Welsh Gazette and West Wales Advertiser

BARMOUTH AND ITS RAILWAY SERVICES. IN another column a correspondent calls attention to a matter of vital importance to Barmouth. We believe that if the rate- payers of that town will read the letter dispassionately they will find not only that the arguments advanced are unanswerable, but that the timely note of warning con- tained in the letter cannot fail to engage their most serious considerations. The destiny of Barmouth depends in no mean degree on this matter, and its importance will, therefore, command the attention not only of the tradesmen, but of the inhabitants at large-in fact of all who make the interests of Barmouth, and not the interest of any particular railway company, the supreme end of their individual, commercial, and muni- cipal activities. Our object in calling attention to this matter is not to make ar impertinent attempt to play one railway company against another, but to urge the people of Barmouth to pursue a safe and sane- policy, and not to allow themselves to be misled by any illusory advantages. Let one railway be closed, then possibly the people of Barmouth will realize and feel what they owe at present to the fact that their town is open to railway competition. Competition is the most effective contrivance the various exigencies of our age have so far,'evolved to maintain equilibrium, and to prevent excesses. Many a town that is served by only one railway company known to its cost that that railway, conscious of its monopoly, can turn itself like a battering- ram against its interests and industries- Why, the existence of this paper has already forced this lesson home to the community in this district. To regulate the price of a paper, or to reduce the rates of a railway are quite insignificant compared with the change of tone and manner, and the modification of policy and attitude that result unavoidably from that competition which cannot be ignored, willy-nilly, in the struggle for existence. We do not believe it to be the duty of every tradesman on the coast to give his undivided support to one railway company as against another. Such an alliance would i amount to a monopoly, and it is very questionable whether its results would be beneficial either to. the town or to the tradesmen themselves. It is, we believe, only fair to point out in the interests of Barmouth itself that that town owes more of its prosperity than some people are inclined to admit to the fact that it is favoured with the services of one of the wealthiest and; most enterprising railway companies in the world—the Great Western. Moreover, the connection between Barmouth and the Great Western Railway is a most enviable one—it is the only watering-place of note in North Wales served by that company, and what that means the people of Barmouth know only too well. The resources of the Great Western are unlimited, and where would Barmouth and many another watering-place be to-day but for the rich and extensive field for advertising that that company has afforded them by its wide- spread system of railways throughout the Kingdom. The rivers that float the largest vessels are invariably those that drain the most extensive watersheds, We would advise the people of Barmouth to make the best of both railways, and to try and get the most out of each. An alliance between large railways has as far-reaching results on small towns as an alliance between the great powers has on small states. If Barmouth scouts the Great Western, whence is it going to have its supply ? It could not expect much from an alliance between the Cambrian and the London &, North Western Railways, while the latter company has other resorts, such as Rhyl and Llandudno, on its own system. If Barmouth adopts tho suicidal policy of giving its exclusive support to one railway it may have good reason to rue such an ill-advised but well-meant aet; but if it persistently urges both companies to improve their service in speed and accomodation, the net result from both will be far more than can ever be expected from the one or the other singly.

DR. WILLIAMS' SCHOOL. THE Charity Commissioners have, it is stated, fully vindicated the views of DR. EDWARD JONES and Mr. HAYDN JONES with reference to the claim preferred by the managers of Dr. Williams' School, for a "due share of the county rate and Treasury grant." We expressed a hope at the time that an appeal would be made to the Charity Com- missioners, as we were confident that the result would coincide with the views of the overwhelming majority of the members of the Merioneth County Governing Body, who, at their last meeting, after a mature and dispassionate deliberation, came to the conclusion that Dr. Williams' School was not an intermediate school within the mean- ing of the Welsh Act and county scheme. After this, the best thing for Dr. Williams' School would be to utterly dissociate itself from the cheap and bombastic patronage of those who would force it into the ridiculous position of running with the hare and hunt- ing with the hounds. To expect a share of the county rate and at the same time to refuse to come under the administration of the County Governing Body is as absurd as it is unconstitutional. It is one thing to whine about "bare justice" and women's rights-as if there were no other rights in the world-but it is quite another thing to have to face the relentless logic of men like Dr. EDWARD JONES and Mr. HAYDN JONES. It was pointed out at the meeting of the County Governing Body that some of the most vital principles and clauses of the Intermediate Education Act were not ap- plicable to Dr. Williams' School. For in- stance, the minimum age of admission to the County Schools is ten, and the standard that of an examination equivalent to the V. Standard of the Education Code, while pupils are admitted under Dr. Williams' Scheme at the age of seven, and the standard is the lowest of the Code. No one who knows anything of the vast amount of labour, time, and money that men like Mr. HAYDN J JONES and Dr. EDWARD JONES have devoted to the cause of education in the county can ever stoop to question the singleness of their motive and the justice of their action in this matter and we are glad to find that they have been upheld by the Charity Commis- sioners, the legality and justness of whose decision no sane man will question.

NOTES AND COMMENTS. 0. Owing to Christmas Day falling on Mon- day the Aberystwyth Market will be held on the previous Saturday. In another part of the paper w& print interesting addresses by Professor D. Morgan Lewis, of the University College of Wales,.and Mr. Q. M. Edwards, M.P. Snow fell throughout the country gener- ally on Friday.. Traffic has been impeded in the, Midlands, and several ice accidents are already reported., At the Merionethshire County Council last Thursday the matters discussed were:— Present and Future Maintenance of Main Roads- Veterinary Inspection—The In- ebriates' Act—Sanitation—Barmouth Junc- tion Tram Railway. Last Sunday a presentation was made to Mr. Dd. Jones, of the Aberllefenny Offices, Machynlleth, by the members of the Maengwyn Chapel Sunday School. Mr. Jones has been a Sunday school teacher for 62 years and a deacon for 50. Mr. Jones held an important appointment for a long period under the late Mr. R. D. Pryce, Cyfronydd, and was well known throughout Mid Wales in days gone by as his agent. zn The Plymouth steamer Saltram," which is now hopelessly overdue on her voyage from Philadelphia to Havana, carried a crew of 22 hands, all of whom are feared to have been lost. Various changes have taken place in the crew since the vessel originally left England some 15 months ago, but it is known that the majority of the crew are Welshmen, and that several men from this district are on board, the master being Capt. J* Owen, a brother to Capt. Owen, Aberayron; and the second mate, Wra. Jones, of the same place first mate,. E. R. Jones, Llan- arth boatswain, J. Jones, Aberystwyth. Sir Hereward Wake is a large landlord, hailing from one of the very oldest stocks in the land, for his ancestors were summoned to Parliament as barons as far back as 1295. Sir Hereward, whose remarks at the annual meeting of the National Agricultural Union the other day have attracted a good 1 1 ii i T i uea. oi attention, taxes a somewhat gloomy view of farming prospects, for he himself has been badly hit by agricultural depression. Four years ago he declared publicly that he had found it necessary to sell one of his estates to keep the other up, and that in order to further economise he had turned out of his house and gone to live at the neighbouring rectory, the rector—his brother —being content with the bailiff's cottage. He could not, he added, go on keeping the the labourers' cottages in repair and if he gave his tenants their land they would be in the same plight as he was. Since the beginning of the war a vulgar r) zn idea that it is unwise and unpatriotic to criticise the' Government has gained con- siderable currency. Earl Spencer last week said he, however, would repeat that it was the duty of everybody in this country, when he saw that mistakes had been made, to moderately and truthfully criticise what had I been done. He believed the Liberal party to be stronger at this moment tlun it Ivid been for some years past. He was not an advocate or supporter of what was called the new diplomacy, which seemed to consist in talking in a violent way and saying intemperate things of persons in other countries with whom we might be brought into contact. It had a disastrous effect abroad, and after such utterances we could not be surprised that other nations should be jeaJous of us and act adversely to us in various ways. The time might come when not only the diplomacy, which led up to the war, but perhaps the military conduct of the war might be criticised. The 'Speaker' says that acquiescence in everything that a Conservative Government does has almost become a recognised Fortieth Article of the Established Church. Fortunately there has never been wanting a courageous handful of Churchmen who have dared to denounce this political addendum to the official creed. The Bishop of Hereford, the Dean of Durham, Canon Moore Ede, and Canon Hicks, amongst others, still believe in the compatibility of patriotism with morality. Dean Kitchen has indeed gone so far as to refuse to have the Archbishop's prayer used in Durham Cathedral, on the ground that its tone is self-righteous. When we recollect how the Bishops, Deans, Major and Minor Canons, and the rest, worked day and night to defeat the Liberal party at the last election, and recall their timid silence when this war was imminent, it is refreshing to remind ourselves of the moral courage and the intellectual honesty of such men as the Dean of Durham." We feel sure that many of our readers will cordially endorse what Principal Reichel said the other day at Newtown about the cultivation of music. Principal Reichel said that even in Wales, admittedly the most musical part of the British Islands, he did not think they at all realised what might be made of music as an educational instrument. He was not referring to the manufacture of technical musicians, but to the utilization of musical faculty for the cultivation of the higher emotions and the formation of character. It might be asked, was that possible? But the objection confounded the possession of technical skill required to reproduce a work of art with the capacity for taking in the ideas it was intended to convey. Some of the people on whom music or painting had had the profoundest effect were those who had never played a note or mrde the simplest sketch in their lives. Look at the poetry and descriptive narrative of the Old Testament. It has never been equalled for power of moulding the character. It was so in music. It was simple old tunes, sacred or profane, the old chorales, the old national songs which had most profound influence. To that moulding power exercised by art they were fairly alive so far as literature was concerned. But was it not a faco that there rr-erp many minds which were more susceptible to musical than to literary impression ? He thought there were numbers of fine old tunes both English and Welsh which could often be picked up in a moment which would maintain an atmosphere in the mind of really healthy national feeling. It was lamentable to see the way in which they allowed the ground to be occupied by the miserable and degrading ditties of the music hall. All that was needed was that some competent person of sound taste should make a selection of the old ballads and songs, and issue it in cheap hymn-book form for the schools, and the various associations of head masters should encourage its use. Was it too much to hope that some of the musicianly men who controlled their new schools would take the matter up ? The week's correspondence Dolgelley Free Library the aims and objects of the Committee, letter by the Rev. E. Hampden Cook-Proposed New Railway Station at Aberystwyth—The War from a humanitarian point of view—Barmouth and the Cambrian Railways—Berth v. Llangeitho. Ir. the Chanccry Division of the High Court on Thursday Mr. Justice Cosens- Hardy concluded the hearing of an action brought by Mr. S. Warburton, of Manchester, against the Llandudno District Council for damages sustained in consequence of the defendants having first of all accepted his tender of £ 13,800 for the erection of new municipal buildings and then having, in consequence of a dispute, ejected him from the site and prevented him from carrying out the contract. The Judge held that the Council had committed a breach of contract, and awarded the plaintiff XI,000 damages and costs, dismissing the Council's counter-claim. Speaking at Newtown last week, Principal Reichel said that the progress of the intermediate education system, in public estimation had been strong and rapid. The prophets of failure had ceased to prophesy, the voice of ill-will was hushed, criticism had become more helpful and less captious." Principal Reichel, of course, could not have referred to Aberystwyth when lie said that "the voice of ill-will was hushed." There the "prophets of failure" have not ceased to prophecy, but. fortunately, their prophecy is utterly discredited. The Executive Committee, of the Thomas; Ellis Memorial Fund met in London under- the presidency of Mr. Lloyd George, M.P. Before taking steps towards, closing the fund. which at present amounts in subscriptions and promises to about XI,000, it was- resolved to submit one or two schemes for its disposal to the contributors with the, view of placing the object decided upon p 1 t, definitely before the country and inviting others to subscribe to it. There is a strong desire in favour of a permanent memorial (not a statue) near Mr. Ellis's home at Cynlas, and the establishment of some kind of educational foundation connected with his name. —————— The Agricultural Education Committee Z!1 has appointed an executive committee, and this latter has drawn up a series of resolu- tions making some very reasonable and I practical proposals. They propose that the educational work now performed after a fashion by the Board of Agriculture should be handed over to the new Board of Educa- tion, that this new Board should appoint among its inspectors of schools an adequate number of men who are well acquainted with the needs of the agricultural classes and the conditions of countiy life, and that these inspectors should be instructed to see that the curriculum in the case of rural schools diflers from that required from urban schools. The Committee also ask that in rural schools there should be a continuous course of what they call "rural" instruction, beginning with object-lessens and ending with lessons on natural history and science bearing on agriculture and rural life. The GNational Agricultural Union at its annual meeting last week also passed the following resolution :That in the organisa- tion' of the new Board of Education it is essential that due regard should be had to the interests of agricultural instruction, and that in future, whether in primary or secondary rural schools, or in teachers' training colleges, practical instruction in agriculture should be liberally provided." Dr. Emrys Jones, who presided over an eisteddfod at Manchester on Saturday, said he considered that the eisteddfod, as an institution for the fostering of literary, musical, and artistic aspirations, was a national protest against the English love of betting nd gambling. It was sad to notice the flower of the boyhood and man- hood of Lancashire poisoned by this cursed craze, and he hoped that the Welsh residents, would ever protest against the vice and endeavour to counteract its influence by fostering the love of the true, the beautiful, and the good. Dr. Emrys-Jones paid a tribute to Manchester people for their appreciation of the Welsh residents of the city. He also referred to the loss sustained by the country in the death of Sir Henry Tate, who had been a lifelong friend of the educational movement in Wales. Starting in life in a humble way, Sir Henry knew the necessity of hard work and honest labour and to the lack of early educational training y might doubtless be attributed his sympathy with young Welshmen and Welshwomen. The actions of men like Sir Henry Tate, Mr. Rathbone, and other Englishmen would have the effect of drawing the Welsh and the English more closely together, and the only rivalry that would exist would be as to who could render the best service to the Empire. The case of The Queen v. The Leicester Board of Guardians again came before a Divisional Court on Thursday. It was stated that the Guardians had complied with the order of the Court requiring them to appoint a vaccination officer, but it appeared that the name of the officer had not been submitted to the Local Government Board, and a suggestion was put forward that perhaps they had appointed "a gentleman who knew how not to perform his duties." Mr. Justice Darling said the Local Government Board had every right to be suspicious of the Guardians. There might not have been a real compliance with the order, and the matter must stand over until it was seen whether that was the case or not. The Court did not intend to be trifled with by an illusory compliance. Even what the Guar- dians had now done had only been done after their clerk said he could not comply with their instructions; as their clerk he was bound to give effect to what they resolved legally, but whenever the Guardians exceeded their powers they could not command obedience. It was therefore clear that, even if this amounted to a submission, they had only submitted because they could not find any man as a clerk audacious enough to go on defying this Court. Those Guar- dians who had submitted seemed to have attempted to combine the maximum of recalcitrancy with the minimum of courage. At a meeting of the members of the Holywell Board of Guardians, the Chairman moved the adoption of a resolution calling upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer to provide out of national funds for the widows and soldiers killed in the Transvaal war. A member, in seconding, said he thought the Government should take care of these poor people and not leave them to be paupers. There was a vast amount of money in the country now not used, including the Patriotic Fund. He thought it was a crying shame the Government should send men out to be crippled and make them paupers when they came back. The resolution was adopted. The writer of our London Letter" called attention to this matter some weeks ago. He pointed out that the Government, which is the largest employer of labour in the country, should be brought within the scope of the Employers' Liability Act, and he added that such a process might bring a. remedy, for the more expensive war is made the less chance there is for any Government engaging in it.

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS. Owing to pressure on our space we have been compelled to hold over several com- munications until next week.

THE REPRESENTATION OF MERIONETHSHIRE. THE electors of Merionethshire will soon have to make up their minds as to their future representative in Parliament. This will be no easy task, as the weaning of the grain from the chaff is a process which calls into action qualities, both good and bad, hitherto lying dormant. Men, who habitually act together on public questions, will be found to be on different sides when the day comes- to decide between the rival merits of half-a-dozen candidates. As a whole the electors of Merioneth will put aside all personal questions and support th& man who, in their opinion, best represents the feelings and aspirations of the farmers, quarrymen, labourers, and tradesmen of the county. But how are they to know this man ? What are the marks by which he can be recognized ? We have a very ready answer, and one we are sure which will commend itself to every elector in Merioneth. It is. simply this—he must be a man like unto. THOMAS. EDWARD ELLIS. What were the characteristics of Mr. ELLIS which made him such a successful repre- sentative of Merioneth? First and fore- most, he was a man of the people, loving ttaem, understanding them, speaking to them in their own tongue. He understood the pecular relations existing between landlords and tenants, Churchmen and Noncon- formists, parsons and tithe-payers, the English language and the Welsh language. Secondly, he was able to interpret those relations to the ^English Parliament, he was able to show where the shoe pinched and how defects in the system of government might be easily remedied. Every man who understands the needs of his country is not able to do this, it requires a natural aptitude, a skilled training—be it an Uni- versity training or a training acquired by years of service in public life-and, more than all, a wise and discreet disposition. We think electors are apt to lay too much rttress on the gifts of oratory in a member of Parliament. The House of Commons will listen to a man though he may not be eloquent if he knows what he is talking about; it will not listen to a man who can speak by the yard and say nothing at all. Thirdly, Mr. ELLIS entered Parliament when he was a young man. In the present state of politics youth is almost a necessary element of success. There are but few instances of great Parlia- mentary reputations formed by men who entered Parliament during middle age. A young man is more likely to understand and conform to Parliamentary usages and customs than a middle-aged man. No man can be a parliamentary success unless he understands these unwritten laws and customs. Before the electors of Merioneth decide to look over their borders for likely candidates let them search every corner of the constituency to see if there are no men who answer the above description. Merioneth should be represented by a son of Merioneth. Why should the electors of Merioneth con- fer a self-seeking advertisement on half-a- dozen persons who have offered themselves to half the constituencies in Wales? We do not deny that there are persons outside the county who might make excellent Members of Parliament, some of them people of reputation, but there is not one of these people who could as worthily represent the old county as a person who has spent his life in the county. Above all let Merioneth beware of the successful man of business who is wishful to spend the latter portion of his life in well-earned retirement in the House of Commons. A constituency with- out a voice might as well be disenfranchised. No, what Merioneth wants is a young man who can carry on the excellent traditions of Messrs THOMAS ELLIS and OWEN EDWARDS.