Welsh Gazette and West Wales Advertiser

TEACHERS AND FIXITY OF TENURE. LAST Saturday Professor ANGUS, of the University College of Wales, presided over a public meeting at Aberystwyth in connec- tion with the Teachers' Union, to consider the question of the insecurity of tenure. Elsewhere we give a report of the proceed- ings, and our readers will see that the teachers have a strong case, and are not agitating for reform without just and reasonable cause. On the face of it, the method of the appointment of teachers is an extremely absurd one it is as unequitable as it is illogical, and it is surprising that such an enlightened body as the teaching profession have tolerated it so long. For instance, the appointment of a teacher is subject to the approval of the Board of Education. The Board of Education can veto the appointment of any teacher for inefficiency, bad behaviour, neglect to comply with Code regulations, and even for refusing to subscribe to the Super- annuation Fund. But once a teacher is appointed the question of his dismissal is ? entirely in the hands of the local managers, and the Board of Education which has the power to veto in the case of appointments will not interfere in the case of dismissals. No appeal of the teachers can move that authority, be the action of the local body ever so unjust. In view of such glaring anomalies, every fair-minded man will con- cede that the teachers have good grounds for grievance. All they ask for is a more reasonable security of tenure by means of some proviso that will safe-guard them from capricious dismissals' They do not ask that their appointments should be made sinecures; for they make no claim on behalf of the indolent, and they do not wish to protect the inefficient. The present insecurity of tenure, as was pointed out in the resolution, seriously militates against the efficiency of the schools, and the educational interests of the children. Professor FOSTER WATSON, in supporting the resolution, said they wanted, to increase the usefulness of the teacher, and make the most of him as a man in the. work he had to do; and it was necessary, before the best work could be got out of a teacher, that the public should realise this and provide satisfactory condi- tions for him. Alderman PETER JONES, whose unique experience in the practical work of elementary and higher education is hardly equalled by any other in the whole district, said that the teachers should not be placed under any disabilities—political or social-and added that all they asked with regard to their schoolmasters was to carry into effect a system which was already in opera- tion in connection with the Union Depart- ment under the Local Government Board. The Government has promised to deal with the question at an early date, and Mr VAUGHAN DAVIES, M.P., who was one of the principal speakers at Saturday's meeting, said he would gladly give his support to any measure for reform.

f COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTIONS. THE new County Councils will be elected next Saturday. In this district, as in too many other parts of the country, the interest does not seem to be very deep and wide; but there will, nevertheless, be keen contests here ano there. The war and the recent Parliamentary elections have, no doubt, to a great degree eclipsed the triennial election of county councils; and where seats are fought the issues do not seem to be very clear and definite in many instances. In some districts it is measures and not men; and in others it is men and not measures. At Aberystwyth three seats will be contested on party lines, olear and simple; but in many of the rural districts politics have to give way to other considerations, and the difference between the views of some of the opposing candidates shades off almost imperceptibly into mere no thing mess. With the exception ( yf the retirement of Mr MORGAN RICHARD- SON and Major PRYCE LEWIS there will be no noteworthy change in the personelle of bhe Cardiganshire County Council. That distinguished trio, generally known as "boys Aberystwyth," will return again a host in themselves, for the unopposed return of Mr D. C. ROBERTS will enable him to rejoin his old colleagues-Aldermen PETER JONES and C. M. WILLIAMS. The unopposed return of Mr RICHARD REES for Machynlleth robs the County Council elections in this district of much interest and piquancy. For fightipg under the aegis of the Liberals of old, Maglonia,|he has on three successive occasions vanquished a most formidable opponent in Lord HENRY VANE TEMPEST, and each time with an increasing majority. This time Mr REES has been allowed to have a walk over but it is to be hoped that the path having been made thus easy will not in the least diminish the ardour and the splendid tact and com- bative ness which the Liberals of Machynlleth have gained by continuous fighting. Mr RICHARD REES has made an excellent member, and has richly deserved a walk over as a reward for his numerous and un- stinted services. No changes of any import- ance are anticipated in Merionethshire, and, as in Cardiganshire, a large number of the old members have already been return unopposed. By the death of Dr EDWARD JONES the most prominent figure in the ranks of the Liberals of Merioneth was removed, and his place has not yet been filled. The work of the County Council during the short period of its existence has been marked with much vigour, persistence, de- votion, and enthusiasm and has stimulated in all classes a new and lively interest in local affairs. The routine work of adminis- tration may be neither very glorious nor exciting but it is work which demands to the full, high powers of organization, un- remitting attention to details, tact, common sense, and business capacity in the best sense of the word. The. County Councils will have to deal with several important questions in the near future, and it is to be hoped that the ratepayers will elect only those men who are prepared to support all measures which make for progress and tend to advance the best andhighest interest of the community. n

THE LAND QUESTION. THE resolution which was moved by Mr JOHN REDMOND^ and seconded by Mr T. W. RUSSELL last week in the House of Com- mons, has served to bring tht. land question once more into prominence. Irishmen of all creeds and parties agree upon one thing —that Irish land legislation has failed of its purpose. It is worth while, therefore, at a time when W'elshmen are seeking for a solution of the land problem in Wales, to examine dispassionately the course which events have. taken in Ireland. The Irish Land Bill of 1881 established the "dual owner- ship of the soil in Ireland that is to say, while it safe-guarded the landlord's pro- prietorial right, it gave to the tenant the three F's—fair rent, fixity of tenure, and free sale. It was a great, a comprehensive, and a statesmanlike measure of land reform. But after 20 years experience of it, Irish- men of all opinions and classes agree in < saying that its success has not been as j marked as its proposers anticipated. The 1 evils which have resulted from it arise from two sources. First in order is the abuse of the right of free sale." It is important to understand what really is meant by the term free sale," and in order to make it clear, it is best to take a concrete illustration. A tenant holds 30 acres of land, and the Land Court has assessed the fair rent at .£.30 a year. That rent is the judicial rent for 15 years. We will suppose that the "rack rent"—as opposed to the fair rent "—■ would be X50, and that, therefore, the tenant would be making a margin of profit of X20 for 15 years, until the farm was re-valued and the rent re-fixed. If the tenant remains on the farm no difficulty would ensue, but suppose he did not ? What has happened in many cases is this The tenant wants to quit his farm, and the Act gives him the right to dispose of his interest in it. He puts' up ihis tenancy for sale; land hunger being rife, he has no difficulty in finding purchasers. One man outbids the other, with the result that the tenant obtains, we will say, X200 from the in-coming tenant as" goodwill." The new tenants therefore-in addition to paying a fair rent" of X30 a year to his landlord- pays X200 to the out-going tenant as good- will. So that really he still pays a rack rent" for his holding, though no longer to his landlord, In fact, "free sale" has destroyed the principle of fnir rent." But that is not all. The machinery of the Land Court is both costly and cumbrous. The Commissioners fix the rent, say, at £30, the landlord appeals to a Court pI esidd over by Mr Justice MEREDITH. After intolerable delays and great expenditure, the Court raise the rent to .£31, and the tenant having lost the appeal, has to pay the costs. Mr JOHN MALEY appointed a commission to inquire into the working of the land laws, and it was found that a million of money had been squandered on these appeals! There are other minor grievances, with which, however, we do not at present pro- pose to deal. Suffice it to say that an in- tolerable situation has been created in Ire- land, which will have to be remedied at the earliest opportunity. It is at this moment that the united Irish party came forward with a bold and daring demand. Their in proposal briefly is that the Irish landlords 1 should be bought out at a cost of £140, 000,000, and the sole ownership of the land } vested in the peasants. The Government. j having spent that sum in making war in ] Africa is now asked to spend a 1 similar amount in making peace in Ireland. Irishmen are not backward in asking. They care nothing for English opinion. They are in Parliament to repre- sent Ireland, and they generally get what they want, because everybody knows they won't be happy, and won't allow anybody else to be happy until they get it. Mr BALFOUR knows Ireland, and knows he cannot govern Ireland if Ulster is rebellious He does not mind shooting Catholics in Mitchelstown, but he will take precious good care not to shoot down the Protestants of Ty rone. If the "Nationalists" alone were concerned, the answer would be easy. But Ulster is concerned, and if Ulster is denied. Ulster will fight, and Ulster will be right." That is what lends significance to the position. With the example of Ireland before us, what should Welshmen do ? Should we persist in demanding a Land Court—as the Welsh Land Commissioners recommended— or should we modify our demands ? That is the practical question, and it is upon the answer that the future of the Welsh land question will turn. The country has two alternative schemes before it,—the scheme of lr. BRYNMOR JONES and the Land Com- mission, on the one hand, and the scheme of Mr. LLEWELYN WILLIAMS and his friends on the other handt The Commissioners propose to set up a Land Court with the procedure and authority of a County Court, from which the litigants will have the right of appeal to a higher tribunal. The Land Court-contrary to the Irish practice-will have to give reasons for its decisions; the Act which constitutes it will contain elaborate recommendations to the Judge, and the ground for appeals will be- thus almost indefinitely enlarged. The little finger of the Welsh Land Court will be heavier than the loins of its Irish prototype. Mr. WILLIAMS, on the other hand,, proposes to set up a much simpler and less costly machinery. He wants an official to be appointed by the Government for each county—or for a large area if need be-in Wales. If landlord and tenant fail to agree as to the amount of the fair rent," the landlord and the tenant should each appoint a valuer, who should meet the Government official on the farm. The official,. after con- sultation with the valuers, should fix the rent, and his decision should be final. The Welsh Land Commissioners are. dead against land purchase in any shape or form. They think that peasant proprietorship is alien to the Welsh genius and unsuitable to the conditions of Welsh life. Mr. BRYNMOR JONES refused to vote for the- IIrish amend- ment last week because its proposal was to set up the farmers as freeholders. In fact, as Mr. LLEUFER THOMAS points out in his "Summary," the proposals of the Welsh Land Commission are distinctly Socialistic. Mr. LLEWELYN WILLIAMS, and his friends, on the other hand, believe that the craving for the ownership of land is the master passion among Welsh as among all Celtic peasants, and that no solution of the land problem can be final or satisfactory which either ignores or runs counter to this ineradicable characteristic. They are not in favour of immediate and compulsory land purchase," but they think that Land Commissioners should be appointed with powers, under certain conditions—suck as were laid down in the Irish Act of 1881-to acquire estates which could be re-sold at reasonable prices to sitting tenants. We have no space this week to elaborate these proposals, but we think they are ripe for careful consideration and discussion, and especially by the farmers whom they most concern.

NOTES AND COMMENTS. +. South Russia is again overwhelmed by an abnormally heavy snowstorm, which has blocked all rail and road communications, and isolated several cities. Forty persons are reported to have been frozen to death in a blizzard last Saturday night. Manchester City justices on Monday passed a resolution strongly disapproving of the conduct of two of their number in connec- tion with a licensing case and appointed a committee to investigate the reflections made by the chief constable on the whole body. A discussion at the Lampeter Board of Guardians on Friday reads like a comedy of errors." Everybody will agree with the y Z5 Rev T. C. Edmunds that the Workhouse is not the place to get a husband," but there- are exceptions to every rule, and matrimonial enticements are not limited to fat livings." Mr T. A. Levi, B.A., Ll.B., son of the Rev Thomas Levi, was last week appointed professor of English Law at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, at the salary of X250 a year. It is stated that another professor, and not a lecturer as at first intended-in Roman Law land Jurispru- dence—will be shortly appointed at a like salary. Sir Henry Fowler, M.P., speaking at Wolverhampton on Monday, said if local self-goyernment was to be thoroughly suc- n cessful we shall have to proceed upon rather different lines than In the past. A nunicipal body must represent all the inter- sts of a town. They wanted in municipal nstitutions men of capital, men who em- ployed men and men who were employed, nen of leisure and men of culture, men who iiad not the leisure but who were daily em- ployed in the commerce and trade of the town, men of business, and all should be ondowed with the qualification of common- sense. The Bristol Gas Company came off second best in a case concluded before Mr Justice Day at Bristol Assizes. Mr John White, public house keeper, noticed a smell of gas, and engaged a gasfitter to trace the escape. The latter discovered an explosive accumula- tion under the house floor, and at the same moment the front of the building was blown out, the landlady and two other persons being injured. The defence of the gas company was that the damage was done by a corporation steam-roller at work in the vicinity, and, further, that the gasfitter un- wisely looked for an escape with a lighted candle. Verdict: Damages for Mr and Mrs White- for X400, and Y,20 for Arthur White. General Sir Archibald Hunter has tele- graphed to his friends in West Kilbride, Ayrshire, declining the public welcome pre- pared for him. There is disappointment, but tne telegram is a thorough soldier's one. It is in the following termsIt is only right that I should decline to receive any form of demonstration of a public nature, as so many of my best friends have been killed. The war is not over. The nation is plunged into grief for their great loss. These furnish more than sufficient reason. My health, I am thankful to say, is now almost all that can be desired. Please tell my friends and well wishers that I am profoundly grate- ful for their offer to display their good feeling towards me, and that I gratefully accept the will for the deed. It was stated at the meeting of the Mer- thyr Board of Guardians on Saturday by the clerk that the total expenditure involved by the litigation instituted by the PowellDuf- fryn Colliery Company upon the question of granting relief to able-bodied men on strike in 1898 was £ 2.063 15s. 6d. The effect of the litigation had been to lay down the law that in case of a strike where destitution existed the board was empowered to grant relief to the wives and children of those persons, and the husbands could not be relieved unless disabled. The action brought by the Company might, it was pointed out, have had the effect of making the guardians liable for £ 20,000. Ths people of Northampton are agitated just now over the question whether a portion of the new cemetery which the Town Council has recently purchased and laid out shall be consecrated. The Noncomformist opposition to consecration has been greatly intensified by the recent refusal of the Bishop of Peterborough to allow Free Church ministers to participate in th, memorial service of Queen Victoria. The North Ward members of the Liberal and Radical Association have passed a resolution urging upon the Town Council the undesirability. of consecration on the ground that it would entail needless expense and perpetuate religious differences,, and would also place in the hands of the Bishop the right to impose restrictions upon the management. The Nonconformists are opposed to giving to the Bishop the right of vetoing any monument or the inscription on any monument. The Government has been forced to promise a public inquiry into the conduct of the war. In the House of Commons on Monday Mr Lambert stated: that his only object in urging the necessity for inquiry into the disasters that had taken place was that we might profit by the lessons we had learnt, and take measures to prevent the recurrence of such events in future. No subject had more profoundly moved the- British public than. the continuous sur- renders of British troops in South Africa. He did not impugn for a moment the bravery of the officers or men, but there. must be some detect in our military system, when having 210,000 men engaged, while- the Boers could never bring. into the field more than 50,000,, as many as 9,000 of our. officers and men had surrendered and. some- thing like 30 guns had been captured. So great a humiliation had not been inflicted, upon British arms since the great American war of independence. Undoubtedly gjcave miscalculations had taken place which had shaken the confidence of the country in the War Office. Speaking at a Peace meeting in London on Fi iday, Mr. R. C. Lehmann, the new editor of the Daily Newsapd High Sheriff of Bucks, acknowledged that Social- ists had done noble work in the cause of Pe; ice, but considered that the working classes had been as clamorous for war as any highly placed Jingo. Something, he said, should be done to. convert the workers, who were the bone and sinew of the country, and on whom its happiness depended. If our great men in high places would fight the battle of Peace in its darkest hour, they would have some title to rank with Pitt and Washington, Burke and Charles James Fox, f instead of strutting their little hour on the stage, and mouthing their words before passing into the everlasting darkness. This nation was now in the melancholy position of being the object lesson to Europe—the horrible example-of the horrors and miseries of war. We had entered on war with two small and independent nations, with the watchword of Equal Rights," but were carrying it through to annex them and exterminate their autonomy. We had laid waste their lands, burned their houses, ex- patriated their people, and suffered terrible losses ourselves. We had had a hospital scandal, our men had died like flies upon the veldt, and here we had had the Mafeking and other orgies of base and brutal passion. At last our people were beginning to recog- nize that, whatever the motive of a war, it might end in ruining the power for good of both sides and a nation which held its head so proudly as ours mignt come to be regarded as outcast and exile from the family of noble peoples. To counteract that, they must battle for the high principles and traditions they had learned to regard as the essence of huiuHiiity, Christianity, and civilization.