Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

8 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

- PRESTATYN NOTES.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

PRESTATYN NOTES. (CONTRIBUTED The speakers "t the opening of the new Board School hst Thursday laid emphasis on one special point anything but flattering to our self-esteem, namely, that the attendtnce at school generally in Wales was the worst in the United Kingdom, and that the county of Flint held the unenviable position of beiniz at the very bottom of the list in the matter of school attendance. Even in our own little town that we are so proud of, the position of which visitors in increasing numbers admire so much that some regard it as the coming watering place and the rival of Rhvl, th, attendance at school was lamentably small. For this unfortunate state of things the parents are held primarily responsible, and it appears that the advantages of education are not sufficiently realised by parents they have no ambitions beyond their immediate surroundings. We are not in the midst of manufactures, and the benefits accruing from education do not come home to parents living in country districts as they would if living in a large town. It requires no intellectual ability to perform the ordinary duties of a day labourer at 4d an hour to cut grass, to milt cows, lay bricks, drive a cart, or quarry stones, and these are the alluring prospects in front of the rising generation in this neighbourhoode While the neglect of parents is to be deplored, we must not forget that as society is constituted at present, some good does result and a great boon is conferred on the world by the indifference of some parents to the educa-j tion of their children. The parent who does not send his boy regularly to school is giving him a sort of educa- tion, and perhaps qualifying him for the sort of work nature intended him to do, and for which an elaborate education would unfit him. We must have people about us whose intellects are dull and not sharpened by book- learning to make tools of, to become hewers of wood and drawers of water. The nation looks to the country dis- tricts, not for intellect, but for bone and sinew and for recruits for the army, and stuffs with learning the sickly pallid dwarfs of the crowded towns. The wisdom of this arrangement is patent to the meanest understanding. We must have a submerged tenth; the Salvation Army could not exist without it. We must have charitable objects in order that those of a compassionate nature may exercise and keep alive their sympathetic feelings. We must have inmates for our workhouses or the buildings would become ruins. We must have clodhoppers and country bumpkins for novelists to sneer at and for townspeople to practise their wit on. We must have a class of people. for the pulpit to preach at and admonish that they be content to remain in that humble station to which they were born and to treat their rich neighbours with becoming servility. It is absolutely necessary that we should have a race of people whose duty and lot in life it will be to grovel to the lord of the manor, to accept with heartfelt gratitude the chanty blanket, with tearful eyes the ticket for soup, and to endure meekly and mildly the kicks so liberally dispensed, and pick up with trembling fingers and frantic haste the halfpence so ostentatiously thrown by those placed in authority over them. 0 this happy land, why disturb it, why try to revolutionise it ? If we were all levelled up," to use an expression that has come into vogue, our girls graduates of Girton, and our boys sported an Oxford degree, then a dreadful prospect opens out. Certainly the servant girl problem would be solved, for there wou d be none, but in those dismal times my lady would be compelled to brush her own hair and the aristocrat be forced to black his own boots. One of the speakers remarked that their excellent schoolmaster was that day receiving the reward of his faithfulness in the opening of the new building." Rather an empty sort of reward unless accompanied by an in- crease in salary. I gather fnm reading the papers that the profession of a schoolmaster is one of the worst paid, taking into consideration the high standard of education demanded and the special qualifications required to fill the position. The work is exhausting, the pay small, and the plums or prizes of the profession few in number. It is to be hoped that under the new regime the position of our schoolmasters will be made more secure, and, financially, greatly improved. It is rather surprising that no public clock has up to the present been erected in Prestatyn. For a town that is earning for itself the reputation of looking ahead, that in the opinion of its best citizens has a prosperous future before it, and at the present time has claims to impor- tance on many grounds-this is a small detail of back- wardness that ought immediately to be rectified. These are the days of cheap watches indeed.they are advertised in the papers to be given away. You need send no money, fur on certain easy conditions a child may become the proud owner of a watch. The generosity of the manu- facturers is so great that nobody needs any excuse for not carrying one. The liberaliiy of these merchants is so unselfish and unbounded,and tbey have the good only of the public so much at heart, thit in addition they go to the extent of supplying all applicants with gold rings and brooches set with diamonds upon receipt of a post card only. Can benevoJenee and munificence fusther go ? With these facilities scattered broadcast for obtaining watches and jewellery on the cheap it should not be difficult for our tnterprising t )wn to come iuto possession of a public clock that will be a credit to the place and serve a u3eful and decorative purpose. Or perhaps some aspiring Town Councillor desirous of sacrificing himself, on the shrine of public duty and to propitiats and earn the good opinion of the ratepayers might volunteer to erect to himself a monument t ) take the form of a town clock. The dignity of a Countv Councillor is now likf-ly to become greatly enhanced,and a candidate for this office would eusure enduring popularity by providing this needful addition to our institutions. It may be that some county magnate seelu g the higher honours enclosed and to be obtained only in the magic letters M.P., and wishing to perpetuate his name to succeeding gonerations might come to feel it a duty, an honour, and a pleasure, to be the unworthy means of presenting the town with a memorial of his generosity and to act as a reminder of benefits to be conferred on the community in the future in the event of the accom- plishment of his ambitious designs. As a means to obtain tois desirable end there is no more simple and at the same time prominent way than the provision of a public clock with a suitable inscription. Our go ahead town boasts of two handsome drinking fountains. This would seem to prove that temperance principles are appreciated to a large extent by the great majority, and so no doubt they are, but I regret to say that ornament is the only purpose served by these foun- tains, for never a drop water to drink comes from either of them. This sad and futile result is not compliment- ary to and was not contemplated by the generous donors. I cannot believe that the publicans, who are all honour- able men,have entered into a secret conspiracy to tamper with the supply of water to encourage in their own interests the depraved tastes for the consumption of alcoholic drinks, and must refuse to credit that they would condescend to such a despicable manceuvre to further their own advantage. I have pleasure in declaring tnem free from suspicion. Perhaps they do not regret the fact that the fountains are dry, and when nature cries out and watr is not available a glass of beer on a thirsty day and after an exhausting walk is to many very ace ptable. In this matter I am afraid the teetotallers are not without blame, in fact are guilty of a grave neglect of what is their manifest duty, to keep on tap a plentiful supply of water in the fountains. This neglect must naturally result in the brewer deriving considerable benefit. While the advocates of total abstinence are never weary in deploring the evils resulting from drink, would banish the traffic entirely fromthe land,and regard even the moderate drinker as a social leper, yet in this instance their culpable inattention does something, though in a smallfway, to encourage what they profess t" be ai abhorrence, and is very inconsistent with what they preach. I do not like to mention the Urban Council in connection with this subject. The members know their dut:e?, they don't want any teaching, and perhaps the consciences of some might object to the taps running on a Sunday. Six days a week at any rate the water might be allowed to flow, and on Saturday nights the water could be turned ott' until the following Monday morning. By this action the most delicate and sensitive conscience could in no way be aggrieved. # Is it true that the bakers throughout the land have become so conscience-stricken that they have decided in future to give full weight when asked for a 21b or 41b loaf, and to make recompense for past delinquencies ? I t Is it true that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has I received a great increase in conscience money ? Is it true that the great army of food adulterators hav*l decided in future to cease operations and devote theaoll fortunes to charitable purposes ? I Is it true that Nonconformists who ride in their ent.' riages or in public vehicles to places of worship on th p Sabbath are determined in future to walk "> + Is it true that Nonconformist auctioneers are 1 forward with glee at the prospect of a rich harve>- ookln8 ,t, Is it true that the cab drivers are so filled y that in future they will demand only the W remorae ^al fare ? I« it true that railway company <lr veloped a conscience rectors have de- Is it true that the lawyers themselves are 1,cross-questioning Is it true that manufacturers of conscience do not intend ir t,tlrou'Ll the, upbraiding to.procure the ideas of their *uture to s*ea or bn"e competitors ? Is it true that combines according to the teaching and trusts are to be mana8e^ gs of the Sermon on the Mount? Is it true that Nor Education Bill are > conformist protestors against the of being sold up ? beginning to be sorry at the prospect It is true that not be permitie rattles and other forms of gambling will i at bazaars for religious objects? H is trwe t' become tie iiat a Congregational minister is about to so we nsay head of a new order of Franciscan monks ? If iet up a expect soon to hear that a Baptist Chapel has procession of graven images. Bat • nmh' 13 true that the friend who borrowed an Isvc' .ella from me last week has returned it f This is a v; all things are now possible

DYSERTH. "

! DEE FISHERY BOARD.

" AMERICANISM"

THE WTODHOLM TRAGEDY. |

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