Welsh Gazette and West Wales Advertiser

THE LATE MR. JOHN BONSALL. Ix the death of Mr. JORX BOXSALL, of Fron- fraith, Cardiganshire has lost its oldest and ablest magistrate. He was made a justice of the peace for the county in the year 1856, and he possessed a rare combination of qualities which eminently fitted him to dis- charge the duties of his office in a manner which seldom failed to win confidence and command esteem. These qualities were, his legal training and his knowledge of the language of the people and the customs of the country and these iqualities, tempered with a sympathetic nature, made Mr. JOHN BONSALL an invaluable acquisition to any bench of Magistrates, and enabled the Llanbadarn Bench to claim a higher rank than any other in the county. No other Bench in Cardiganshire had such a high repute for the soundness of its decisions as that of Llanbadarn fawr, over which Mr. BONSALL presided for so many years. Nor is this all, Mr. BONSALL'S personality, close attention to business, and his length of days gave the Bench which he adorned, that continuity of policy which gave its decisions such a sterling value in the estimation of the public. Mr. BOXSALL'S name and memory, however, will not be more closely linked to any institution than to the Aber- ystwyth Infirmary with which he had been actively and honourably associated for over half a century, and was its President since the death of Colonel PRYSE. We have on other occasions dwelt more at length than space will now permit on the active interest lie took in the good work of this institution but we cannot conclude without relating in brief a pathetic incident which well illustrates the genuineness of his life-long devotion to whatever good work he took in hand, and steadily pursued in the even tenor of his way. A meeting of the Infirmary Com- mittee was held on the day of Mr. BONSALL'S death, and it is said that the last instructions he gave to his coachman on the previous evening was to have the trap ready, early on the morrow, to take him to the Infirmary meeting, over which he was to preside-but on that morrow the faithful President was removed from his work to his reward.

A SANATORIUM WANTED AT LAMPETER. CONSIDERABLE attention has been given of late to the successful curing of certain dread diseases by what is known as the open-air treatment. It has been fully demonstrated at Nordrach and elsewhere that the treatment has been remarkably successful in the case of pulmonary tuberculosis-a scourge which claims its victims by the thousands in our country every year. We have already on previous occasions called attention to the methods adopted in the successful application of this treatment. It was at one time thought that the patient could only undergo the treatment with any hope of recovery at certain specific places such as Nordrach and Davos. Recently, however, a very important fact in connection with this treatment has been satisfactorily proved, namely, that the tuberculosis patient, of whatever country or race, can be suitably treated not far from his own home. This is a comforting doctrine, and economically, reassuring. The one thing needful, it has been now amply proved, is the free exposure of the patient to open air. He must be bathed in fresh air, dry and night, and that whether the weather be good or bad as popularly under- stood. The more sunshine, or at least bright sunlight he can have, the better. It is remarkable at what different rates in a climate such as ours two patients starting apparently with the same degree of disease proceed towards cure according as their dwelling rooms face southward or northward. There is a desire-and a very worthy and reasonable desire-to give the open air method I "a local habitation" at Lampeter. Those who J have read the interesting story of The Holy Grail" may remember how Galahad after scouring the whole world in search of the lost treasure at last discovered it near his own door. The same may now be said of many an invalid Galahad who has been travelling far and wide in search of health. He can now find what he is in search of close to his own home. It has been suggested that a more suitable site for healthy dwell- ings could not be found as on either side of Cwmrhys. The erection of a Sanatorium, or a building available as such, near that spot, with a right of access to the woods at the top of the h ill, would afford a most excellent resort for invalids wishing to undergo the open-air treatment. It would be well worth for Mr. Harford and the leading people of the town and neighbour- hood to give the Matter their consideration There is no doubt that if all the good people of Lampeter were to make up their minds to think a little less of themselves and a little more of their neighbours, and also give the parable of the Good Samaritan" an occasional polishing, the result would be the developing of Lampeter into the brightest and happiest spot in the county.

SANITATION FOR THE PEOPLE. [BY DR. WALKER.] III.—METHOD (Continued). THE supply of pure water is obviously the duty of the sanitary authorities, but even in connection with food supply they cannot escape responsibility. In the public services and institutions the diet is regulated both as to quantity and quality, and the prepara- tion of the food more or less supervised; but not even the most paternal government would venture to prescribe what, when, where, and how much the public should eat, however glaring may be and are the errors which it makes, unless the health of the community should be endangered. Unfortunately, the public health is frequently imperilled by food, and the authorities are bound to interfere. Whilst we all value the liberty to choose our viands, and to regulate the quantity and the preparation according to our own sweet will, we should be prepared to sacrifice it when demanded for the common good. Some diseases are due to improper feeding, and, when these affect the helpless and weak, there is nothing revolutionary in the proposal that public, or even legislative action, should be taken to protect this class from ignorance or neglect. Infantile mortality has engaged the attention of sanitary authorities for many years, because of its proportion or rather disproportion to the mortality at other ages. It is recognised that the cause of this is largely removable, since it is chiefly due to ignorance Or neglect in feeding. Starch food, such as flour, oatmeal, bread, &c., is as much poison to most infants as opium or arsenic They cannot digest it under six or seven months' old, because they have no digestive ferment (ptyalin) in the saliva and starch it acts therefore as an irri- tant poison. Milk, which should be the sole nourishment, often contains bacteria, and is generally too rich in cheesy matter (casein), and requires sterilizing or prolonged cooking, and dilution with plain or lime water, to correct these faults. The giving of improper food should be an offence against law, as it is against humanity, when it results in loss of life. Rickets is a disease which affects children very largely, especially in town life, and usually results from bad feeding. Scurvy is another disease of faulty diet, viz.: the absence of fruit and vegetables, or rather of the potash and organic salts which they contain. The latter disease is the subject of legal regulations, and the former is ignored. Why such inconsistency? But the chief danger to the public health in connection with food arises from com- municable diseases of the animals used as such. Tubercle or consumption is the most formidable of these, though there are many others of a dangerous character. It is a disputed point whether the flesh of diseased animals is unwholesome. Some authorities maintain that the muscles in tubercle, for example, are usually free from the bacillus. But, as all admit that the glands are the chief seats of the disease, and as these are scattered among the muscles all over the body, it seems a perilous opinion to offer. It is to be feared that economic rather than scientific reasons have prevailed with them and, in spite of financial loss, the destruction of all diseased animals should be insisted upon. Cooking is not an efficient protection against disease. The extent of bovine tuberculosis is far greater than is supposed by the public. In Denmark and Prussia the examination of milk cows is far more efficient than in this country, and from 15 to 20 per cent. of these were found diseased, though producing milk. Thus, in these degenerate days, when mothers are so often unable or unwilling to provide. the natural nourish- ment, a large proportion of infants are drinking at times at all events the poison of consumption. Is it surprising that so many healthy children of strong parentage should succumb to this fell disease, and that the disease should attack, as it usually does, the alimentary canal ? No doubt sterilising, which can now be easily accomplished, or prolonged boiling, or heating for an hour at 1600 F. will destroy the bacillus. But even a mother will rarely take this trouble, and the alternative is practically presented of sacrificing many children or the diseased cattle. Which is it to be ? Pigs, and who could be surprised, are very liable to disease. Why, oh why, is their flesh so tempting ? Let not CHARLES LAMB'S euology on roast pork put your prudence to flight. Beware of the savoury sausage and appetising bacon It is bred on filthy food and in filthier quarters. Sheep. poultry, game, and fish are less liable to disease. What we need is more careful and fearless inspection of home or imported cattle and dead meat, and destruction of all found diseased. Public abattoirs, where animals may be humanely slaughtered and sanitary precautions taken in the storage of C) meat; healthy cowhouses and pig-sties; clean and sound food cleanliness in the handling and storing of milk, and its distribution are all essential points. Milk epidemics are all too frequent. In most cases they can be traced to a human source but in some (as at Hendon) there seems reason to think that the cattle themselves are affected with the disease, or to one allied to it. Scarlet fever, influenza, pleuro pneumonia, diphtheria, and typhoid are known to attack the lower animals as wall as man. Milk and meat are both very absorbent of organic germs, and should be kept as far as possible from reach of infection. If food shows any trace of decomposition it should be at once destroyed. Tinned food often produces serious results from the action of salts on the metal, or the formation of poisons (ptomaines) of a mysterious but probably bacterial origin. Vegetarians do not escape all danger by avoiding animal food. Fruit and vegetables have diseases of a parasitic nature which can produce disease, and owing to their perishable character, are liable to ready decomposition. More stringent penal enactments are required against adulteration, against the sale of unwholesome food or its use in making up table delicacies," against grow- ing oysters in polluted water, preserving C5 food improperly, or allowing it to be exposed wilfully to a poisoned atmosphere. The use of preservatives is a vexed question at present, and much difference of opinion expressed. My own idea is, that a simple preservative such as boracic acid might be used as safely as ordinary salt, but the purchaser has a right to know whether it is used or not, and the quantity employed. If possible, the food should be so fresh as to stand in no need of preservation. Cold is by far the best method, aud it has proved a grand success commercially in the importation of meat or other perishable foods from distant countries.

THE ABERYSTWYTH LEASE QUESTION THE proceedings at the last meeting of the Aberystwyth Town Council have given rise to considerable comment, and whatever may be said of the conflicting views on the Terrace-road leases question-all are agreed upon one fact, namely that the Mayor, Alderman C. M. WILLIAMS is fighting for the welfare of the town generally, and not for his own near ends. It makes a vast differ- ence to the town whether the lease in question in Terrace Road be renewed on the site scale or on the rateable value scale. By renewing the lease of the property in Terrace Road on the site scale the town will only get a paltry fine of £44 10s. 4d., or £2 5s. lOd. a year; but by renewing it on the rateable value scale the same property will yield to the town the sum of E.140 17s 6d, or £6 17 s 10d a year. The disparity be- tween these figures is yery great, and if there ever was a case worth fighting for, for the sake of the town, this one is. Let the ratepayers only consider ,this:case on its own simple merits, and they will surely find it to be a flagrant instance of the need of making it a general rule to renew all such leases on the rateable value scale. Leaving aside all other considerations, personalties and motives, it would be wrong on the ground of equity to renew this lease on the site scale. For, having regard to the fact that about E600 was paid for the remaining 21 years of the lease in question, it is unreasonable to expect the Corporation to give 54 years for only X44 10s. We may illustrate the difference it would mean to the town in another form. Assuming that the Council did not renew the lease at all until the expiration of the 21 years, the property if put in the market, at the end of that time, with a 75 years lease, would, judging from prices now realized in the same street, fetch at least Y,1,200, whereas the amonnt of ground rent on site scales at the end of the same term of 21 years would not reach £50,. This is a matter which demands 'the serious attention of the rate- payers if they do not want their town to suffer.

NOTES AND COMMENTS. The judgment in the Bortli Drainage case is printed in extenso in another part of the paper. The members of the Caradog and Severn Z) Field Club," whose headquarters is at Lud- low, will visit the Banks of the Dovey early next summer. In the House of Lords on Thursday a Bill to enable the trustees of the British Museum to deposit copies of local newspapers with local authorities and to authorize them to destroy printed matter which was quite useless was read a first time. At the Cardiganshire Quarter Sessions on Thursday, fr. Willis Bund presiding, a resolution was adopted congratulating the Prince of Wales on his escape unhurt from the attempt made to take his life at Brussels. A similar resolution was passed at a meeting of the Lampeter School Board. Lady White, the wife of the gallant defender of Ladysmith, completed her visit to Lady Evans at Lovesgrove on Tuesday, and left for London by the mid-day train that day. It is not the intention of Sir George White to visit his friends in Cardiganshire immediately upon his arrival in this country, but it is expected that he will pay Lady Evans a visit some time during the summer months. The bun says Despite all rumours and inspired statements to the contrary, we have excellent 1 easons for stating that should no further accident occur to retard the capture and occupation of Pretoria, the Government will at once appeal to the country on the cry of "Annexation, or Independence ?" In this case the date of the dissolution will probably be early 'in July, in order to avoid clashing with the corn harvest. The intentions of the Govern- ment are being kept a profound secret, the idea being to take the country by storm up- on the wave of popular enthusiasm which will follow the crowning success of the I war." < Elsewhere will be found an interesting letter from Mr. John Jenkins (Cerrigyranau), who is serving with Bethune's Mounted 0 Infantry in Natal. Four of Lord Londonderry's servants were drowned while boating in Strangford Lough on Friday night. Five years ago six of Lord Londonderry's servants lost their lives in a similar manner. The Governors of the Aberystwyth Inter- mediate School at a meeting on Friday n unanimously elected Jessy Williams to preside over their deliberations for the ensuing year. The Scarborough Town Council have re- solved that no space shall be granted on the sanas to palmists. Last season numbers ot this "-profession were very much in evi- dence on the sands at that place and their presence is said to have caused considerable comment amongst the visitors. Owing mainly to her own commendable zeal and energy, Mrs. T. D. Harries, of Grosvenor House, Aberystwyth, has collected and forwarded a sum of one hundred pounds, as a first instalment from the district, to the funds of the Welsh Military Hospital for South Africa. A list of subscribers is printed in another part of the paper. The news of the dastardly attempt to assassinate the Prince of Wales was first made known in this district on Wednesday night by the Welsh Gazette exclusively. The news, which was received in London only about seven o'clock, reached us shortly after going to press and appeared in the whole of our issue printed after eight o'clock. Our Frongoch correspondent states in another part of the paper that the news of the "startling rumour" which disturbed Aberystwyth last Thursday was received at the mines with surprise and indignation. No ill feeling has been manifested between the Welsh and Italian miners, and the management and the employees are on the best of terms. In his annual report to the Dolgelley Rural District Council, Dr. Hugh Jones,. the Medical Officer, called attention to the increased deathrate, and urged the need of greater efforts to remove the many sanitary defects which exist throughout that district. The infant mortality during the past year has been quite alarming and demands very serious attention. Dr. Walker deals with this subject in an article in another column. Dr. Parker, who celebrated his 70th birth- day on Monday was informed the other day that a Minister of Cabinet rank had listened to one of his sermons through the electro- phone. The wretch avoided the collec- tion," he exclaimed. On Sunday night the Doctor announed that those who heard his sermons through the electrophone could con- tribute to the collection by sending cheques or postal orders. Dr. Parker has conducted his City pastorate for over thirty years, and to-day his strength seems unabated and the City Temple is crowded at every service. His friend, General Booth, celebrated his 71st birthday on Tuesday. The following paragraph appeared last week in the editorial notes of an Aberyst- with paper, which is rather too fond of pouncing upon and exposing any trivial mis- print in newspapers On Tuesday, at the, Merionethshire Joint Police Committee, Mr. 0. Slaney Wynne was appointed chair- man in succession to the late Dr. Edward Jones. There were no prisoners for trial." Ah if this paragraph had only appeared in the Manchester or Cardiff papers how their "young men," would be lectured. If there were any prisoners at all for trial, the Chief Con- stable would not be such a fool as to send them before the Standing Joint Police Com- mittee. Major Best knows his duties too, well. Such blunders, be it known, are not perpetrated in Merionthshire. At a meeting of the Aberystwyth Board of Guardians on Monday, the Rev. T. A. Penry, in response to a request by the Association of Poor Law Union, proposed a resolution urging the Legislature to take the necessary steps to adequately provide from national resources for the wives and children of soldiers and sailors now being partly maintained by charity soldiers and sailors disabled on active service, and the wives, orphans, and others totally dependent upon soldiers and sailors dying on active service. Mr. Penry said he thought it would be far more satisfactory if the Government would take the matter in hand and make the necessary provision for the maintenance of widows and orphans of those who fell in their country's service than to allow them to be dependent upon charity. The Minute of the Board of Education establishing higher elementary schools was issued as a Parliamentary paper on Monday. Two grants are to be offered for such schools, one called the principal grant and the other the grant for practical work. The principal grant is divided into two scales, the higher and the lower. The higher scale ranges from 27s. for the first year's course to 65s. for the fourth year, whilst the lower scale ranges from 25s. to 55s. The Board will decide which, if either, of these grants shall be paid in the case of each year's course after considering the report of the inspector. The higher scale grant for practical work ranges from 8s. to 25s., and the lower from 6s. to 18s. No grant may be received from the Board of Education by any higher I C, elementary school in addition to these grants except the fee grant. The London correspondant of the Man- chester Guardian, says :-fr. Rhodes's visit is not simply being over-shadowed by the passage of greater events. It has been ignored. He was never more unpopular, society, of which three years ago he was the idol, having simply turned its back on him, partly in indifference, partly in disgust. To do him justice, Mr. Rhodes was never much taken with social blandishments, and if the attitude of the smart people meant only relief'from boredom he would be well enough satisfied. But Mr. Rhodes has come on business," and -1 business must in the long run mean one thing for him above all others —namely, the buying out of the Chartered Z5 Company, the Government assuming a debt of about ten millions and a heavy liability. while the Company retains its commercial and mining assets. There is, however, another question on which the cooling re- lations between Rhodesia and the Rand are likely to become warmer—namely taxa- tion of the gold mines. The capitalists, I hear, are urging all sorts of arguments against the course to which the Chancellor of the Exchequer pledged himself in October. They say that heavy taxation would cause much resentment against this country in France and Germany, where so many of the gentlemen for whom we are fighting reside. A strong popular agitation might counteract the influence of -Nir.Rhodes and his friends, but will that be forthcoming ?