The North Wales Weekly News

Sunday Trading in Wales. COLWYN BAY 'NONCONFORMISTS AND A GOVERNMENT BILL. IS THE SUNDAY CLOSING ACT THREATENED? The Rev. William Williams presided on Fri- day evening at an important meeting of the Colwyn Bay (Welsh) Free Church Council, when Mr. Winston Churchill's Shop Hours Bill (No. 2) was discussed. Mr. Edward Williams (Hon. Secretary) sub- mitted considerable information respecting the terms of the measure, which he said the Home Secretary hoped to pass into law before Christ- mas. There was a very general feeling that one effect of the Act would be to give a legal status to the opening of certain shops in Wales which were now closed. It was even feared that the Bill would permit the opening of public houses in Wales on Sundays, thus re- pealing the Welsh Sunday Closing Act. He did not assert that such would be the case, but reported the feeling prevelent in the country, as evidenced by correspondence addressed to that Council, and by the terms of the dis- cussion by the Bangor Free Church Council. The matter arose fiom the wording of the second schedule, which provided that certain trades and business should be exempted from weekly half holiday and Sunday closing." The list included the hollowing:— The sale by retail of intoxicating liquors for consumption on or off the premises. The sale of refreshments, including fruit. The sale of tobacco and other smokers' requisites. 'ihe sale of bread. The sale of confectionery. The sale of newspapers and periodicals. The business carried on at a railway book- stall on or adjoining a railway platform. The business carried on at a railway refresh- ment room. The sale of motor or cycle accessories. This list, it was pointed out by opponents of the measure, included trades and businesses hitherto unknown to open on Sundays in Wales. THE WELSH SUNDAY. Continuing, the Secretary submitted a memorial which complained that the provisions ot the Bill were contrary to the sentiments and convictions of the Christian churches in Wales, adding that a national movement had been in- augurated with a view to their amendment. It had also been decided to seek the co-operation at the Welsh M.P.'s. Brieny, the position was this At present the only law dealing with Sunday trading is the Sunday Observance Act, 1677, which is optional and not obligatory to the Local Authorities to enforce; and the maxi- mum fine it imposes when enforced is only 5s. and costs, amounting in all to i.2S. 6d. But where the law has been enforced, as by the Glamorgan County Council, it has been possi- ble to stop Sunday trading, with the exception of a few, chiefly Italians, who defy the law and pay the fine. If the law could be amended so as to increase the fine, all Sunday trading would be abolished in the areas where the law is enforced, but this Bill proposes to repeal the Act of 1677 and deprives the Local Authorities of all option. It next legalises the opening of 11 ple all the shops which have been closed by the operation of the Act of 1677, and even grants extended facilities for Sunday trading in ways hitherto unheard of in Wales. The Bill pro- poses to close all shops on Sundays, but the list of those exempted shows that it will close hardly any shop which is not already closed, but hundreds will be re-opened or opened anew in Glamorganshire alone, so that all the efforts to reduce Sunday trading will be undone at a stroke, and the legal status given will be a permanent barrier against all attempts to reduce it in future, while the large facilities for its extension will facilitate its growth. The ideal of Sabbath implied in this is not that of rest and leisure for religious exercises and wor- ship for those who desire it, but eating, drink- ing, and rushing about in motor cars and upon bicycles. Apart from the Sunday labour in prospect, the desecration of the Lord's Day which it involves should arouse the religious sentiment of the Christian Churches, so that a strong protest might be made against" open- ing the nood-gates for the entrance of Con. tinental habits into our country." Mr. Fred Grifnths proposed:—"That this meeting, while approving of the provisions of the Shops Bill (No. 2) to reduce the hours and improve the conditions of employment in shops, expresses strong opposition to the clauses deal- ing with Sunday trading in that, while their operation will close very few shops not already closed, the large number of exceptions made will result in the opening of hundTeds now closed and greatly facilitate the growth of un- necessary Sunday trading. It earnestly appeals to the Home Secretary to amend the Bill so as to give the Local Authorities in Wales and Monmouthshire power under Section 7 to make orders for the Sunday closing of any or of all those trades and business mentioned in Schedule 2 whenever they are satisfied that public opinion and public interest demand it. The Rev. Owen Evans, in supporting, said that Wales should take a more decisive step in its antagonism to the measure and demand to be excluded from its operations. For the sake of securing unily of action perhaps the only course open was to register a protest against the Home Secretary's proposals. Such a Bill might serve a useful purpose in London, Liver- pool and Manchester, but it was not suited to the conditions prevailing in the Principality, nor in accordance with the advanced -views of the Welsh people. They demanded that the Bill should be amended, at any rate in its appli- cation to Wales. (Hear, hear.) Mr. T. J. Dowell, in supporting, said that the Bill would prove very injurious to Wales, and that the Welsh members should offer determined opposition to it in the House of Commons. Mr. Henry Jones said that such a Bill would throw Wales back to the bad old times of Sunday fairs. ("Shame.) Mr. Francis Evans said that in the seaside resorts there would be no difference between Sunday and week-day, as the public-houses would be thrown open once more. The resolution was carried, and it was de- cided to send copies to the Home Secretary, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sir J. Herbert Roberts, M.P.

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The Poetry of Marsiant. I chanced upon the literary supplement of I The Times during the Eisteddfod week, and there Mr. Percival Graves, whose poems appear I regularly in The Nationalist," had written the following sentence :— The chief present-day poets of Wales are Dyfed, Einon Wyn, Elfed, Morris Jones, Gwynn Jones, W. J. Gruffydd, and Mar- siant. In my younger days I had a similar theory, with one exception. It was not so much a mis. take of mine as an oversight. When I put down the Times," I pondered then hied me to my bookshelf, and searched me the topmost shelf thereof; and found, nigh a duplicate Tennyson, that which The Times had sent me to seek. It 'was a tiny volume, modest enough in sage- green and gold, with the title, ODLAU SERCH A BYWYD." I had read it before, and I seem to have made a few comments on the margin. But I set me down to read again, for The Times is an honourable paper,—and Brutus too, I suppose. "And," to quote myself, there I beheld that which will give me joy for ever." And joy breeds mirth, and mirth laughter, and I know when to be happy now. For in the light of recent Logan-stone oratory, and of the discovery by the Times," I have seen deeper into this little book, Odiau Serch," etc. than I ever hope to see again. And so I hasten to write you down my vision. But before coming to the work in detail, there is the general effect to be chronicled. With due respect to "The Times," I claim to have made, after my deep perusal, a further discovery. The small sage-green volume which I had practically overlooked as a product of the old school, now appears to me to be the fruit of A NEW BARDISM. Like The New Bardism of Wales, it contains metrical e-ffects rarely seen in the works of the more popular poets of the old days; it con- tains similes and metaphors which men of the temper of Eben Fardd would never have had the courage to make use of it contains con- fessions which the majority of poets would have chosen to suppress it contains a wider patriot- ism than Cymru fFu could have demanded of its muse and it has a form, a body, a technique unknown to former days. I am convinced this is a New Bardism on its own and I feel that the author in his more prosaic moments has been doing himself a great injustice. Like Pedrog with Llion's work, there are some tenets here to which we do not subscribe. There tenets here to which we do not subscribe. There are, too, some cloudy passages. But eveiy new bardism has to pieach its own crusade, and we will not demur much. It is only fair to put the poems of this vol- ume to the same tests as we have applied to the works of the other new bards. First there is colour in the poetry. The white moonbeams with their gold reflection:— 0 leu ad wen Sydd uwch fy mhen Yn dringo'n ddistaw grisiau aur y nef. The pale sun: Mae'r haul wedi codi, a'i wedd yn ddiwaed. The whole glorified spectrum upon the Mil- ler's daughter's face, besides the blush of the sweet apple — Yn gloewi 'i grudd, mae'n hysbys Fod lliwiau goreu'r enfys, A gwrid yr afal melus. There is passion in the poems, the passion that almost consumes itself Ni ches ond un edrychiad 0 gornel pella'r llygad, Ac yna mown amrantiad- Meddyliais am offeiriad- Mae'n oedi'n hir. There are striking pictures in the verse. me variety song of the thrush, and its crescendo: Yn y llwyni llawenha, Canu, chwibanu, bloeddio wna. The Blackbird Hilarious Yno'n canu rhwng y dail Ac yn chwerthin bob yn ail- Chwerthin am ei fod yn byw yng Ngwalia Wen. Note the happy double entendre in the last line. The orator, clear as a silhouette,— Ei lais oedd glir a chryf, Ei tarn a roddai'n hyf, Gan weithiau daro'r bwrdd a'i law neu ben ei lin. Care Should be taken not to read the last line as if the only alternative gesture was con'fmed to the uoward thrust of his knee. The moon and the man: — 0 leuad wen Sydd uwch fy mhen. The essentials of a Lyric are Colour, Pictures, and Passion; and we have the three acutely in this volume. Further, the Thought is strong, especially in Cynghanedd:— Wedi gaeaf, haf ddaw o hyd,—a'r haul I'w reoli gyiyd. His Hiraeth is deep; and here are two lines sprent with a Miltonic largeness — GweU fyddai gennyf awr wrth draed dy ben fynyddoedd Na byw yn Eden wiw am filoedd o flynyddoedd. And, ah! the Tenderness of the genial Celt: — Gwell fyddai gennyf glywed Rowlands o Lan- geithio Na chlywed Paul ei hun yn Athen yn areithio. Personally, in this case, we must confess to a weakness for the alien. And, finally, heed the abandon and clinching finality of this couplet: — Gwell fyddai gennyf weled Cymro syml, di- urddas, Na gweled angel gwyn, neu Mo&es, neu Elias. And yet, when we come to think of it, this is one of the cloudy bits of the book. We might understand his possible objections to Moses, but why the metre of the line should hurl all

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The Land Question. ADDRESS BY SIR ELDON BANKES. Sir EIdon Bankes, of Soughton, one of the recently appointed judges of the High Court, delivered the opening address this session of the Mold Cosmopolitan Society, on Thursday night. Sir Eldon, who had a large audience in the Town Hall, spoke on The Land and Roads of England and Wales." The speaker gave a luctd and entertaining account of the condi- tions under which land was held at the time the Domesday survey was made in 1086, when the manorial system was in vogue. The land in those days, he said, was not looked upon as a means of providing an income, but as a means of subsistence. At the present time it was stated they were in the throes of what mignt be a second or a third Domesday. Writing of the first survey, a former critic said that it alarmed the people, who were afraid of new impositions. Thus history repeated itself. Under the manorial system the co-operative principle was practised, but it was a wasteful system and could not survive modern condi- tions. It was estimated that an acre of land at that time produced only one-eighth what it did now. Small holdings and allotments were no new creation, and three acres and a cow was a well-estabHshed institution centuries be- fore it became a political cry. They had re- cently seen a strong movement to increase the number of small holdings and allotments in this country. It seemed that during the short time the movement had been in progress, and apart altogether from private individual efforts over 107,000 acres had been parcelled out into small holdings and allotments. He believed that if properly directed and allowed time to develop along business lines this movement would be productive of nothing but good. (Ap- plause.) He believed the times were approach- ing when land would be easier to obtain than had been the case within living memory, and that the number of those holding land, whether small owners or large tenants, would be large- ly increased. They were, he believed, in the initial stages of a movement that would have a far-reaching effect upon the agricultural life of the community. It seemed to him that the judicious admixture of the large and the small landholder was more likely to be a success than a monopoly of the land by either class. (Ap- plause.)

Big Prices for Small Farms. Mr. Henry Roberts, auctioneer, put up for sale by auction on Friday at Portmadoc and on Saturday at Nevin a number of freehold properties owned by the late Mr. J. R. Prichard, of Brynganallt, Portmadoc. A farm of seven acres, with a rental of ,620, situate in Talsarnau, Merioneth, was sold for Z445 to Mr. Cane, agent of Lord Harlech. Mr. Cane also bought a neighbouring farm of nine acres, with a yearly rental of £15, for /,545. which represents over 36 years' purchase. A farm of ten acres, held by Mr. Evan Lloyd in the same district, was sold to the tenant at /'=-7o, which represents over 33 years' purchase, the rental being /-17. Six cottages were sold to Capt. Roberts, Ty Gwyn, Talsarnau, for _f6oo. Hrynganallt resid.nce was withdrawn at /'i ooo. Fronfawr farm, Nevin, measuring 28 acres, was sold to the tenant, Mr. R. Williams, for £930; and Mrs. Thomas Parry, Portmadoc, bousht a two acie farm, known as Fron Bach, Nevin, for £235. The total sales during the two days represent ?383? ?n out of twelve lots offered being sold. Mesa<-s. Lloyd George and George were the solicitors. I"

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the stress of the poet's fervour upon Elias is a problem for the gods. And he wasn't much of a scholar, either. The Technique of the poet attracts our atten- tion. We have an occasional sweeping rhythm, suggestive of the English roundelay — 0 ynfyd urddasolion Y ddaear! Cydraddolion A'r tlodion, yn nywyllwch Y beddrod ydych, cofiwch. After this we feel as if we could never forget. But the unwary reader must have a care how he reads the four lines for there is a certain elusive sequence of alternate syllabic stress in them that on some lips might give the effect of Prose. The Diction, too, is studied. Melody and the bird's nest:— Perffeithiach peth nid oes is nen Mewn cynllun neu wneulhuriad. And in the poem. The Cloud, we find The Ancient Mariner's simplicity of vocabulary, combined with exquisite Pre-Raphaelite real- isms as in line two of- Yng ngwres yr haf daw'r meddwl Yn fynych i fy mhen Y carwn gwmni'r cwmwl I fyny yn y nen. And our poet has the structural and dramatic power of Contrast. This we see in the two poems Heddyw and Yfory." Heddyw is a picture of the sleeping day, where we see the human touch of the workman, after the day's work, in his blushes:— Mae'r haul yn dinannu, wedi gorffen ei waith; Mae'n myned i buno; Mae fel pe bae'n gwrido; A'r mor sydd yn gorwedd a'i ben ar y traeth. The italics are ours. Note, too, the sweet suspicion of rhyme in lines one and four. Then comes the sudden contrast in "Yfory. The sun appears with haggard face, and bloodshot eyes, we presume. The breem-the breeze- rushes about, roaring. And the sea—well, the &ea!— Mae'r haul wedi codi, a'i wedd yn ddiwaed. Yr awel sy'n effro, Yn rhuo, yn rhuthro, A'r mor sydd yn sefyll ar naenau ei draed. I must refer to a great lyric, entitled Y Pili-PaIa," or The Butterfly; because it is so true to nature, and marks the poet's insight into the ways of men. It tells how our poet flirted on the Rhyl sands:— Mor lion a'r pili-pala. And on he goes— Llawer tro Bu'marygroynrhodio, Gan bwyso a mesur merched Rhyl, A geir yn filoedd yno. You rogue of a rhymsber! You jolly-boy' Ernv we blush as we read it. We've played the game ourselves. But we never told anybody. How you have found us all out. How you have exposed us. What a pretty picture of yourself, too Finally, there -are two great truths in the book that cling to us. The first is a quotation from Herrick, and is the title of one of the poems Cof-golofr y Bardd yw ei farddoniaeth. We believe this now more than we have ever believed it before. The second truth appears in a poem that sings of Wales and her fortune of heroes. After telling a list of them, the poet reaches the climax — 0 Gymru dirion,—mawr dy fraint,— Hen wlad fy ngenedigaeth. Ivor Herbert's Valhala is complete. Here is a New Bard, JM! generis. And to-day's battles are in vain he has hung himself round the neck of the Great Antique. The New and the Old are inextricably bound on the dedica- tion page of the sage-green volume "Cynwynedig i Aelodau yr Orsedd a Chym- deithas yr Eisteddfod." The prophet was right:— 'E dyrr gwawr, 0 wlad ragorwen Nag wyla, 0 Walia Wen. And you owe this critique to The Times." It made the discovery. I am only the showman. W.H.J.