout the year. The chapels in the morning are well nigh emptft ftnd when one comes out the fuss, the crowdS, and the incidents of the procession make it more like a fair than a Sunday. The mili^ processions during the beginning of sumB>^ are bad enough, but those are nothing with that of the mayor. C4n any Christ^ man who has any respect for the Sabbft*? wish for such a desecration to be contir ued ? matters not whether the mayor himself bfl Churchman or a Nonconformist, and whetb/*j he be consistent or not in going to church—^? scenes of that day make it more wild

THE CHANNEL TUNNEL. Last week saw the issue of the long-expected report of the official military committee appointed to con- sider the bearings of the Channel Tunnel scheme from a military point of view. We now have the satisfac- tion of knowing what our leading military authorities think of the project in regard to national defence, though to many persons the satisfac. tion will be of a very qualified character. It is something, however, to find a consensus of opinion to a large extent in reference to this great engineering project. According to the unanimous report of the com. mitteee, the construction of the tunnel would practically and really abolish the insular character of Great Britain. The projected subway would at least effect much the same territorial con- nection as a single oracticable mountain pass or a narrow isthmus would do between France and Eng land. Therefore, just the same sort and amount of defensive precaution would require to be taken as if an above-ground junction of the two countries were proposed. The tunnel would, as respects its point of issue on this side, put England in the position of one of the conterminous continental states; and therefore, as regards that particular spot of our territory, we must adopt continental measures of national defence. In a word, the committee consider that the opening of communication by a tunnel would entail the construction at the English outlet of a -class fortress, which would ••■st .n.ee or four millions sterling 4 build and I furnish, and requkre a -i-.ianent gar- rison of from seven to ten thousand men. The report is very explicit in stating that this garrison must be a something altogether additional to the regular army which we might deem it necessary to keep up in- dependently of any consideration of i danger from the tunnel. Such a garrison must be maintained in the defensive fortress, apart from any emergent need of men for service abroad, or for protection of any other point of our territory. Now, as British soldiers were long ago reckoned to cost the country ioo per man per annum, reckoning in all expenses of .• ment and administration, we could hardly take a smaller amount as a basis of calculation, now that the pay of the men has been raised, and that rations and armaments have become more costly. This would give us from £ 700,000 to 6 1,000,000 a year as the cost of maintaining the garrison in our new fortress. These annual charges would, at 5 per cent., represent I a capital of respectively 614,000,000 or 620,000,000, to either of which amcunts we should have to add the r 3,000,000 or £ 4*000,000 for the first construction of the fortress. We therefore arrive at a dead-weight non- productive investment of somewhere between £ 17,000,000 and,624,000,000, to be entailed by the construction of a Channel Tunnel. This amount, the committee assume, would have to be provided for by any commercial com- pany permitted to establish the sub- terranean communication. It does not follow, however, that a company would be saddled with this enormous burthen. The country might not un- reasonably be expected to bear it, if the national advantage were supposed to be equal to the outlay. But there comes the rub. It is worth a million a year, say, to have this proposed new means of communication with the continent ? And it is worth their share of the million to the great majority of the people who would get no direct benefit ? But it may be said that all this estimate of necessary defensive measures is of an extrava- gant and exaggerated character. In reply to this we need only adduce the opinion of the majority of the com- mittee, represented by the Duke of Cambridge and Sir Garnet Wolseley, that even the supposed fortress would not make the country absolutely as safe as it is now, and that we should be gradually impelled to the complete adoption of a continental military system, to guard ourselves from the possibility of the tunnel being seized at the English end by a force arriving by sea, and then being employed to convey any desired amount of rein- forcements for the further invasion and subjugation of the country. •

LONDOIN LETrr ER. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WEDNESDAY EVENING. The opinion of judicial politicians is that the Conservative campaign in Scotland and on the other side of the Border has produced no tangi. ble results- Mr Gladstone, for that matter, might wish that it had been extended. With Mr Gibson hopeful of Ireland, and other mem j bers of Mr Gibson's party assured that, not- withstanding appearances, Ireland has not benefited in the least by Mr Gladstone's policy; with Sir Stafford Northcote calm and courteous in his censure of the Liberal policy, and Sir Robert Peel characteristic in an opposite direc- tion in his denunciations of the Prime Minis- ter's past, present, and future; with Mr E. Clarke raising the flag of rebellion, and Lord Randolph Churchill that of the Fourth Party one need not feel greatly alarmed at the pros- pect of battle. Lord North brook, Mr .Dodson, and Mr Fawcett have spoken all the vindica- hon of Mr Gladstone's policy that was required. nme Minister, if he were so minded, might go to the country to-morrow with every confidence in the answer which the country would give. The Irish party are suffering from disintegration, and some of the members, a ^y/^l<, Srtmtheeffects ofthe recent aP- ^f+i,m^urnpli;+AC'iv/r How are certain ■, r ^aiatained when the funds of the Wd League d ? It fa ?u0t expectod by any one ^0 know Ir £ land and the Irish that an adequate^ for the payment of needy Irish M.P scotadbe raised in that country. And it is therefore ciear that the typical journalist M.P. of Hiberuia will in future be compelled to use for his own benefit future be compelled to use for his own benefit those talents which were meant for mankind The extra session will be vigorous aud tho- roughly Gladstonian. Neither the Parnellites nor Mr Bradiaugh's determination to swear nor Lord Randolph Churchill's resumption of former role ,will prevent the Prime Minister from adding to his reputation in respect of Egypt- Is there a. detachment of our Indian troops in London ? I have seen no announcement of any; such arrival, and yet the other day I saw in Tottenham Court five or six swarthy warriors in a sort of military undress uniform which was unfamiliar to me, who were evidently in the charge of an English Sergeant Major who was unfamiliar to me, who were evidently in the charge of an English Sergeant Major who was showing them about. As a friend of mine re- marked enthusiastically, "There's fighting staff for you. And unquestionably there was. Albany- street, Regent's Park, and the neighbourhood are waxing enthusiastic Over the return of the Guards, and Windsor is doing likewise. In many ways we are very military just now'. For example, when we are not discussing Arabi Pasha s prospects, we are laying down the law concerning the Channel Tunnel. As far as I can judge, the publication of the military opinions of the Duke of. Cambridge and Sir Garnet Wolseley has produced a comforting effect on the public mind. As it is not likely that a railway company will ever propose to pay the cost of building a fortress and garrison- ing the same in order that Lyons silk and so forth may reach here quicker than if the goods came by ordinary means, we may look upon the Channel Tunnel as doomed. The arguments of the Duke of Cambridge and Sir Garnet Wolseley against the construction of the tunnel are simply unanswerable. It seems now certain, as far as anything even remotely connected with English law can be certain, that her Majesty will open the new Law Courts in person in about six weeks' time. The ceremony will, no doubt, be sufficiently im- posing. For the first time for centuries the monarch will actually take a seat upon the bench in the court where by a fiction of law the Crown is deemed to be r: etually present. Now that the buildings are.,ia ;ded over to the Board of Works full Jest Options of their splendours will soon be iliar to the public. Their great size is 50 easily realized. Measured by its total a f flooring, the new Paiac. o Justice is a f,if not quite, the largest building in the world. There are many others which cover as great a space of ground but of these hardly any consist of so many storeys or contain so many rooms. One of the most melancholy sights in life is a London County Court upon a Judgment Summons Day. The judgment debtors await their turn in melancholy array. One after another they appear in the defendants' box and "begin with one consent to make excuse." They generally attempt in an incoherent way to impeach the justice of the original debt on which the judgment was obtained, until repeatedly warned that they must not "go into the merits," and I that the only question now is "how they can pay." Their volubility is thus diverted to detailing the present miseries of their position, often a sufficiently sad story. The judgment creditor as a rule presents a morg rose-coloured view of their financial abilities, and a "condi- tional order commitment" is generally made. That is, unless the poor wretches pay within a week or fortnight or a month, as the case may be, they must go to prison for "contempt of court," as it is humorously said to be. One painful feature in these cases is that in an immense number of them the professional money-lender is the judgment creditor, and the unhappy debtor very probably owes his position to the fraud or extortion of a designing rogue. At a county court a few days ago, I happened to be present during the hearing of a large number of judgment summonses, in all of which a well-known Loan and Deposit Com- pany were the judgment creditors. I subse- quently ascertained from an official of the court that the company in question had brought no fewer than 90 judg-ment summonses before the court that day. When employed for the benefit of Loan and Deposit companies, the county court power of commitment for contempt may and doubtless often does, become a tremendous engine of oppression. The brewers and licensed victuallers have been this week holding their exhibition in the Agricultural Hall. This is the fourth year in which an exhibition of the kind has been held. And in common with other trades the brewers and publicans are beginning to understand the value of these annual comparisons of one another's products and appliances at the Agricultural Hall. Such "trade" exhibitions are no doubt the most directly useful of all public shows. They correspond, moreover, to the "congresses' and "association meetings» of learned bodies and professions. They ameliorate some of the social disadvantages of keen competition, and bring back perhaps as nearly as any nineteenth century institution can the spirit, if not the organization, of the medieval Guilds. They have another important effect. As times and seasons Particular trade festival become „ere will be a brief "London season For blowers of each craft, and this of itself will create a little social revolution in the man- ners and modes of provincials, In these days of Blue Ribbonism, however, there is almost a melancholy interest attaching to what is called par excellence "the trade." Will there be enough brewers left in a few years' time to hold I an exhibition in the Agricultural Hall ? Pos- sibly the "last publican" may ere long be exhibited as an awful example" of the alcoholic errors of a past age. The prababilitv, however, judging by the display at this "spirited" exhibition,looks at present somewhat remote. Your readers can Scarcely, without a visit, guess the infinite variety of interesting objects grouped together. There are steam and I gas appliances for every conceivable purpose, gas appliances for every conceivable purpose, adapted to the requirements of the largest brewers and distillers to that of simply turning the lathe for the manufacture of meerschaum pipes Books and forms for account-keeping, as well as a display of a countless variety of bottles and glasses, the former frequently ex- hibiting some new_substitute for the failing supply of cork, furnish an interesting section of the exhibition. Cigars and tobacco in all stages I of manufacture from the "penny cabbage" to the Nicest "Imperial," samples of sugar, malt, hops, barley, and even materials for find- ing substitutes for such natural products jostle one another in friendly competition. Billiard- La taoles and bagatelle boards supply a pleasantly suggestive show. Two of the most attractive stands were certainly thosa of the well-known gas stove engineers, Michel and Company, consisting of a good display of ingenious adapt- ations for mulling cooking, and heating pur- poses. Some of the designs must have been the work of clever artists. I noticed more than one of these gas stoves with framework of burnished silver-plate, decorated with porcelain tiles of remarkable finish and beauty. To the thousands who are likely to need warmth alA. comfort both within and without daring the chill of winter this branch of the exhibition should not be overlooked. A remarkably cheap and efficient gas-engine by Messrs Davenport and Co., of Holborn, is worth notice as well as their ingenious machines for the production of aerated waters. It is significant that serated water manufacturers exhibit side by side with the publicans. Now fewer in numbers, they are perhaps destined to increase whilst brewers and beer-sellers decrease.