The Carmarthen Weekly Reporter

CARMARTHEN UNDER THE SEARCHLIGHT. Come come, and sib you down'; you shall not buige, You shall not go, tilt I set you"!up a glass, Where you may see the '"nmost part of you.' SHAKESPEARE. A really hot election is a rare good thing when the thermometer is eight degrees below the freezing point. There are distinct traces of mental aberra- tion observable in one or two of the minor lights who tooK part in the election. After all the fact of a person's brain getting turned affords indisputable evidence of their claim to the possession of a brain. This in itself is a consolation. «*• "I am bound to say" said a well-known Liberal on Friday night to his hearers "that there are some really scurrilous things in the 'Reporter' this week—some really scandalous personal bits." "Where are they? Let us see Liiem" exclaimed a couple of Tories. And then the Liberal pointed out to them the report of the speeches delivered at the Tory meeting at the Townhall. There is nothing in this world more in- explicable than the highly moral attitude which certain parties can take up with regard to the actions of somebody else. I am ex- pecting one of these days to hear a blacklister expatiating on the evil of drunkenness. The principles of many people are all right-only they always happen to get misled when they are required for use and not for ornament. Classical scholars ought to be careful not to speak of terra firma. It is not very easy to get firm earth on which to place your foot; but it appears to be a bit firm when you hit it with the back of your head. There were grand equestrian performances given in the streets on Saturday. Buffalo Bills' Wild West is a tame affair compared to a street-full of horses sprawling and tumbling about with carts and traps attached to them. It is rather an interesting exper- ience to watch this as a spectator; but those who are in the vehicles enjoy it about as much as a trip in a runaway motor car. One farmer found hmiself becalmed on the outskirts of the town on Saturday. His horse could not move on the ice, so the agri- culturist had to pull up and to send for a blacksmith to put "frost nails" in the horse's shoes. Before deciding, however, he sent to ask for the blacksmith's terms for coming about threequarters of a mile and fixing the nails. The blacksmith wanted 9d, and the negotiations were terminated abruptly. Im- portant contracts like this should be let by tender. f It really seems impossible for anything to make any impression upon the hooligans of both sexes who throng our streets our streets after dark particularly on Sundays. On Sunday evening last the streets were over- run with gangs of hoydens and hobbledehoys whose manners were about as gentle as those of so many bullocks in November fair. As the police seem unable to grapple with the evil by coercive means, it is really worth whIe considering whether something cannot be done by religious or philanthropic agencies to reclaim this abandoned section of the populace. 91" Human beings appear to be to a great extent the creatures of circumstances after all. As long as the gloom and the wet lasted the daily papers were filled with accounts of tragedies. Once the clear dry frosty weather set in, the wave of criminality appears to have subsided. In dripping gloomy weather, many a human being who is goaded by some- thing or other lays violent hands on himself, or on somebody else, whereas on a fine frosty day he relieves himself with a few forcible re- marks and goes out and has a glass of beer. Carmarthen bridge apparently belongs to nobody. On Saturday the streets were fairly well sprinkled with ashes; and the Railway Company had caused the path from the Sarn to the station gate to be similarly dealt with. But the bridge was left in its natural State, Wiuun was x»s.u. than the Bishop's Pond. People who wished to cross it had either to face that, or else to go higher up and to, try Nantgaredig bridge. Between burst pipes and the sharpening of horse shoes, the plumber and the blacksmith are inclined to shake hands with one another over a hard spell of frost. Hall street was practically closed to foot passengers on Sunday. People who wished to walk in the centre of the roadway were summarily turned back by the police, and requested to keep on the footpath. **# Pride will have a fall, and so even will the police. When changing beats on Sunday night, the whole force with two exceptions went sprawling on the road. India-rubber goloshes ought to be provided in order to save the dignity of the force in such emer- gency. It is an extraordinary thing that a mishap to the police always excitep, merriment amongst a large section of the population. For reasons best known to themselves, many people regard the policeman as their natural enemy. ••• The waiting-room on the down platform at Caramrthen railway station is a scandal to which the attention of the Board of Trade should be called. There is neither fire nor ,fire-place in the room. the cold storage 1 system may be a very flag thing for dead car- 1 casses but it is hardly the best possible thing • for living passengers. Apparently people will 1 put up with a lot in this part of the world. XT However, there are certain other rooms in the station in which a fire will always be found in frosty weather. If fires were not kept lit, pipes would freeze, and that would be a serious item for the company. Of course, if a few passengers should freeze it would be a mere detail—in fact a public benefit, as it would tend to reduce the surplus population. a **» The Temperance people ought to take this matter up. A fireless waiting room next door to a warm comfortable refreshment room has a tendency to make people go next door. It is really worth while considering whether the toboggan could not be introduced as a winter amusement in this part of the world. A good slope like Castle Hill—or better still, the Sticle—would provide a fair amount of scope. You have only to get into the vehicle get somebody to give it a push, and there you are at the bottom. A good many small J boys indulge in the amusement now without any toboggan, but to the great wear and tear of hob nails and corduroy. But this crude method is hardly likely to become fashionable as a society sport. The frosty weather interfers very seriously with hunting. There is one debased form of hunting which it seems to promote. There are certain half-starved dogs which prowl about in the early morning looking for some- thing to eat, and overturning all the rubbish buckets in their search. About eight o'clock on one of these fine mornings when we had about eight degrees of frost", the dogs seem likeiy to eat one another, so vigorous were they in their hunt for a morsel of food. There is a class of people who manifest an unholy joy when they see their neighbours slipping. To them the greatest pleasure in life is to loiter near a slide and watch the various accidents which take place. It is a peculiar fact that such people always come a tremendous cropper themselves. They get so puffed up with pleasure at the mishaps of others that they forgot to guard their own steps, with the result that they walk on a glassy stretch, and come down with a crash, .1. _h 1- .J. 1 nouses on both sides of the street. And by a peculiar hypocrisy which is engrained in certain natures, they seem to think when justice overtakes them that they are really subjecta for sincere sympathy. People who cultivate this frame of mind always profess to be very good Christians. They are of a certain kind. There were self righteous Christians once who thought that 1 f It JOys in Heaven would be to iu 'V4 torments °f the lost in another place. Thieves, murderers, liars, drunkards, and various other people when they go to their reward will find that the I worst place of all is reserved for the self- righteous Pharisee. To err is bad enough; but when it comes to assuming an air of self- righteousness on top of that, it is a little bit too much. «*» The Mayor on Monday remarked that as this was the defendant's first appearance in court, and as she had two children, she would be discharged with a caution. In these days of a declining birth-rate many privileges have been suggested for parents; but this opem up quite a new vista of possibilities. What- ever its other effects, it is not calculated to encourage sobriety. **• There is an oid Latin tag which being translated is "In the middle there is safety." So on some slippery days, many good people who find the footpath and the roadway dan- gerous compromise matters by walking in the gutter. A tramping plasterer came to Carmarthen on Saturday. He got in the lodging house into a dispute about the war. One war often leads to another. The Russians have not yet evacuated Manchuria; but such pressure (diplomatic and otherwise) was brought to, bear on the plasterer that he was compelled to evacuate the lodging house, and eventu- ally to go into winter quarters at Cambrian Place. He was brought before the magis- trates, but he plastered them them to such good purpose that he was allowed to depart on a promise to leave the town. He was quite willing to go-in fact he seemed most anxious to leave the town. One of the consequences of a state of war in a country is that it gives plenty of oppor- tunity for private assasinations. If a man cuts his neighbour's throat, he may throw the corpse out, where it will be taken as another instance of one who was killed by the common enemy. This fact explains a good deal of rancour which prevails, and which is wrongly supposed to be political or sectarian. Carmarthen—like every other town—is fill of family feuds, trade jealousy, and various other causes of petty spleen. The baser deeds which are done in the name of politics and religion are frequently the actual outcome of private malice-for which politics or religion is a mere cloak. «** One would have thought that with all the advances which have been made in heating by means of steam pipes and hot water pipes of late years, railway carriages would be pro- perly warmed. The Railway Companies can have water and steam at first cost, seeing that every train must have a powerful loco- motive attached to it. Yet it is the exception to find railway carriages warmed by hot pipes The average railway carriage on a cold day is about as comfortable as a cattle shed. Of course, there are things they call foot- warmers. Why it is called a foot warmer nobody knows. I have spoken to several old travellers who have travelled by rail six days a week for the last forty years; and they declared that they have never come across a foot warmer which was warm. I have my- self come across "foot-warmers" in which the water was frozen. The foot-warmer is one of these delightful little practical jokes which add a flavour to life. Occasionally a wild hope is raised in the breast of the traveller by the sight of a rail- way official coming with a trolley and taking the foot-chillers away. If the traveller is a greenhorn, he fancies that the official is coming back in a few minutes with real warm ones. But the hope is doomed to dis- appointment. Minutes elapse, and the train starts, and no foot-warmers hot or cold make their appearance. The only conclusion is that when one batch of travellers have been chilled sufficiently, the foot-refrigerators are taken away for experiments on another lot of victims. Perhaps railway travellers are apt to be rather feverish, and it is necessary to take drastic measures in order to reduce their temperature. You should never judge by appearances. A man who has no overcoat may be a good deal warmer than the man with one of these big long things down to his heels. The former may have three shirts on, while the latter may not have a shirt at all. Various devices are being tried by the wise revival in the sale of goloshes-indiarubber overshoes. Some people do find these ser- viceable, but others appear to be absolutely helpless in them. The wearing of goloshes is an inborn gift, like writing poetry, wear- ing an eye-glass, or moving your ears. If you don't know how to wear them, they will turn and rend you. The skid of a bicycle is a mild affair to the side-slip of india-rubber shoes. Another device is an arrangement of spikes for the heels-just like the "frost nails" they provide for horses. These are, supposed to give the heel a good firm grip on the ice. This is all right so far as it goes; but how would it work on a flagged pave- ment which has been rendered glassy by an infinitesmal deposit of ice. It would be like trying to walk eM1 a polished mahogany table with a pair of spiked golf-boots. I had a kind offer of a set of these contraptions this week. 1 reserve judgment on the motives which prompted the offer. It was made by a pro- nounced Conservative; and I have my doubts ) I regret to find that I have quite un- wittingly done Mr David Lewis, of the New Inn, an injustice. In a note the other day I said that home brewing had ceased in Car- marthen. This is not so. Mr Dd. Lewis does his own brewing at the New Inn. and I am assured by those who rank as experts on this subject, that the brewing was never better done than it is at present. So the art is not quite lost in Carmarthen yet. • Mr James Davies, of Redholm introduced quite a new feature into local electioneering literature The usual card soliciting support was embellished with Mr Davies's photo- graph. The card also conveyed the candi- dates thanks for the kind reception "you gave me when I called." This last was not to be taken literally; for people who were not at home when Mr Davies called were thanked in exactly the same terms. Some Ferryside fishermen got into trouble the other day, and had to make an appear- ance before the Carmarthen magistrates on Saturday because they used nets of an ille- gal mesh. In these wonderful days the fishermen got off very lightly. Had the Russian fleet come across them, they would locker" 6 beeU 311 S6nfc t0 Davy Jone8's The thrice postponed Fiscal Reform meet- ing is to be held at the Twonhall on Satur- day. As the meeting is to be held under the auspices of the Carmarthen Liberal and Unionist Association, it is to be presumed i orga-msa^ion has been captured by Chamberlain clique, and has thrown over the Duke of Devonshire and the other Torv Free Traders. This is a reeling blow from which the Duke and his party will never re- cover. In the midst of the Arctic blizzard on Mon- day night an Italian organ grinder was actu- ally heard discoursing light operatic selec- tions. A cuckoo would hardly have seemed more out of place at the time than this child at the Sunny South. **• oK?fr+VS aTgc>ocl d.eal ,of grumbling just now about the advance in the price of sugar. This is to a large extent due to our first instal- ment of Fiscal Reform. Certain Govern- ments on the Continent were paying a bounty on the export of sugar with the result that it was placed on the English market at a very low rate. This was seriously damaging the sugar trade of the West Indies, and latterly our Government with its character- istic care for the colonies has taken steps to restrict the importation of sugar from the bounty-giving countries. »** • ,A liberal Government with its character- fw fU FngJfndism would have thought that the interest of the 40,000,000 of oeople at home was of as much importance as the interest of the 1,000,000 in the West Indies. But the truly Imperialistic mind pays no attention to numbers. One man in the colonies is more important than forty men at home—particularly if the colony is a black one. So any poor working man or working woman who is now being chiselled of a few farthings extra weekly, has the satisfaction of knowing that he (or she) is thereby help- ing to build up the shattered fortunes of some nigger driver in Jamaica-or in some other spot in those latitudes. If you come across anybody who is posing heroically and telling everybody the tremen- dously big fellow he is, don't be so narrow- minded as to jeer at his hallucinations. If you go up to tha Asylum, you will find em- perors, kings, prophets, and other notabili- ties in plenty. Such folks ought to be treated ivindly. The delusions harm no one, and give themselves a great deal of innocent gratification. Some people are greatly surprised because —let them pile on clothes as they may—they are still cold. There is a point beyond which clothing is useless. You may wear six fur coats; but after all you have to take the cold air into your lungs. You cannot have that mulled before you inhale it. There seems to be much more need to have strong lungs which will stand the shock of the cold air rather than to go in for cultivating a green- house temperature. It is probable that too much mtiffling-particularly of J?e throat- is the immediate cause of many bad colds. A motor oar was actually seen on the icy slopes near the Greenhill Brewery on Mon- day. There seems every likelihood that people will soon be able to cross the glaciers on Mont Blanc on a motor car, and be able to cycle up through the snows of the Hima- layas. For that matter, it is reported that a bicycle came down Hall street on Sunday. The Rev. George Lamb, of the Presby- terian Church of Canada, now visiting his native land, will spend the winter at Car- marthen. The churches of Wales know- him well. His address is Springfield, Wellfield- road. ALETHRIA.

Education in the Colonies MR DE WINTON AND HIS STATISTICS. To the Editor of the (armurthen Weekly Reporter I Sir,—In your last issue you say, "Mr de Winton did not mear it, but he proved that I crime had increased simultaneously with the growth of Romanism. He said too much." I fear I said too little. Had I anticipated your criticism, I should have made it clear that (1) when I said the Roman Catholics in the Australian Colonies "prospered anl were in evidence" I did not mean that they grew by drawing members of other denominations to their communion, but by keeping their own cuiidren loyal to their faith when they grew up by giving them instruction in their religion in their own denominational day schools, and (2) the startling increase of crime dated from the secularisation of the public elementary schools of the State, whereas I presume that the "prosperity" and "being in evidence" of the Roman Catholics dated from a much earlier time, though it continued after and was perhaps accentuated by the secularisation of the State schools. I am, yours etc., W. S. de WINTON. Llandaff, 28th November, 1904. [Our note was written as a reductio ad absurdum of Mr de Winton's "post hoc ergo propter hoc" style of argument. Gentlemen have during the past century given up wear- ing wigs. Lunacy has increased during the past century. Therefore (some barber might argue) the increase of insanity is due to the baleful habit of people wearing their own hair! Did the growth of juvenile crime in the Colonies commence immediately upon school secularisation, or was it the mere con- tinuation of an increase which had been going on previously? Or was the increase not in crime, but rather in convictions, caused by the authorities determining to put down juvenile delinquency ? If 100 men were convicted of drunkenness in Carmarthen last year, and only 50 the year before, it may prove that Carmarthen is getting worse, or it may prove that the police are waking up. It is difficult to prove much from the figures except we know all the local circumstances. If we had figures for—say—Church-schooled Lancashire and Board-schooled Birmingham they might perhaps afford a fair basis of comparison. Mr De Winton now admits that the growth of Roman Catholicism in the Australiasian Colonies dates from a much earlier time. It does. It is due to the Irish nrrrrme largely; EITO to the steady stream of immigration from Ireland. Mr de Winton says that the growth was due. to "keeping their children loyal to their faith" by means of denominational day schools. It would be interesting to know what proportion of the Roman Catholic children really attended these schools, and how many had their secu- lar instruction at the State-aided schools, and learned their catechism at Sunday school We hear a good deal of the declining birth- rate in the Australian colonies and we know that that phenomenon seldom exists amongst an Irish population any more than amongst the Jews. Is not the rapid growth of Roman Catholicism therefore due to purely physio- logical causes.?—Ed., C. W.R.J.

Sir Lewis Morris's New Publication The new edition of Sir Lewis Morris's collected works was published on Friday last It contains, besides a few new lyrical poems, Sir Lewis Morris's unpublished drama, written some year ago, entitled "Leo the Armenian" (Emperor of Rome). This is a tragedy in five acts, the dramatic personae, in addition to Leo, being Michael the Ar- menian (afterwards Emperor Theodoticus) the Patriarch Theodore of Studium, the Empress Helen, a lady of honour, with cap- tains, priests, conspirators, etc. With his collected edition the bard of Penbryn looks forward to closing nis literary work in verse.

Y" g Start Strong 1 Food that Nourishes I all day 1 Grape-Nuts and Cream. There's a Reason.

Hygieue Shaving. NEW LONDON REGULATIONS. The London barber has been taken in hand by the sanitary reformers, and a number of important regulations were improved at the Court of Common Council on Thursday hav- ing an important bearing on the conduct of ing an important bearing on the conduct of shaving and kairdressing establishments. These reforms are of the most drastic character, including the following require- ments :— 1. All shelves, fittings, and tables on which instruments are placed to be of glass, marble slate, or other similar material. 2. Clean towels, etc., to be placed for each customer, and a fresh piece of paper or clean linen to be placed on the back of chair or head-rest. 3- No general powder puff to be used, and powder pulverisers or ootton wool substituted No sponges to be used. 4. A'l hair clippers, razors, scissors, combs _4-1" +.1- _1!.L UJ. uuxici lvuih, arter use to be placed in a dis- infecting solution. 5. Razors to be wiped in paper. 6. Perfectly clean hair brushes only must be used. 7. Shaving brushes after use to be placed in a disinfecting solution. 8. Cut hair falling on the floor to be im- mediati-y swept up and removed, and floors to be cleansed daily. 9. N ogeneral alum crystals or blocks as a styptic to be used, and a liquid powder applid on towels or cotton wool or by spray. 10. The most scrupulous cleanliness to be observed in all that pertains to the business.

umTohh-e Obes'.RWICKYS The best Makes the Sweetest Bread, Cakes & Pastry. Makes the Sweetest Bread, Cakes & Pastry.

Among the Deaf and Durfib. From the fact that notices of my appoint- ment as Superintendent of the Glamorgan Mission to the Deaf and Dumb have appeared in several of the Carmarthen papers, I infer that I am not altogether forgotten. I even dare to hope that I possess a persistent per- sonality, one of the kind that continues to haunt, when it can no longer affect the senses directly. I have no right, perhaps, to go so far as to imagine that my ghost, or should I say "wraith?" still haunts the read- ing room which I so faithfully attended, but it is not altogether impossible that someone sharing my sympathetic interest in the busi- ness of others, may have noted my charac- teristics, down to my very infirmities. I still cherish the memory of having been a "first-class member," though the distinction was conferred upon me many months before I really won it. I cannot blame the authori- ties for their want of caution and discrimina- tion in ace of the fact that I have amply justified their confidence since. I am further disposed to write at present, as the last Sunday in November of this year completes my five years of probation for the post I now hold. It was at Carmarthen that I paid tile premium, though I did not then fully understand the transaction, nor did I enter very heartily into its spirit. I shall accordingly endeavour to interest my readers in the little-known work in which I am now engaged. I am stationed at Ponty pridd, which I daresay is better known to them than to myself, though, by a strange irony, a man came to ask me the way almost the next day after I had arrived here, and consequently I did not know enough of the place to tell him to go straight on! I have since, however, seen the seven wonders of the place, namely, Taff street, the Market (with the Town Hall upstairs!), the Free Library, the Post OfficeJ St. Katherine's Church, the Old Bridge ((with some elemen- tary exercises in geometry at etiher end!) and the new tram line. I only gather that these are the "sights" of the place, for I have received no guidance in the matter beyond what I could gather from postcards in shop windows. Which reminds me! I have forgotten the most important of all, the fountain! This is not intended for ablution- ary purposes, notwithstanding that the dis- trict is a coal-mining one If there are public baths, it remains for me to discover them. One would expect the inevitable regulation, however, that workmen in their working clothes were not admitted! I attend the library diligently. It is irrelevant to my subject to enlarge upon it. I will merely say that it has a personality, and an atmos- phere. My business is with the deaf-mutes. I will not deem it necessary to state in my appli- cation that I had never conversed with a deaf mute in all my life! It might have been misleading, so expressed, but nevertheless, it is literally true! However, after a month's experience of them, I feel little shame that it should be so. At the same time" there is much to be learnt. As for the "Deaf and Dumb," I can do it as well as they can them-, selves, and they have often expressed admira tion tor my dexterity, but it is rather a shock to find that that bewildering rapidity which my good friends had cultivated for my benefit and delight does not obtain among them. Many can only read fingers at all if they are moved slowly and distinctly, in other words, if you "shout," at them on your fingers. But I believe they form only the minority. But just as the young steno- grapher learns with dismay that very success ful reporting can be done without shorthand, so one finds that a good deal of the conversa tion of deaf-mutes is accomplished without the finger alphabet. They have an elaborate code of definite signs, which are current among them, apparently, all the world over, with very little variation. These are usually enough for the expression of their common ideas which are not very metaphysical. Most of my flock are "educated," as they call it, and can therefore speak gramatically. It would seem that they are very well drilled into making sentences, for they seldom answer laconically. Thus the answer to "Where do you live?" is not "Blue street," but "I live in B ue street." "How old are you?" answer, not "24," but "I am 24 years of age." With this circumlocution may be compared Jacob's answer to Pharaoh, when that monarch asked him, "How old art thou?" One young man made use of this phrase, "I think I will go now to my home." He meant no more than that he thought that he would so home. Part of thir sign language is made up ot facial expression. It is not like that of the hearing, an accompaniment to speech, but it is an integral part of it. The flesh of a pro- fessional deaf-mute seems to come all loose off the bones. How much maceration mine would require to do likewise, I cannot say I Still, to become a professional, I must try some experiments, when no one is looking nn I am filled with nothing less than admira- tion when I think how these handicapped beings acquit themselves in the race of life! There are about 200 of them, altogether, under my charge, and they are extremely respectable, taken through and through. They seem to support, themselves with com- parative ease, and often have others depend ant upon them. Many are employed as sur- face men at the coal pits, and others are em- ployed as tailors and cobblers, in many cases having businesses of their own. One lady of my congregation paints beautifully in oils. I have seen her work-all manner of lilies and other flowers, and some most bewitching owls! Some of the young men are very clever at wood-work. Intelligence and viva- city seem to be their distinguishing character istic, and one may add to that, a garrulity which is most astonishing. When a man is dumb, he is expected to acquiesce in his dumb ness, but that is just what these ardent human souls have never learnt to dol Hav- ing no clear memory or conception of sound, they do not deplore their condition, though they expressed the warmest and most spont- aneous sympathy with me in mine. This sur prised me much, for I should have thought that long familiarity with our common state would have blunted their sense of its priva- tion. Though I myself am fully conscious of all that their condition means, my feelings aJe not wrought upon nearly so much as those of the unafflicted, as I have found out. Their dumbness constitutes, in my opinion, their most terrible affliction, and I magnify that merciful Providence which has spared me the faculty of speech. It is a pity to see an in- telligent person reduced to signs or writing in order to express a simple need to another, who cannot read fingers. It moves my sym- pathy, also, to see some of them shortsighted and compelled to have recourse to glasses. ineir language, when they speak without S1S11S, ls English. I have found, however, in Aberdare, a girl who knows some Welsh, hav ing acquired it whilst still able to hear. Though a little rusty, it could still be used, and she was delighted to see Welsh spoken on the fingers. I won't mention subscriptions, lest this article should be rejected! Of course, if it falls into the hands of Glamorganshire people no one can stop them from subscribing, if they wish! A native of Llanybri introduced himself to me in the train on Sunday. I should have expected him to think I was quite a mute myself, as I had been deaf-and-dumb ing vigorously in the train all the way, with some of my flock, but. he seemed to know of me very well. He was an elderly man, and now lived at Llandrindod. J.B.A.

Heir at Llwyny brain. CELEBRATIONS OF THE EVENT. The birth of a son and heir to the Llwyny- bram estate was appropriately celebrated on luesday of last week. Mr and Mrs Pryse- Rice returned by the train due at Llandovery at 2 p.m., and were warmly greeted at the station. At the mansion itself the tenantry from a long distance had gathered. At 3 o clock all were entertained to an excellent dinenr, and numerous congratulatory speechs were delivered, to which Mr Pryse-Rioe and the estate agent Mr H. Alfred Thomas, euit- ably responded. Cannonading took place on the old castle at Llandovery, and Llandingat Church bells sent forth a merry peal. Bon- fires were lit on Brynteg, Pentremeurig, :Maesybwloh, Glancrychan, Pengaer, and L/oedlast. In the evening there was a grand display of fireworks, and the effect on the snow-covered ground and trees were very striking.

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Carmarthen County Petty Sessions. SATURDAY.—Before Mr C. W. Jones, Mr D. H. Thomas (Derry), and Mr D. L. Jones, (Derlwyn). THE DRINK. P.C. Thomas Richards summoned Thomas H. Williams, 3, Water street, Ferryside, for drunkenness and disorderly conduct on the 9th ult.—Fined 5s and costs. FISHING OFFENCES AT FERRY- SIDE. Edward Morgan, master of the steam tug Mabel, of Llanelly and Burry Port, was charged with committing breaches of the bye-laws of the Milford Haven Sea Fisheries District (1) by fishing with a trawl net in a prohibited area; (2) by using a trawl net hav- ing a mesh of illegal size; and (3) by fishing from a vessel propelled, by other means than hooks and lines. -r- Mr W. V. Ueorge, clerk to the Pembroke- shire County Council, appeared on behalf of Capt. Thomas, Fishery Officer, the Milford Haven Sea Fishery District, who prosecuted. Mr D. R. Edmunds, Llanelly, defended. Capt. Thomas said that he was going down the Carmarthen Bar on the 7th September, in a small boat, when he saw the Mabel tug, which was a vessel propelled by steam. She was trawling, and he was quite near enough to see the trawl work. He watched about an hour, and saw the trawl lifted. He saw a man named Frank Browne on the Laugharne sands, and after landing told him to keep his eye on the Mabel. He himselr proceeded 1 down the shore. Witness then crossed up to Ferryside, took train to Burry Port, where about 5 p.m., he saw the Mabel coming into harbour. He boarded her. At first the trawl was hanging at the mast head, but it was not hanging as the boat came into port. When witness got on board he met defendant and after telling him who he was, said that he saw the defendant trawling outside the Carmarthen Bar within the prohibited area, and that it was his duty to report the matter. Defendant said he was very sorry if he had committed any offence, and he had done anything wrong it was done in ignorance. Witness told him that it could not be ignor- ance, for the bye-laws had been posted all over the locality, but defendant protested that he had seen none. He then said that he should have to report defendant for the offences mentioned at the beginning. The net was produced, and he measured the smallest mesh, which he found not to be of the regulation size. There was some newly caught fish in the boat. Cross-examined witness said that the near- est point at which he saw the tug was half a mile off. How did you compute the distance?—A sea-faring man can easily compute the dis- tance. What was the first thing that drew your attention the tug was trawling?—I didn't think he was trawling at first; I thought it was a tug boat dredging. So it took you three hours to find out that he was trawling?—No; about ten minutes. Did you see her drifting?—She was not drifting. Did you see the propeller move?—I am not a diver (laughter). What makes you think that the propeller was going then She was going at about 2 knots an hour, and it would be impossible to go at that rate with the tide alone. How many times was the trawl lifted?—I saw it only once. From the quantity of fish you saw in the boat, how many times would that suggest to you that the trawl was lifted?—It depends on circumstances. You might catch a ton. Come, we are not talking of miracles; we have heard of miracles in Scripture (laugh- ter).-I only saw one haul. Cross-examined as to where the bye-laws had been posted in Llanelly, the witness men- tioned several places, and one "the white elephant dock you've got" (laughter). Frank Browne, cockle fisherman, Laugh- arne, gave corroborative evidence. In cross-examination, witness replied to Mr Edmunds, that "what he had said he had said" (laughter). Mr Edmunds: You are not the first dis- tinguished man who has said that (more laughter). Mr Edmunds then had a few minutes con- versation with his client, who determined to plead guilty to a technical offence. The Bench fined the defendant 10s and costs in each case. ERECTING STAKES. John jvidwelly was char- ged was charged with erecting stakes for fishing below high-water mark without the consent of the Board of Trade. He was fur- charged with not having the situation of his stake net marked by poles.—Defendant was fined £1 Os 3d. The hearing of ten other similar cases was adjourned.

Fire at Newcastle Eralyn. GUNPOWDER EXPLOSION; PEOPLE HURT. A fire, attended with disastrous conse- quences, occurred at Newcastle Emlyn on Iriday night, he scene of the outbreak was the ironmongery shop of Mr T. M. Daniel, opposite Graig Baptist Chapel. The fire appears to have originated in the front part of the shop, where gunpowder was stored The flames soon reached the powder, and there was a terrific explosion, which blew out the whole front of the building and damaged the premises of Mr Tom Lloyd, grocer, on the opposite side of the road. Goods and debris from the burning shop were scattered in all directions, and a boy was seriously injured, and other persons in or near the shop { at the time sustained lesser injuries. The windows of the opposite shop were smashed to pieces. The lollowing are the names of the parties injured in the gunpowder explosion at the ironmonery stores of Mr T. M. Daniel, New- castle-Emlyn Arthur Lloyd Davies, apprentice, 18, severe cuts all over the body; condition serious. Owen Nicholas, 17, apprentice, burns on head. legs, and hands, with severe gash in the calf of the left leg. William James Morgan, 31, carpenter, burns on head and hands, and deep cut on left temple. Daniel Thomas, blacksmith, severe injuries to the face and left ear. Ivor Jones, 18, burns on face and arms. T YICTIMS are doing well, except A. Lloyd Davies, who is in a semi-conscious state. To ascertain the damage is impossible, but it will probably be t700. All the stock was covered by insurance. It is stated that a large quantity of blast- I P°^ er _was kept on the premises close to u window, and about two yards from the fire. There was no one in the shop at the time the explosion occurred except the injured persons. The manager, Mr D. E. Nicholas, was in the upper storey with a customer and one of the apprentices, John Jones, had gone to call him down. He had only proceeded to the foot of the stairs when the explosions occurred. The victims, Davies, Nicholas, and Ivor Jones, were stocktaking, and Davies was standing on a safe, against which the two sackg containing powder were. The cause of the explosion is unknown, unless it be that a spark from the fire ignited the powder. One of the victims, Ivor Jones, stated that he was about three yards' distant, and first ra deff!ung roar. Then he felt himself lifted from his feet and thrown heavily to the ground. In a moment the place was in con- fusion, and he is unable to state how he escaped. The two large show windows and their contents were thrown, thirty yards. The explosion was 'heard miles away, and the in- habitants of Adpar thought it was an earth- quake. The fire had taken firm hold of the ceiling, and in no time the hose belonging to the Urban District Council was brought to work upon it, and after a short time the fire was brought under control. Some of the articles were hurled up to the porch of Graig Baptist Chapel opposite. The front window of Mr Tom Lloyd, grocer, was smashed. Crowds of people appeared on the scene, and stayed until a late hour. The prompt action of the fire brigade, under the leadership of Mr J. E. James, is greatly to be commended. The youth, Arthur Lloyd Davies, who re- ceived extensibe burns, succumbed early on Monday morning to shock of the system. An inquest will probably be held on Thursday, when a Government official is expected to attend.

'> Religious ConveHtHm at Cannur- thf1. On Thursday and Friday last week, a reli- gious convention was held at Carmarthen under the auspices of the Free Church Coun- cil. The Welsh meetings wore conducted by the Rev R. B. Jones, Porth and the English meetings by Mrs Penn Lewsi, of Leicester. Preparatory meetings had been held in several of the chapels previously; and Lammas street Chapel was thronged all day on Thursday during the morning, afternoon, and evening meetings. The crowds were immense, and the fervour exhibited was very marked. Meetings were held on Friday also at Lammas street, and there is every reason to hope that the Convention has left per- manent effects in the deepening of the spiritual life of the Churches.

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