Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

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I NOTES OF THE WEED, I

.LOTAI JOTTINGS.

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BANGOR .NOTES.

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BANGOR NOTES. The discussion at the Joint Police Commit- tee on Thursday relative to the recent as- sault made upon Mr D. Lloyd George, M.P., has served to set people talking of the meet- ing addressed by thd popular member and its effects upon the electors. I have the authority of a prominent Liberal for stat- ing that Mr George's speech has been thle means of converting many Liberals who were inclined to be anti-Boers. Everyone I have met strongly condemns and deeply regrets the attacks made upon Mr and Mrs Lloyd George. These are said to be due to a very small band of young ruffians who mingled with the crowd, and who might have been cleared out by the police with very little trouble. Some of them were manifestly under the influence of drink. The rest of the crowd had come to see as they generally do, and not to do anything. The character of the crowd may be gauged from the fact that no attempt was made to break the windows of the Cafe, and such a pro- minent opponent of thte war as Dr Prioel marched in and out of the Cafe with no further insult or injury than a few cries of "pro-Boer." For the last few years thd old students of the colleges of the city have taken thte op- portunity afforded them by the Eastetr Holi- days to visit the haunts of their student days. This year has proved no exception, and at Wicklow House there was a jolly party of old Normalites. These men all belonged to the same year, and they make a point of coming down to Banger a t the same time. The city has also seen the faces of a good numbetr of the old students of the University College. The Old Students' As- sociation, holds its reunion -pt Easter, and on this occasion the meetings began with a reception and fnded with a dance. The' Association is doing splendid work for it brings together a number of old students who are engaged in active pursuits in all parts of the country and unites tbe'm in common action cn behalf of the college. It also enables the members to spend a most pleasant holiday together and to escape from the towns and the cities to the country for a few days relaxation. Besides this the Association gives a prize of R5 annually, to be awarded by the Senate of the College as it deems best, and it will probably have something to say to the movement for a new and suitable home for the college. A Welsh contemporary, the "Goleuad," states that the valet of the late lord Pen. rhyn informed a correspondent that his lordship carried one book with him wherever he went. This book, it is said, was the Eng- lish edition of the Calvinistio Methodist "Confersson of Faith." I wonder if this is true. The late lord was, I believe, a man of wide sympathies, and his reflations with his workmen were on the who Id very good. I have often heard it said that he warned his employees' leaders that they must not expect such generous treatment from his SOU. A pleasant little ceremony took place in the Library of the Normal College on Sat- urday last. One of the most popular of the tutors of this college is Mr John Thomas, B.A. Many students have fallen under the charm of Mr Thomas' genial manner and his noble qualities, and their loyalty to him has clung to them through their after-life. Strange scenes have beehi witnessed on the last nights of the sessions, when the senior students bid farewell to thd college, and many a man who is now in a high position in the country remember those few last words of Godspeed which Mr Thomas uttered and which brought the tears into the byes at the moment and have since 'been a precious memory. Of late Mr Thomas' health has not been of the best, though, like the hero hie is, he refuses to leave his favourite work. His many old students resolved to show their appreciation of him by presenting him with a testimonial. Mr G. J. Williams, H.M. Inspector of Mines, was the secretary of the movement, and on Saturday Mr Tho- mas was presented with a purse of 200 guineas, while Mrs Thomas was presented with a handsome solid silver tea service. The little ceremony was private, but I learn that Mr Marchant Williams, of London, presided, and that thd purse was presented by Mr Edward Roberts, H.M. Inspector of] Schools, while the tea service was handed to Mrs Thomas by Professor Phillips, D.Sc. The speeches were most flattering, and the whole ceremony very interesting. I join with the old students in wishing long life and happiness to the "Factor." I am gratified to find that thd Mayor has adopted my suggestion to open an Indian Famine Fund in the city. The mere''an- nouncement made in the Council is, bow- ever, far from sufficient to draw attention to the matter which deserves the immediate attention of all humanitarians. The letters of the "Manchester Guardian" correspondent show a most lamentable state of affairs, and these) would undoubt- edly under ordinary circuinistancee rouse the sympathetic interest of thousands. Now the war fund and the hospital funds are monopolising attention. We hope, however, that th £ re are many hundreds of our readers and others in the ci,tv who will send in their mite to the fund. A general effort, even though the subscrip- tions be small, would result in a-good round sum for the starving Tyots, our fellow citizens in India. The pier entertainments. came to an end on Friday evening, and I find thlat the at- tendance during the Easter week was very satisfactory, considering the state of the weather at its beginning. There seems to be a general consensus of opinion that these entertainments are of a much higher and better character than those of last year. The fun was free from vulgarity and the singing was of a high order. An effort is being made to secure the services of the Pierrots for the season of July and August, and if the terms are fairly satisfactory I certainly hope an arrangement may be made. Nothing would tend to popularise thie pier more than a series of really good and inter- esting entertainments. The attack made upon the School Board at the last meeting of the City Council has caused some flutter in the dove-cots. In some circles it is thought that thie attack was J needed and will lead to good results, but in educational circles, and amongst persons who take the greatest interest in the moral and educationakwelfare of the city, the at- tack of the Mayor is described as unwar- ranted. I certainly think that he acted unwisely, and shoveii a lack of the caution which usually marks his actions.. For the attack was made without a proper enquiry into the facts of the case. It was evident from the Mayor's speech that he had not taken the trouble to makd an inspection of the books of the Board, which is not only the privilege but the duty of every citizen and ratepayer. As a matter cf fact, the Council had no to discuss such' questions. The Board is an elective body, and is responsible to the ratortayen in tha same trajaid to the same extent as the councillors themselves. I am not of course denying the fact that the in- crease in thd School Board rate is startling, land should be most thoroughly enquired into. But let us not lose sight of the fact that at the same meting in which these gravd criticisms were made, the critics were urging the Council to ratify a contract with Lord Penrhyn for a lease of Siliwen Baths on the understanding that at least jE2000 should be spent upon them within the next five years, when such a scheme of expendi- ture had been scouted a few weeks pre- viously. We should not forget also that Ithousands of pounds have been spent on a pier and other so-called improvements which will not benefit the bulk of the people, while the Council object. to providing the sons and daughters of the artizan and the labourer, or rather all the children of the city with the best education th'at the country can give. Surely this is class legislation with a ven- geance. As for the comparison between the Vol- untary and the Board system. I fear that the Mayor and others are always forgetting that thle Board has to do the work that the Voluntary School will not do, and has to supplement its efforts in all directions. For instance, I believe the Board pays a good salary • for an attendance officer, who acts for the Voluntary Schools as well as the Board Schools, though he gets not a penny from the former. Then the Board pays for the education of children in the schools of Llpnddetiniolen, who naturally would have had to be provided for by the Voluntary Schools, and keeps at industrial schools from 14 to 16 children, the majority of whom come from the Voluntary Schools. In fact, I think;the Mayor and his Councillors will find that wherevefr they care to go, when there exists a Board system and a Voluntary School side by side, the burden of the work of providing the education rests upon the Board, and thd Voluntary Schools comes in and shares in the benefits. There were two incidents in the "Im- perialist meeting" on Friday which deserve a good deal of attention. Thejirst was the refusal to Mr Henry Lewis, rae chairman of the previous meeting in the hall, of the right of public speech in defence of that meeting. In reply to a. vote of thanks, Mr Ernest Gray launched forth into a bitter at- tack upon Mr Lloyd George and thle holders of the previous meeting, and even went the length of apologising for and condoning the disorder and the brutal attack upon Mr George. He quoted Mr Balfour's phrase about the "limit to human endurance," and said when men saw their country sold by traitors they could not help doing things which they afterwards regretted.. Mr Lewis wished to reply to these remarks and the attack upon the Liberal leaders, but the noise raised by the audience and the objec- tion of Mr Lloyd Carter silenced all protest. The land of freedom, indeed! We are fast degenerating into a state of slavery. The other incident was the mobbing of a number of students and young men at the back of the hall. This was directly after Mr Gray's apology for disorder, and un- doubtedly due in some measure to it. For the war fever easily leads to acts of violence -if it has the support of men of some posi- tion. These young men had done nothing except cheer Mr Lloyd George's name dur- ing the evening, and when Mr Gray spoke, interrupted his speech with some pertinent remarks. Thus when he was speaking of the privacy of the previous meeting, one raised' a cry "Why not" public? Then when he referred to a Swiss historian, an- other called "What about MommsenP" Again, when Mr George was declared to be a traitor the speaker was asked "What about Sir Edward Clarke?" But the,aud- ience, composed as it was of a large num- ber of youths from Hirael, would not stand this and took the matter into their own hands in spite of the appeals of the chair- man and Mr Carter. Such is always the result of appealing to the lowest passions of men. The talk an the city anent the "Imperial- ist meeting" is, that the Tories were un- usually enthusiastic; that the war fever has stirred them to new ways; that Tory meetings held in Bangor are usually very flat; that Professor Hughes did not attack Mr Lloyd George's speech of the previous week; that he thought he did; that he is likely to be Mr Lloyd George's opponent at the next election; that he won't get in; that Mr Ernest Gray is a good platform speaker; that he spoke with two voices; that the first part of the speech did not "catch on"; that it was too moderate to suit the Tories; that the latter part was fiercely jingoistic; that it pleased the Tories therefore; that Mr Lloyd Carter was greeted with great enthusiasm; that he was hailed as the new candidate; that his speech reminded one of that of the Ghost in "Hamlet" that the audience were much disappointed because it did not come off; that it shattered the hopes of the local Tories that the meeting was burdened with too many speakers; that the speeches were too long;* that the persons chucked out were not pro-Boers; that one was the local secretary of the Welsh Hospital Fund, and that he had a nasty blow in the eye.

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