The Cardigan Bay Visitor

ABERDOVEY.

In the Queen's Bench on Friday Mr Meyer, cigar merchant, Trinity-lane, London, was awarded £ 250 damages and costs against Prince and Princess Alexis Dolgoronki for personal injuries sustained through being knocked down by defendants' carri- age horses whilst he was riding a bicycle. Mr Meyer's leg was fractured. Mr George Whiteley, one of the Unionist M.P.'s for Stockport, has intimated to the local association that so great is his objection to the Clerical Tithes Bill and to the whole policy of the Govern- ment iu giving special relief to agricultural and clerical ratepayers from the public purse to the exclusion of all others, he will resign his seat upon the Tithes Bill becoming law.

CONF tjREJS OK OP TEACHERS AT CARNARVON. MR TOM JOHN ON WELSH EDUCA- TIONAL DEFECTS. On Saturday afternoon, at the Board Schools, Carnarvon, Dr R. JonrS Roberts presided over a conference of teachers and school managers. Among others present was Mr Tom John, the Welsh representative on the Executive Committes of the National Union of Teachers Tile CHAIRMAN, in the course of his opening ad- dress, said that it should be their aim to well equip and properly staff the elementary schools. He con- sidered an understaffed school to be the lowest' form of false economy, and it was the duty of the State to make elementary schools efficient without ham- pering the managers and teachers. (Hear, hear.) He also advocated an improvement in the treatment of teachers and the raising of their status. (Ap- plause.) Mr JOIIN, who was received with cheers, said that no one would deny the importance of education as the btst means of building up a nation. Eve.) in W a^es the wisdom of the fathers had sent down two proverbs, if not more, in appreciation of that faith. These were Gwell dysg na golud "and Goreu arf, arf dysg." Wales was not in the pre-eminent position it ought to occupy and his desire was to diivehome this fact. Scotland was continually held up to them as an example. Scotsmen to-day, occupied prominent positions in the various depart- ments of life. Wai it because Scotsmen were en- dowed with stronger and brighter intellects than Welshmen ? This he would not allow and es- pecially when he remembered that the idol of Scotch philosophers was Professor Henry Jones, a Welshman. (Hear, hear.) It was opportunity which made nations, and the Scotsman had put his opportunity to the best possible advantage in the matter of education. Welshmen were singularly pre-eminent for singing and this was because the life of the nation had been full of stimulating oppor- tunities. Wales had at present a complete system of edueati n, but they must see that every grade was made an opportunity for the youth of Wales in every particular. As one of the members of the Welsh Central Board and the Welsh University Council, he was deeply impressed with the enthusiasm in \Ya'cs for intermediate and higher education, but all this was built on an uncertain foundation if they neglected their primary schools. (Hear, hear.) He found that in Carnarvonshire there were eight county schools which were well staffed, having seven head masters, one head mistress, sixteen as. sistant ma-ters and fourteen assistant mistresses This was a proportion of one teacher to every six. teen pupils. The elementary schools were not so well staffed, and he wanted greater'approximation. For instance, in the boys' departments of the Carnarvon Board schools, there were 350 on the book? and the staff consisted of three c- rtificated teachers. two ex-pupil teachers, and four pupil teachers. Taking C arnarvonshire altogether, he ascertained that there were 21,844 cn the books, the average attendance beiug 16,64S and the percentage, 76'21. In the matter of percentage the county stood second for the whole of Wales, and, by the way, there were only two counties in England as low as the highest counties in Wales. Then as to the staff for the county, there were 204 certificated teachers, ninety seven assistant teachers, 181 pupil teachers, and eighty-three additional teachers. Counting only trained teachers, this gave one for every 107 scholars, and, including a sistant teachers, one fur seventy-two, and further including apprentices, one forthirty-eight. He:ventured to sa'y'that it was not f ,jr to use pupil teachers as a staple iucludirgappr- ntices one for thirty-eight. He ventured to ask whether the county of Carnarvon was dointr its best for the child by providing only one trained teacher for every 107 scholars in the elementary schools, while in the county schools there was a tt-acher for every sixteen. In iNI, i-ione t b shire, which lie would com- pare with Carnarvonshire, there were 9.638 on 'he books, the average attendance being 7.3.S7. and the percentage 76'12. The staff was made up as follows :—127 certificated teachers, fiity-eight assistant teachers, eighty-two pupil teachi-rs, and twenty-five additional teachers. Therefore in Aierionethshire there was one certificated tacher for every seventy-six children, and including as- sistant teachers, one for fifty-two, and fn: ther in- cluding apprentices, one for thirty-three. Car- narvonshire, he contended, ought to put their staff right. Taking the question of finance, which un- fortunately was a great force in the matter of edu- cation, he said that in Carnarvonshire the local contribution towprds voluntary schools was 8s 2d. and for board schools, 16s. Gd., whereas in Merion- ethshire the contributions towards voluntary schools amounted to 16s 10d. and towards board schools £ 1 Ss. The average grant earned in Wales was 19a lOd per head. Carnarvonshire only earned 19s 6d., whilst the anjoining couat-y of Merioneth gained jElOs lid. Then the average expenditure throughout the Principality was JE2 5s. Id., as com- pared with JE2 17s. lOd. in Merionethshire and f2 4s. 6d. in Carnarvon. The total grant earned in Carnarvon was only £16.231. whereas if the at- tendance of Carnarvon equalled the average at- tendance of England their total grant would be 917,36S. If they had in addition to that earned the same grant as Merioneth, they would have re- cieved from the Treasury ilS,630-a gain in grants of f2 39S per annum. He deeply deplored the financial loss sustained by Wales in consequence of the poor attendance. This loss, when compared with the attendance in English schools, amounted to £15,255 per annum. They had been told over and over again that Wales made a bad third io the matter of staff and attendance. Education wis like the soil the more they gave to it the more it would return. It was true that in the matter of attendance Carnarvon, with its seventy-six per cent, was second in Wales, but it was below the lowest county in England. The \N elsh inspectors had laid stress upon this in their reports, Mr Legard said that practically a quarter of the children on the books were absent each time the school was opened. Mr Bancrofc complained that he found the greatest unwillingness to energetically enforce the greatest unwillingness to energetically enforce regularity of attendance by prosecutions. Mr Alexander said that magistrates were too reluctant to convict and Mr Darlington stated that the re- sponsibility appeared to be equally diviiie j between the school attendance authorities and the magis- trates. In fact, it was generally agneil that there was too much apathy and laxity in the carry- out of the compulsory clauses of the Education Act It was with dificulty they managed to secure a fine of 5s. in Wales, whereas in Scotland a man seldom got off under 20s. and costs, and i Germany, parents were imprisoned if children were absent for a day or two without valid cause. In Fiance pun- ishment invariably followed cases where the ab- sences exceeded four per month, and in Paris when a pupil missed a single attendance a letter demand- ing an explanation was sent to the parent and penalties had recently been made much more severe in Switzerland. Mr John then proceeded to deal with the employment of children during school hours and said that the public conscience must be roused, so as to make the system impossible. A discussion followed in the course of which the Rev Father JONES. Carnarvon, deplored the apathy of the parents of the town, and said that one morn- ing he counted as many as 1 IS children playing about the streets during school hours. (Shame.) Mr D. P. WILLI AMS (chairman of the Carnarvon County Governing Body) defended the magistracy, and said that the real fault why more convictions were not attained lay with the attendance com- mittees who sent their officers to court with very little knowledge of the cases. It was quite im- possible for magistrates to convict unless the cases were properly proved. The staffing of the ele- mentary schools, he believed, would improve as the intermediate schools grew in influence Mr John Evans, manual instructor to the Car- narvon County Council, pointed out that the system of Welsh education was very imperfect. The chain contained many weak links, and he felt bound to say that greater attention should be paid to manual training, which after all was the education most needed by the masses. (Hear, hear.) Votes of thanks were passed to Mr John and the Chairman and the meeting terminated.

The Liberals have retained the representation of East Edinburgh by a greatly increased majority. The result of Friday's polling is as follows:— M'Crap, 4,890; Younger, 2,961 Liberal majority, 1,929. The Iongton (Staffordshire) Town Council on Friday put upon the rates a debitofaboutf 1,000, still outstanding in connection with the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales, in January, 1897. Several attempts to wipe off the amount without having recourse to the rates had failed. The question of Sunday steamer traffic at Tenby was discussed at some length at a meeting of the landing stage committee last week, the Mayor presiding, when it was decided by eight votes to n> e not to allow steamers to land passengers at the Royal ictoria Pier on Sandays. The Prince of NVales on Saturday laid the found- ation stone of the new building for the Post Office Savings Bank at West Kensington. His Royal Highness, accompanied by the Princess, drove there in semi-state, and an address was presented to him by the Postmaster General, giving a brief account of the Savings Bank and its work. In re- ply, the Prince said her Majesty desired him to ex- press the great interest she had always taken in the Post Office Savings Bank and the satisfaction with which she had watched the business it trans- acted attain its present proportions.

CORRIS

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CRICCIETH

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JjLANBAL)ARV FAWR. PETTY SESSIONS, THURSDAY, JUNE 29th.— Before J. G. kN'. in the chair Captain Hughes Captain Nicholas Br-ty, Dr Morgan, B. E lis M rgan and David Thomas, Esq re. Charge of Arnault.—Mi R. Jones, on behalf, of Mr W. P. O .*• n, -o^icit->r, Aberystwyth, applied for the withdrawal 01 the case in which James Michael, Royal Oik, Goginan, was charged hy Margaret Jones, mimrVi wit", wit assault. He stated that the ci.^e would t>e tak n to the County Court question of t tie- being involved. The Bench consented t withdrawal on payment <.f costs. Drunk Cllld Disonltrty. David Kvans, Pontrhyd- ybeddau. blacksmith, w I, ell lrg d by S ip rintend- ant Phillips with i.avuig be n 'runk and disorderly at Goginall an '27th.— P.O. Evan Powell said defendant was aimed out of t'¡.J Mitie 's Arms about half-past nine in hn e ering. Defendant was very drunk. !ai-it. ur j',t,-r lie cau,,d another distiill)t).ct-- Ile by tise,i abomin- able language.—Dei II ''a-it. dul not appear. -It « as stated that he h".1 b previously convicted in April, and lie was fined f2 a m costs. —■ David .VI ittn°w, Penlh-.yn, weaver, was charged by .Superintendent Pnilfps with having bs-n d:-«.nk at P(!, ItNv;ll on June 12th. -Defendant appear- d and adnr.tVri t-ne oflfenc-.— P.C. Evan Poweli said he found defendant lying on the road.—A fine of 5 and eo..t. wa-; impend. Furioil* Driving.-I,,Iw' is Thomas Davies, Poplar- row, Aberystwyth, b ttler, charged with hiv- ing furiously J ivcn a unrviago drawti by one h rse at Thomas Davies said about a quarter to ten on Sunday evening} June llfh, he saw defendant driving a pony attached to a t ap from the direction of Pwlbiobi at a fast pace. When lie called upon him to drive slowly he took no'notice, and after c'-nd-g r-n to level r¡¡}o he drove She pony s-t't! factor. In gr.jug round the corner of the Churchyard he taought he heard the pony galloping. I; was dark and he could not see di,tinctly.-Defet-i i,Lit E;,Ii I he did not drive the Lors., at a fast .pace he did not have a whip—Evan Griffith: Lla;>badarn, corro- borated the officer and sa d deiendant was gallop- ing the horse round the corner of the Churchyard. —Defendant said he hire 1 the pony and trap from Mr David Phillips, Aberystwyth II" drove to Goginan and it took him two hours and-a-half to drive from Gogiuan. He had three persons iu the trap and none of them had been drinking. He was not driving fast.—Defendant was fined f2 and costs. Charge of Stealing Case -Evan Davies, Tymelin, Cwmrheidol, miner, was charged by Superintendent Phillips with having stolen a wooden plank of the value of 2s 2d from Caegynon Mine, Cwmrheidol, property of the Caegynon Mining Company, on May 20th.—Mr A. J. Hughes, solicit >r, appeared for defendant.—John Jones, Caegynon Farm, farmer, said he was caretaker of the mine and he had an inventory of all the articles and machinery in the mine. He missed a wooden plank from the mine on May 20th..Later on he found that the plank had been utilised in making a door to a shed belonging to defendant. The door was produced and witness identified the timber by nail ma, ks and knots.—In cross-examina- tion, defendant said he had not told the police before they took possession of the door of the marks on the plank. It was after the police had taken the plank he identified the timber by the marks. He knew the marks of every article in the mine.—Mr Hughes (perusing the inventory which defendant had produced) said There arc landers outside. What are the marks on them ? —Witness Icannoi Say now.—In continued cross-examination, he said the plank had been lying attached to pieces of wood on the ground fur fifteen months. Trams ran over it a.nd there was water underneath.—Mr Hughes produced the plank and aske 1 whether there were marks or, the timber indicating that it had been on the ground for fifteen months. It was quite rough and there were no in- dications that persons had been walking over it for a few days let alone fifteen months.—Witness But the plank was not used for weeks at a time.— Replying to the Bench, defendant said he had lost thiugs from the mine before.-In further reply to Mr Hughes, witness said as far as he knew defend- ant was or good character, he had heard nothing against him. He never examined the door before going to the police. Immediately he saw the door he came to the conclusion that it was made of the stolen timber. He would have to suff r the loss if the person who had taken tre timber was not discovered. —P.C. Thomas Davies said in company of P.C. Evan Powell ne went to the mine. They measured toe place where the missing plank had lain. They found it to be 13 feet long and 9 inches wide. They next proceeded to Tymelin and searched the premises and ultimately found the door attached to a shed. Witness produced the pieces of wood on which the plank rested upon in the mine. He said the nail marks on the wood corresponded in dis- tance with those on the plank. In cross-examin- ation, witness said -he had shown the marks to Jones who had not told witness of marks on the platik.-A,lr Hughes said this was more of a Sherlock Holmes's case than anything else. There was leally no evidence. Defendant had bought a lot 01 timber "ome years ago. It was therefore nothing strange to have nail marks on timber bought second hand, as the defendant had done. He pointed out th t the timber consisting the door wore a fresh appearance compared with the pieces of wood on which the missing plank rested. The pieces of wood were worn out and soiled.—Defendant then gave evidence as to having bought a lot of timber second hand four years ago from Mr Evan Williams. The timber consisting the door was a portion of that bought from Mr Evan Williams. Mr Williaos purchased the timber from Gwaithcoch Mine. He had planks bimilar to the one comprising the door at home at the present time.—Supt. Phillips Why did you not produce such planks ?-Defen. dant I did not think it necessary.—David Powdl, Ffrwd-ddu, farmer, said he built the shed to which the door was attached for defendant. The timber comprising the shed was bought from Mr Evan Williams who had purchased it from Gwaithcoch. The timber in the door (produced) was similar to the timber comprising the shed.—The Bench at this stage deliberated aod then said they had had enough evidence.—Mr Hughes said the case waa one full of suspicion. The charge was based on certain nail marks. He asked them not only to dismiss the case, but to say there was not a stain on defendant's character.—The Bench deliberated for about a minute and dismissed the case, the Chairman saying that the defendant left the Court without a sttin on his character.