Welsh Gazette and West Wales Advertiser

ELECTION, OF BOARDS GUARDIANS. THE ratepayers will shortly be called upon to elect new Boards of Guardians, and preparations for contests are already in active progress in many parts of the district It is to be "hoped that the electors will exercise as much thought as possible to elect only good men and true; for the duties which their representatives have to discharge are by no means as unimportant as many are inclined to believe. It is manifest that some persons are better suited by character, education, and intelligence than others to deal with the important matters entrusted to the Guardians of the Poor. For the fate of the aged poor, the upbringing of the children left to State care, the wise repres- sion of the pauper spirit, the care and treatment of destitute sick, depend largely upon the humanity and conception of duty of the guardians. Other important duties which devolve upon guardians and which require a high order of intelligence is the assessment of rateable property, the appoint- ment of all officials, and the erection and maintenance of all necessary buildings. There is reason to believe that pauperism is becoming hereditary in certain districts, and those who are entrusted with the work of administering relief should ever bear in c mind that the words of the Beatitude are, blessed are they who "consider" and not who give to the poor. In some Unions in this district the number of in-door paupers has gone down considerably of late years. In a few others, however, among which Tregaron takes a first rank, the remarkable improvement which has been effected in this direction speaks volumes for the wise and considerate management of the the Board and their officials. The Aberyst- wyth Union has the advantage of a new and energetic inspector, who has just Centered upon his work with commendable en- thusiasm and it is to be hoped that the new Board will give him every encouragement to carry out his duties without fear or favour.

THE FARMER'S BEST INVESTMENT. THAT part of the holding of a farmer or landowner which pays best for cultivation is the small estate within the ring-fence of his own skull." So, at least, thought CHARLES DICKENS, but as he was merely one of the writing fellows" and not st practical agriculturalist, his views on the land ques- tion seem to have been regarded as altogether Utopian. We are bold to confess, however, that DICKENS was right. Let the farmer begin with the tillage of his brains, and it shall be well with grain, roots, herbage, forage, sheep and cattle. They shall thrive and he shall thrive." British farmers for the most part, it is to be feared, instead of acting upon DICKEN'S salutary advice, have wasted much time and energy over a very different and a very profitless cultivation. They have produced an abundant crop of invectives against the weather, the Radical Government, free trade, and foreign competi- tion, The returns of the Board of Agriculture afford ample evidence of the fact that the foreign producer has successfully adopted the plan which Dickens recommended; and that is the chief reason why he has become so formidable a competitor with the British farmer in our home markets. Our farmers are at last, however, gradually awakening their minds to the fact that their first line of defence against "foreign invasion" lies net so much in greater restrictions as in a wider culture in improved methods rather than in a kind of international boycott. Foreign competition is becoming very serious; but there is no reason for the British farmer to despair. Foreign com- petition has been successfully met in the past in more than one important respect, and we are not without hope than with scientific training, improved methods and intelligent observation, equally gratifying results will again be obtained by our home producers. In his address at AberN stwyth College the other day Mr MARSHALL DUGDALE struck a note of warning on the danger of allowing tradition to undergo a total eclipse by the advancement of science. The value of tradition in science has been acknow- ledged by many master minds, such as TYNDALL and HUXLEY, who have dwelt upon I the subject in learned theses, too well-known for us to dilate upon at length in the short I pa e at our disposal. Mr MIRSHALL DUG- DALE'S warning, in view of the revival in this district, was timely, and can never be amiss. But unfortunely the difficulty in this district, as in most districts is to get people to abandon those old traditional methods which have become quite effete in the light of modern science. Practice with science is an excellent motto and its universal adoption would yield untold good. The educative influence of the Agricultural Department of the University College, Aberystwyth, in this direction cannot be over-estimated and it is gratifying to find that those who have bad the privilege of re- ceiving scientific instruction by attending the short coarse for farmers" at the College are now imparting the knowledge thus acquired in their own neighbourhoods. Our news columns this week bear evidence of this much-needed extension work in the report of a lecture given by an old Aber- ystwyth student in such an out-of-the-way) but important district as Rhydlewis' While admitting that the British farmer is unfairly handicapped not only by high rents and excessive railway rates, but by anti- quated: restrictions and various other impediments imposed by successive Parlia- ments of landlords, primarily for the benefit teeir own class, still, we firmly believe that, in the struggle to hold his own against the foreignecv he can find no better weapon than sharpened wits. DICKEN'S advice is not yet, by a long way, out of date, and i" could be applied with unquestionable advantage to a very wide area of fallow ground, in this and other districts.

MACHYNLLETH SCHOOL BOARD. WE congratulate the Board at Machynlleth on having acquired a site at last for theirjnew school buildings, which they propose to erect in the town. We trust we are not pre- mature in our congratulation, because hitherto the proverb of many a slip has received painful vex-tification in the case of this Board and its negotiations during the past year.. It seems to be a condition im- posed by destiny upon most of our smaller towns that much needed improvements, and undertakings for the benefit of the people, should be the subject of endless talk, and endless postponements before they become actually realised. By reference to the report of the Board's meeting in our last week's impression we find that the clerk stated that as far back as 1898, resolutions were passed from time to time"; that is, resolutions expressing the Board's decision to erect new buildings, after the Education Department's condemnation of the present ones as unsatisfactory. We are struck with wonder at the apparent necessity on the part of the Board to pass resolutions from time to time," and at he patience with which the Board persisted at its self-imposed task-of passing resolutions. Would not one have sufficed ? And having come to a decision, would it not have been wiser for the Board to proceed to business, acquire a site, and get the school built as soon as possible? This dilatoriness is a reprehensible habit which has a tendency to grow in small communities, and which, in course of time, gets to be regarded almost in the light of merit and a virtue. One man who knows his own mind, tnd is not afraid to act upon his convictions, is of immense value in cases of this sort, and if lie were a commoner species than he is, much valuable time would be saved. We notice that at the eleventh hour some members of the Board harked back to the question-surely an ancient one by this time-as to whether it was advisable to have new buildings at all. It was well that the question was brushed aside as irrelevant, and, indeed, not in order. It is the old bogey of saving a few pence in the rates at the expense of expediency and the public weal, and while we understand the attitude of those people whose first con- sideration is keeping down the rates, we have no sort of sympathy with it, and feel strongly convinced that there should be none. What we would urge on the people of Machynlleth and everybody else is-let them see to it that their money is invested to the best possible advantage, that they get the best possible return for it. There is no safer investment, no better return than a sound and efficient system of education it will pay infinitely better than any number of ironclads or new guns. We know a certain type of mind that goes in for an entirely false system of economy, iind while straining at the gnat of local rates, swallows the camel of an ever increasing taxation; # we say Education is the best! investment, but it must be carl ied on under right condi- tions. Those conditions must be healthy, bright, and cheerful, and calculate 1 to inspire teacheis and taught. The people of Machynlleth and of any other place are directly responsible for the fulfilment of these healthful conditions in the interest of their dearest possessions—their ewn children. It is crimcsal to neglect themy just as it is criminal nsAvadays to cause their children to forego the advantages of as good! a system of education as any country in the world can boast. The- new site is, undoubtedly, a good one, and the Board have doubtless found that in negotiating with Mr JOHN ROWLANDS, they are dealing with a gentle- man whose high public spirit and deep interest in the welfare of the town is so abundantly recognised as to need no emphasis from us. The school itself has been highly successful it will be more so under more favourable conditions. Not only does it stand well from year to year under the searching light of the Education Department's Inspector, but it sends a goodly quota of pupils to the Intermediate School, which has proved such a blessing to the town and neighbourhood. We hope that, now the vexed question of site has been settled, these buildings will be proceeded with forthwith, and that we shall see no more of these annoying and useless delays.

NOTES AND COMMENTS. Two hundred students have been arrested in St. Petersburg as the result of a public demonstration there in favour of the com- memoration of the fortieth anniversary of the emancipation of the serfs. Last week the Rev T. Pennant Phillips, of Llandyssul, was made the recipient of a handsome testimonial in recognition of his long and faithful services—extending over a period of nearly forty years. Mr Arthur Watkins Williams-Wynn, of Coed-y-Maen, Welshpool; the Hon. William Napier Bruce, and the Rev G. Hartwell Jones, M.A., have been appointed by the Lord President of tht Council members of the University Court of the University of Wales. The point has been raised in a case at Chelmsford that an engine usM by Daniel Cornish, a briekmaker, of Sheffield, was not a traction engine, but in all respects "a light locomotive drawing a vehicle within a meaning of the Locomotive Act, 1896." If this contention can be upheld, it will dispense with the necessity of taking out a liqense from the County Council, a privilege that costs XI0 per annum. The prosecution claim it is a traction engine, and not a light locomotive. The magistrates are taking a week to consider the point, and have decided to view the engine in question. The de- cision will be watched with interest by road engine owners all over the country, Speaking at the National Liberal Club last week Mr Augistine Birrell, K.C., referred to the unhappy fracas created by the Irishmen in the House of Commons, and said it was disgraceful enough but he did not think it was nearly so permanently dangerous to the Constitution as the scene that had gone on for the past two days in the House of Lords. He thought the spectacle of a Secretary of State for War, now Secretary of State for iForeign Affairs, turning King's evidence upon the late Commander-in-Chief, and suddenly flouting him with the contents of a private memorandum prepared for the inspection of the Prime Minister only, was something both novel and painful in our political history. Really the spirit to grasp and annex all and sundry has become quite a Zeitgeist The BuckinghamshireChamberof Agriculture has been asked by the Staffordshire Chamber to support a motion for making more effective the law of trespass, particularly for the protection of products which, though of a natural growth, are of a market- able character." Sir Edmund Verney said he supposed that meant mushrooms. The chairman thought it included nuts and blackberries, while the Mayor of Bucking- ham cited sloes, which clearly belonged to the farmer. Sir Edmund Verney said that it would be well to know where to draw the line. Were primroses, bluebells, and other flowers included? Acorns were also men- tioned. Ultimately the Chamber decided that the products of the land should be declared to be private property and pro- tected. Why did the Liberals lose the last election ? Liberals lost the last election, says Mr Augistine Birrell, because the electors did not think they had a team. He believed signs were noticeable that the Liberal Party was once more going to pull together, that it was going to seek out not the many things upon which it could differ, but the few important and great things upon which it could agree. He believed the motive of that unity would not be the vulgar motive of getting back into office, but the patriotic motive of desiring that so great an instrument for the public good should be again restored to the public service. As to the war, Mr Birrell said he thought the true thing to say about Mr Chamberlain was what history would say of him—namely, that he was the supreme wise-acre who thought Kruger would not fight. From that epitaph he need never hope to escape. It had been written large in letters of blood, and had cost millons of money. Mr. Clement K. Shorter, in the course of some extremely interesting notes in the Sphere," says it is a great mistake that the speech of every boy and girl is not bilingual. In Iiieland, says Mr. Shorter, there is still a large population of the very poorest who speak Irish, and no traveller fails to see that the bilinguists possess infinitely more intelligence than those who have only one tongue. It has been my good fortune to travel through Ireland in the company of a Celtic scholar, and nothing was more interesting than to note the vivacity, the acuteness, the extraordinary quickwitteoness of the Irish peasant, who could in a moment give the Celtic of any English word or the English of any Celtic word in his vocabulary. I would suggest to any man who is opposed to the furtherance of the Irish language in Ireland to take a walk, say, through the county of Suffolk, and then through the county of Kerry, and enter- into conversation with the peasantry in both localities. I think lie would immediately advocate the establish- ment of classes for instruction in French, with substantial prizes attached thereto, in every Suffolk village." All real educationists are of Mr. Shorter's opinion, Sir Marteine Lloyd, Bart., has been elated president gf the United Counties Agricultural Society which embraces Car- diganshire, Carmarthenshire,- ai»d Pembroke- shire:. Colo nil Pryce J oneH:" and Mr Osmond Williams, M P has g-iven notice to oppose the second reading: of the Cambrain V Railways Bill. This Bilii, among othor things proposes to place a fixed instead rlf a swing bridge across the rweu' D»\<jy at Glandovey function. The new sheriff of Merioneth,-Mr Robert Prys Owen, is a son-in-law of that gifted novelist, the late Mrs Henry Wood1. The new sheriff of Cardiganshire Mr Edward Walter D. Evans,of Camnant Hall, Llan- dyssul, is a captain in the Royal Cardigan Artillery Militia. Mr Arthur Watkins Williams Wynn, the new sheriff of Mont- gomery, was the Unionist candidate for that county at the two last elections. Mr Ernest Trubshaw, the new sheriff for Carmarthen- shire, is one of the principal members of .< large smelting works at Llanelly. i ne 11 0 The Bishop of Truro is tryia c a system which should r ender the ocal historian grateful to him. He .yised the rectors and vicars in his dioe** £ 5 keep a close record of parochial life. 's record is to be of a dispassionate character, and to be as generous in its references to, Free Church doings as to matters affecting the Church of England. The Bishop describes the record as a parochial log book, and he suggests that it would have a greater value for the future if the chronicle commenced from the beginning of the new century. The idea has, it is said, greatly commended itself to the bishops whose dioceses include considerable rural districts, the life of which is hardly of sufficient importance to be sedulously reported in the local journals,. At a meeting of the Aberystwyth School Board held on Tuesday evening, two most important proposals were passed which are of the highest possible importance to the furtherance of the Educational work of the School. On the motion of Professor Edwards, it was unanimously agreed to change the date of the engagement of the Pupil Teachers from the first of January to the first of July, so as to make the Pupil Teacher year agree with the school year of the County School, and of the Training Colleges. The scheme for the instruction of the Pupil Teachers was also carried, after a vigorous and interesting discussion, with the object of securing a better equipped class of teachers in the Elementary Schools. It will be seen from the report in another column that the pupil teachers are to be sent for a period of three years to the County School for academic instruction, and are to be articled to the service of the Board for a period of two years. We believe that the scheme is far superior to any that has been already adopted, and will, we feel sure- serve as a model scheme for other schools. Last week at the Westminster Palace Hotel, the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into arsenical poisoning by beer, held its third sitting, Lord Kelvin presiding. Mr Edward William Hope, M.D. D.S., Professor of Public Health at the Victoria University and Medical Officer of Health for Liverpool, said he considered that the amount of recent exceptional sickness and death at Liverpool was attributable to poisoning by arsenic. There was no reason whatever to suppose that arsenic was found in chocolate, syrups, jams, marmalade, and preserved sweets. As a matter of fact, a large number of samples of these foods had been analysed in Liver- pool, and none of them contained any trace of arsenic. Nor did they find any arsenic in bread or flour He believed the con- sumption of beer in Liverpool approximated to something like three-quarters of a million gallons per week, and there were 2,223 houses in the city where beer was sold. The population was about 680,000, so that the consumption was over one gallon per week per head. In his opinion there should be no arsenic at all in beer. The smallest-quantity of arsenic might be productive in many cases of great mischief to the beer drinker. Both in Manchester and Liverpool cases were more fatal in women than in men, and he could only attribute that to the fact that men led more active lives than women. Witness considered that the powers under the Food and Drugs Act should be extended. It was absurd that selling a deadly poison should be punishable by a fine of 20s.

CARDIGAN DISTRICT LETTER. FOR THE. BENEFIT OF AGED, SEAMEN. As the outcome of the- visit of Mr Monckton, the travelling secretary of the Royal Aff red Institution for aged seamen, to Cardigan, there is now a properly organised Committee representing Cardigan and St. Dogmell's, appointed to issue an appeal. Moreover, under the influence of the move- ment the congregation of Bethania Baptist Chapel, who practically take the lead in these matters, have decided to make an annual collection in aid of the Institution, and it is now proposed to ask the other chapels in the town to do likewise. The local committee met last week, when Mr Morgan-Richardson presided. He moved the adoption of the form of appeal presented by the Hon. Secretary, Mr D. Morgan Jones, and Col. Picton Evans seconded. Mr Morgan Richardson pointed out the sub- stantial benefits which Cardigan derives from the sea, and lie thought that the retired master mariners who now lived in the to vn would gladly assist their less fortunate brethren. Mr Monckton explained that there were fcur annuitants in this district who had alone drawn over X500. The local treasurer is Mr R. E. Jones, manager of the National Provincial Bank of England, Car- digan branch, where subscriptions may be paid to credit. A CLOSE SHAVE. The Cinematograph (animated photographs) entertainment organised for the benefit of of the Mechanics Institute, did not un- fortunately, achieve its purpose. It was an entertainment of real merit, and everyone who saw it was highly pleased. The first night barely paid its way, and in order to benefit, if possible, by the advertisement, the promoters decided to repeat the show for the same cause, with the result that there was a defic it. On balancing altogether up there was four pence to the good To those who were responsible for this well-meaning enterprise, it would have been more profit- able to have given the Institution a con- tribution out of their own pockets. It is quite evident that the majority of towns- people are quite indifferent as to the fate of the Mechanics' Institute, although it repre- sents the only attempt at forming town libiary. The Committee will now haye to face the contingency of being per- sonally responsible for the liabilities of the Institute, as the accounts prove that it does not pay its way. Unless something is done to revive it from its present comatose con- dition, it seems to be doomed to extinction. TELEPATH.