Welsh Gazette and West Wales Advertiser

A WORD TO BARMOUTH. AXYOXE acquainted with that charming seaside place, Barmouth, and the still more charming scenery by which it is encom- passed, will not be disinclined to prophesy that it is a town with a future. Its natural advantages are such as to make every native regard it with a pardonable pride. Its mountains are lofty and rugged, its walks hold the eye entranced, and its long stretch of smooth sand will compar e favourably with any on the Welsh coast. Nor is it without its artificial advantages. On Thursday, for instance, the foundation stone of the new Intermediate School was laid amid circum- stances of a peculiarly propitious character, and once a town can boast of good schools it has the principal agencies necessary for forging ahead in the van of progress. But Barmouth has'just received "more good news" Miss FRANCIS POWER COBBE, the president of the British Union of Anti-vivisectionists, writes that a good public reading room and library would be a great advantage to Bar- mouth, and she has a considerable number of suitable books which she is willing to give to form a free library for Barmouth on con- dition that the Cambrian Railways Com- pany will give a piece of land on which to erect the library. The offer will be open until October 1st next, and if not then accepted she will provide that the books be given to one of the New Institutes for Women in London. Here surely is a golden opportunity which it behoves the inhabitants of Barmouth to take advantage of, and that without delay. Why not, at the same time, consider the all- important question of erecting municipal buildings of which the library might form a part-worthy of the town ? The present Council Offices ^are the reverse of imposing from an architectural point of view they are, indeed, a reflection on the public spirit of the town, and quite out of harmony with its fame as a holiday resort. Steps will have to be taken some day in the direction of providing public buildings more in accord with the needs and aspirations of Barmouth. Why not now ?

THE WELSH INDUS- TRIES EXHIBITION. ACTUATED by a laudable desire to promote the rural industries of Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire, the Secretaries of these two county branches of the Welsh Industries Association^ve combined with a Committee, composed of leading Aberystwyth ladies and gentlemen, to hold an Exhibition in the College building on the 6tli and 7th Septem- ber. No doubt the Exhibition will do much service to the workers as a free and effective advertisement, and it will do much more good if it will serve as an object lesson in trade combination. We do not mean by trade-combination anything approaching the American Amalgamation schemes, or anything tending to encourage a monopoly, but such a co-operation as will enable the sellers to band themselves for common action, and to be perfectly free within that limit to sell and to undersell. In the United States and the Australian colonies such combinations exist in large numbers, and are highly successful, and their methods de- serve to be closely studied here. The Welsh Industries Association has done a very prac- tical service to Welsh trade in opening the Depot in London, where goods of purely Welsh manufacture are sold, and if other depots be opened in Liverpool, Birmingham, and other large centres, a real and sub- stantial impetus will be given to our rural industries. We have in our immediate neighbourhood crafts and industries that have only to be known to be appreciated. We look to the woollen industries of Pen- cader, Llandyssul, and Talybont, the old established boot industry of Lampeter, and the artistic skill of our wood-carvers all over the county, to sustain the reputation of Car- diganshire for first-class workmanship.

PRIMARY EDUCATION IN WALES. DR. AFICNANIARA'S visit to Aberystwyth to address the teachers of the elementary schools of that district should be productive of useful and indeed far-reaching results. His visit to Merthyr some months ago has already borne good fruit. The statements which he then made, and which he re-iterated and emphasised on Saturday last, were of the nature of eye-openers to those even who were supposed to be well posted up in Welsh educational affairs. There can now be no doubt whatever that in the matter of school attendance, taking the Principality as a whole, Wales comes off a bad third and by hus pointin g out the fact and having it well substantiated, Dr. MACNAMARA has pricked the bladder of our educational pride. It is not creditable to us as a nation that our percentage of attendance should be only 76-61, while those of England and Scotland should be 81-9 and 84-3 respectively. The county of Westmoreland, which is very like Wales in so many respects, both in its natural features as well as in the love of learning which is characteristic of its inhabitants, has beden us in the matter of ';L1(rw:22JI'um-t2CJ regularity of attendance at the primary schools. No doubt there are particular towns and districts in Wales which will probably compare most favourably with the very best througout the United Kingdom in this most important matter. Aberystwyth, for instance, thanks to the effort of the attendance officer who thoroughly understands the nature of his work and thoroughly does it, has, we believe, a very good record in this respect. Nor is it in the matter of attendance only that our country, of which we boast much and justly, is very defective. Poor Wales in its primary schools has one certificated teacher for 104 pupils as compared with 93 in England and 71 in Scotland. Now we think that through- out the United Kingdom this indicates a very bad state of affairs. We believe that it is as important to have an elementury school properly equipped and staffed as an intermediate school. Dr. MACNAMARA, last week, spoke in the highest terms of the ideal set by the county school system. In our own local county school there is a teacher for every twenty pupils and the Chief Inspector, we believe, holds that there shall be one teacher for every seventeen or eighteen pupils and for the proper tuition of pupils, this is as it should be. Why not agitate in primary education till a state of tilings is arrived at, approximate to that attained by most of the intermediate schools of Wales ? Does it not appear reasonable to expect a preparation in the primary schools as thorough and efficient as that expected in the higher institutons? Does not the pupil from the age of five to twelve require as much care and attention paid to his education, as between the ages of twelve and seventeen ? We trust that educationalists will agitate for a larger number of certificated teachers on the staffs of elementary schools, and not rest content till they have at least leached a result in which there may he throughout the Principality, osie fully qualified cer- tificated teacher for every thirty pupils in the schools. We do not spend enough on our elementary schools. The figures quoted on Saturday showed conclusively that Wales generally, and Cardiganshire particularly, are greatly fearful of spending much on primary education. The £2 3s. 3d. spent by Cardiganshire per pupil compares Jbadly with X.3 7s. and £3 4s. spent by the counties of Argyle and Sutherland respectively. It is well to have these things set before us, and it is well for us to ruminate on them. The above figures explain how it is, as Dr. MACNAMARA wittily said, that so many Scotchmen are exiled from their native land, at high salaries. But perhaps the most important thing of all connected with the Conference last Saturday, was the suggestion for reform that Dr. MACNAMARA gave. The present school board system is far from being the best that could be devised. There are enormous inequalities in the ratings of the different school board areas, and the unit of area is not satis- factory. What is wanted is to secure a fair reasonable and sensible mode of levying the local burdens for the purposes of elementary education. It seems absurd that one parish should be rated at eightpence in the pound, and the adjoining parish rated at eighteenpence. Why not levy the local rate by counties, and then let this be administered by some county authority through repre- sentative local managers to all schools? This would do away with the almost endless anomalies which exist in our present system. The plan seems simple, and is all the more so as we see it working satisfactorily in the case of the Welsh Intermediate School System. The more we think of the machinery of the latter system the more firmly we are convinced that it might be adopted to the advancement of prim- ary education in the County. The County Authority would correspond to the County Governing Body of Intermediate Schools, and would dispense the portion of the rates to the school boards in the different districts in the same way as the County Governing Body does to the Local Managers of the Intermediate Schools in their respective districts. We are convinced that such a scheme as this would work satisfactorily. There would be a much saving of public money, and there would be a great simpli- fication and unification of educational machinery. Unless some such scheme as is here suggested is adopted, we fear there is little hope of putting the elementary educa- tion of our country on a better and more permanent basis. We must confess in con- clusion, that we think it a matter of regret that a strong resolution in favour of the scheme shadowed forth by Dr. MACNAMARA was not put before the meeting on Saturday, and carried. We believe that such a resolution would carry great weight in the country generally, and would be the means of bringing the matter more effectively before those interested in this all-important subject. And every man and woman should be interested, for primary education is not a subject which concerns a few faddists or a few educationalists it may be said truly to be at the root of our social system, and our Intermediate, Collegiate, and University superstructure is not firmly and harmoniously knit together unless it stands on the foundation of primary education, steadfast and sure.

NOTES AND COMMENTS. At their meeting last week the Denbigh County Council adopted a motion protesting against the injustice done by the Tithe Rent Charge (Rates) Act. Ctlier Councils will, JU¥"TR8 no doubt, do likewise. This year the de- liberations of the Denbigh County Council are presided over by Mr. J. W. Lumley, a sturdy Cardi, and a staunch Liberal. Things are in a very bad way in Flint- shire. According to the Rev. Thos. Price, Vicar of Prestatyn, the powers of darkness and evil have obtained the upper hand for a time in the fight for a school board. r have ever fought and will fight," says that reverend gentleman, "against a school board as the work of the devil and his crew." The Aberystwyth Town Council are taking- steps to preserve the public footpaths within and without their Borough. It is to be hoped that many an ancient path will be re- claimed. Even parish roads have been closed to the public in that district within comparatively recent years. If Alderman Peter Jones will kindly act the village Hampden with undaunted breast, we have every reason to believe that he will success- fully champion the cause of tlio public against the tyrants of the field." In another part of the paper we print the first of a series of free public lectures on the principles and practice of fruit culture by Mr. J. L. Pickard, Instructor in Horti- culture at the University College of Wales, Aoerystwyth. The Horticultural Shows held annually at Corris, Talybont, Peniarth, Lampeter and Machynlleth have materially contributed to the revival of gardening in the district, and the competitors at those shows cannot fail to benefit by Mr. Pickard's lectures by combining science with practice. A Bristol woman named Emily Stallard was fined X20 and costs by the local magistrates on Friday for selling- large quantities of margarine as fresh country butter. Defendant had purchased nearly 2001b. of margarine in a month, and this she made up into pats, bearing an acorn on the top. Then, dressed as a country farm, woman, with a basket and a nice white cloth, she had sold the margarine as fresh butter from the conn try. Fore ign com- petition is bad enough, but British dis- honesty is ten times worse. If the rowyn County School continues to make such rapid progress,. Abervstwvth Col- lege will soon find a serious rival within its oorders. Sot satisfied with its matchless success at the London University Matricula- tion Examination, Towyn School now sets itself boldly to prepare its pupils for the London Intermediate B.A. and B.Sc. Ex- aminations. Every pupil presented at the recent Science and Art Examinations was successful; and of the five pupils who sat for the Matriculation Examination of the London University, four passed in the First! Division. Montgomerysnire is troubled with an Outlander Question of its own. Mrs, Humplireys-Owen believes that the benefit of the "Welsh Intermediate Education Act should not only be strictly limited to Welsh boys and girls, but that the County Schools should be restricted to boys and girls living within the various school districts of the County. At their meeting on Friday, the Governors of the Machynlleth County School, after hearing the views of Mr. Meyler, the headmaster, on the- subject, passed a resolution protesting against Mrs. Humphreys-Owen's proposal. ^Vould Mrs. Humplireys-Owen exclude Welsh boys from London whose parents are natives of Machynlleth ? A number of the members of the Leicester Board of Guardians were summoned to ap- pear before a Divisional Court last week to show cause why a mandamus should not issue calling upon them to appoint a vaccina- tion officer. The plea which the Guardians set up for non-appointment is that they de- cline to pay a public officer over whose actions they have no control. It appears also that the Guardians were elected under a pledge to resist compulsory vaccination and they do not see their way to break faith with the electorate. Justices Darling and Phiiimore granted the mandamus asked for on behalf of the Local Government Botrd, but the issue was suspended to give an opportunity for appeal. There were eiitliu- siastic demonstrations in favour of the guardians as they left Leicester for London, and at several stations on the way. The Archbishop of Canterbury on Monday announced the conclusions at which he had arrived, after hearing the arguments of counsel and experts on the questions of the liturgical use of incense and the carrying of lights in processions in the Church of England. He held that both practices were illegal, and appealed to the clergy concerned, for the sake of the peace of the Church, to discontinue them. At the same time he said it was right to observe that the liturgical use of incense was not permanently excluded from the Church's ritual. It would always be possible for the Sovereign, with the advice of the Primate, to order a great ceremonial in which incense could be used. Meanwhile the law required that the clergy should wait for the sanction of lawful authority before bringing in an additional ceremonial as a part of public worship. Last week the N orthwich Board of Guardians had under consideration the question of the sale of intoxicating liquors to children. The Clerk reminded them that in February the Board had passed a resolu- tion suggesting that as the sale of intoxicants was a fruitful source of pauperism and crime, and as the sale of such drinks to children was largely productive of such results, Parliament should be asked to enact that it should be illegal to sell to children under the age of 13 for consumption off the premises. Sir John Brunner, M.P., said that lie was heartily in sympathy with the resolution, and promised to support any legislative proposal to make such sale illegal. He, however, felt bound to point out that though legislation on the subject was advis- able in oiuer to overcome the reluctance shown in many instances by the licensing justices to exercise their existing powers, legislation was not necessary. The Liver- pool magistrates, amongst others, had already practically stopped the sale of drink to children under 13. Under these circum- stances, he recommended the Guardians to pass a resolution urging the magistrates acting in the union to use their powers to this righteous end.—The Board decided that a resolution of the character suggested by Sir John should be forwarded to the chair- man of each of the five benches of magis- trates within the union.