Welsh Gazette and West Wales Advertiser

IN PRAISE OF I MUNICIPAL WORK., ON Saturday LORD ROSEBERY was pre- sented NNitli the freedom of Swansea, and in the course of a brief speech on the impor- tance of municipal work said he thought that every community which had an elected body to govern it should have a ratepayers' asso- ciation-a body of activity, full of inquisi- tiveness, and with an elected committee of vigilance at the head of it. With such a perfectly organised association something could be done to check unnecessary expendi- ture. He had no sympathy with men of position who complained of their rates while they themselves failed to discharge the obvious duties of citizenship. He again oontended that, except in regard to one or two people in Parliament, chiefly Ministers in high position, one got more satisfaction out of municipal than out of Parliamentary work. Year by year the nobility and useful- ness of municipal life became greater, and he held tffat it was an object worthy of any man's ambition to make the locality in which he livad more useful, more beautiful, and a better place for men and women to live in. The Town Council, he said in effect, did practical work. Parliament did not. The man who gave his time and toil to the affairs of his own city got value for his labour, for he could see the fruits of it about him-the new street, the improved lighting, the new electric department, the extended tramcar service. The member of Parliament had nothing to show for his consumption of time and temper and much bad air. There was no Town Council that had not done more to be seen in this past year than Par- liament." It was better to sit on committees and improve the local water supply than to tramp through lobbies in futile resistance to the closure. Municipal life was growing. That of Parliament was decaying. It was a finer ambition to contribute to making the lives of those about us brighter and happier than to be a popular candidate, and be invited to kick off at a football match. His Lordship said there were forty millions of people in this country, and there were about forty millions of hobbies. They would ob- serve that everybody wanting his own hobby first wrote to the local paper to ventilate it, to demand an immediate and large expendi- ture upon it, and i the same breath, or in a breath immediately afterwards, complained bitterly of the public expenditure already. He thought all that was natural enough, but he was also one of those who thought that it ought to be possible for municipal bodies to lay clearly before the community how they stood with regard to their accounts and with regard to their projects. When a com- munity wished for some new toy or some new object of utility it ought to be possible for the Town Council or the municipal body to lay before it exactly how the town financially stood and how far it was able to afford it. He thought very often with regard to a large question it would be a good thing if, after affording information, they took a public vote of the community as to whether it wished to proceed with the expenditure or not. At any rate, he was sure of this, the governing body, the elected body of the community, were bound to make clear to their electors exactly what they they were spending and what they were going to spend, for otherwise it was ex- I tremely obvious at the end of the term of office the elected body found itself in a position which it did not anticipate and which it extremely regk-etted. Lord ROSEBERY has set a very high example of readiness to undertake humble tasks by joining the Urban Council of Epsom, and in taking "the chairmanship of the London County Council; and whenever he speaks on municipal life he has always something pro- fitable to say. Lord ROSEBERY'S address at I Swansea should put new heart into the thousands of citizens who do good by stealth in the even tenour of their way in, their towns and villages; for encouragement, I said Goethe, is often of far greater value than -.¿.

MR. LLOYD-GEORGE AT BIRMINGHAM. THE Birmingham riot effectively silenced Mr LLOYD GEORGE, and Birmingham, and the world is poorer to-day. The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is," says JOHN STUART IILL, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the ex- isting generation those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are de- prived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth if wrona, thev lose what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer percep- tion and livelier impression of truth, pro- duced by its collision with error." Again, if all mankind minus one," says Mill," were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justi- fied in silencing mankind." But the gutter- press of Birmingham thinks otherwise it assumes infallibility and refuses a hearing to an opinion by infuriating an unreasoning mob to suppress it. If the rabid Jingo press of Birmingham found itself unable to refute the reasons of its opponents, the rational position for it to take up would be to suspend its judgment until it were en- dowed with sufficient patience to hear, and sufficient sense to grasp the arguments of its opponents. But Mr LLOYD GEORGE, nor any other man, could never wish for a greater tribute either to his reasoning powers or to the justice of his cause than that his adversaries should refuse him a hearing. One would have expected that the accumu- lated experience of twenty centuries would have convinced the Birmingham Post" of the wisdom of the method of Gallio even as a matter of expediency. But it is ever the case that he who has misgivings as to the justice of his cause is the first to shirk from applying any test that will reveal its hollow- ness. The riotous populace of Birmingham could not argue in defence of their opinions —if they had any-and there was nothing for it but to create an uproar and to bring their muscular power into full play with all the brutality, that their basest passions could command. PAUL had to fight with beasts at Ephesus, and LOYD-GEORGE had to face them at Birmingham. We are told that MR LLOYD-GEORGE had no business to go to Birmingham where all had made up their minds in favour of the war but those whose urge this kind of argument should remember that it is the supreme duty of a missionary to go to the unconverted he would not be true to the obligations of his office and his calling if he wasted his energies upon his friends at home. Referring to thedisturbanc8 at Birmingham, Mr ABQUITH said he viewed with shame and indignation such a display of organised and concerted rowdyism. It was a gross outrage upon the elementary rights of citizenship. It struck at the very foundation of democratic freedom and gov- ernment to refuse by terrorism a fair hearing to a man whose views did not happen to be those of the majority." The Birmingham riot has shown us what manner of men sup- port Mr CHAMBERLAW and the Times has let the cat out of the bag by saying that the working classes of this country are Imperialists to the core." And what a rotten core it must be Moreover, the Bir- mingham riots shows us the temper of brutal hatred which the Jingo Press sets it- self to create, and without which the war would have never been brought about. Martial law in Africa, mob law in Britain- that is what we have come to through such unreasoning ruffians as those who disgraced the streets of Birmingham last week. His- tory often repeats itself in Birmingham. In 1791 a Birmingham mob persecuted DRIEST- LEY, burnt down his chapel and his house; but to-day the name of PRIESTLEY is uni- versally honoured, and the very opinions for which he was hunted out of the country are the most deeply-rooted convictions of Mr CHAMBERLAIN himself. To-dayPRIESTLEY'S memory is enshrined in the windows of the Town Hall on which the mob wreaked its ven- geance last week. The wheel may yet come a full circle, and a century hence, and even less, when a free and federated South Africa remembers who were her sponsors at her baptism of blood, the name of LLOYD-GEORGE may be universally hononred—even in Bir- I mingham.

NOTES AND COMMENTS. The King and Queen will spend Christmas at Marlborough House instead of at Sand- ringham, as it was originally understood that they would do. The Princess of Wales has signified her intention of accepting the presidency of the I Welsh Industries Association in place of Lady Wimborne, resigned. Instead of making peace the Boers have according to a correspondent at Volksrust, resolved to continue the war, and he is unable to discover any signs of an early collapse.* The Aberystwyth Volunteer Corps had their first march out on Saturday afternoon, when they paid a visit to Mr. Yaughan Da vies, the county member, at Tanybwleh. On Saturday afternoon Count Joseph Potocki, a wealthy Polish magnate, lost ninety-two thousand pounds while playing cards at the Jockey Club in Vienna. Well, if Count Joseph lost his money, he should j have recovered his senses. For selling beer on Sunday, in contraven- I tion of the Sunday Closing Act, Letitia Thomas, of the Fox and Hounds Inn, Llan- wnen, was fined X2 and costs at the Lampeter Sessions on Friday. It is stated that at the resumption of Par- liament Mr. Lloyd-George will move the adjournment of the House in order to call attention to the riot at Birmingham, and he will throw the entire blame upon Mr. Cham- berlain. The funeral of the late Archdeacon Lewis, of Carmarthen, took place at St. David's Cathedral on Saturday. The Bishop of the diocese was present, and the gathering was a representative one in every sense of the word. Mr. Justice Walton gave judgment on Saturday in the action of Phillips v.Williams, raising the question of the Aberayron Har- bour dues, holding that the Lord of the Manor and mortgagees were entitled to charge 3d per quarter of coal on each 720lbs. landed on the quay. The sub-committee appointed to deal with the proposed local memorial to the late Thomas E. Ellis, having at their first meeting decided that the memorial should take the form of a statue, and that it should be placed at Bala, are invited to meet at that town on Saturday next to decide as to the choice of sculptor. At Newcastle Emlyn on Saturday John I Jones, of Ciliau Farm, Llandyssiliogogo, was charged in custody with unlawfully wound- ing Capt. Griffiths, a retired master mariner, at Llangranog on December 4. Prosecutor Z5 was still in a critical condition and unable to appear, and prisoner was remanded, bail being allowed. At the Barmouth Petty Sessions on Fri- day the landlord of the Royal Station Hotel was fined X5 and costs for serving drink to a drunken person. The license was also endorsed. We have some reason for believing (says the Daily News ") that Sir Henry Camp- bell-Bannerman regards with satisfaction that part of Lord Rosebery's speech which deals with the war. It is, indeed, clear that there is liotle difference between the two views of settlement. The statement that Mr Asquith is retiring from the Bar is denied by the "Sheffield Telegraph," on the authority of a written communication from that statesman. He is making a handsome income of seven or eight thousand a year, and there is no probability he will abandon it in the full vigour of his intellectual activity. A letter from Warsaw states that no fewer than 15,000 horses have been bought in Russian Poland during the last few weeks for the use of the British Army in South Africa. The Russian Ministry of Agricul- ture gave permission for the export of the horses. This is the second great dispatch of Polish horses for the same purpose within the present year The earlier export, which occurred some month's ago, consisted of 6,000 horses, The Boston Guardians had a laugh at tie expense of the Local Government Board at their meeting on Saturday. A letter was read from that authority, dated 19th Dec., in which, adverting to a letter of the guardians of 1st Jan. last, with reference to a proposal of the guardians to abolish a certain medical district uf the union, they inquired what action.had been taken in the matter. The clerk to the guardians said as a matter of fact they had abolished the district in question, and the Local Govern- ment Board, on 21st March last, wrote approving of their action. The Liberals of Aberystwyth at a largely attended meeting on Friday evening last unanimously passed a resolution congratu- lating Mr Lloyd-George upon having escaped scathless at the Birmingham riot, and expressing their great admiration of his conduct unuer such trying circumstances their great abhorrence of the conduct of the Birmingham rowdies, and especially of the conduct of the Birmingham Liberal- Unionist press, and also their feelintr of disgust that. Mr Chamberlain had not seen fit to dissociate himself from the expression of opinion made by that press. The action of a portion of the Birmingham Press was severely criticised at a meeting in the Central Hall, Birmingham, on Satur- day night, The Rev Luke Wiseman spoke, and at the outset hoped he would not allow that first opportunity to pass without reference to the lamentable events. We ought to be heartily ashamed of ourselves he said. Who was responsible ?" (Cries of The Press-") In the speaker's judgment the Press had caused it all. The reports and leaders in the Birmingham Post and Mail" were incentives to riotous proceed- ings, and the wrecking of the historic hall. The arch offender was the Birmingham Mail." (Hear, hear.) Birmingham had been passing throngh a great strain, but instead of the Press soothing perturbed minds they had inflamed them. The speaker quoted an article from the Mail which he dpsm-JlW as distinctly incentive and calculated to pro- voke riot. They could not acquit the Mail of its share of responsibility, for it had been responsible for the terrible wreck- age. The Mail pJayed upon the feelings of the citizens to such an extent that it required little to make them reach a climax. With reference to liberty of speech he asked Is Mr Chamberlain the only man who is not to have his tongue tied ?" (Cries of No.") The appointment of Miss Maglona Rees, of Machynlleth, to. succeed Mrs. Flora Annie Steel, as a member of the Montgomery County Governing Body will, we have reason to believe, serve a double purpose. It will strengthen the representation of Machyn- Heth, which was much needed, and also awaken the Conservatives from their apathy towards the County Governing Body and its schools. "The protest of Colonel Pryce-Jones,M.P., at the Montgomery County Council meeting, as to the number of Liberal appointments on the County Governing Body was," says a Montgomery Tory paper, undoubtedly called for." And in trying to fan into flame whatever bigotry and partizanship may yet smoulder in the embers of the public bodies of Montgomery, it says that "above all, the displacement of the chairman of the County Council (Mr. Humphreys-Owen, M.P.) should hold the foremost rank in their nro- I gramme. A supporter of Mr. Lloyd-George is not the man for Montgomeryshire, either on the County Council or at Westminster." It is this kind of uncharitableness and in- tolerance that creates factions at home and breeds wars abroad. But this Tory scribe has, possibly, not heard the story of how Col. Pryce-Jones, M.P., is said to have so envied Mr. Lloyd-George's lot at Birmingham that we exclaimed on reading the reports that he hould have given a £1,000 to have been in his place at Birmingham that night. Reports of speech days at Aberystwyth, Aberayron, Llandyssul, Barmouth, Dol- gelley, and Towyn County Schools are given this week. Mr. LONG, the president of the Local Government Board, has appointed Miss B. Walton Evans, daughter of the Archdeacon of St. Asaph, inspector of boarded-out Workhouse children for the Northern Division. Miss Walton Evans formerly represented Abergele on the St. Asiph Board of Guardians, and has read papers and taken a prominent part in discussions t poor law conferences. Mr. T. W. Russell, M.P., speaking at Invernesstown, Fermanagh, on the land question, said they were once again ap- proaching one of those crises which shook things to their very foundation in Ireland. It was a scandal to think that the existing misery was curable and that the poverty was remediable. Every Land Act that had been passed had been born in the west, after famine and after dozens of men had been sent to penal servitude. To-day violent speeches were made, which were being fol- lowed by prosecutions. Rents were unpaid and writs were issued. Evictions would ensue, and after the land war had run its course there would be another Land Bill. He had no desire to condone illegal action, but he had no words strong enough to con- demn those who had the power to end this struggle and refused to act. The committee formed for the purpose of assisting in the publication of Canon Silvan Evans's Welsh-English Dictionary met last week at Sir John Williams's house in Lon- don, when there were present:—Sir John Williams, Dr. Isambard Owen, Dr. Henry Owen, Mr. Marchant Williams, Mr. J. H. Da/ies, and Mr. E. Vimcent Evans. Various estimates for printing the remainder of the Dictionary, which is estimated to extend to about 2,000 pages, were considered, and steps were taken with the view of securing, if possible, the immediate printing of the fifth volume (the letter E), the copy of which is ready for the press The total amount re- quired for printing the whole cannot, it is said, be less than Y,1,500, and it is only by a substantial subsidy that the work can be brought out. Lord Rendel, by placing his beautiful Chateau de Thorenc, at Cannes, at the dis- posal of King Edward, has once more done a splendid international service. A writer in the Figaro" hails the expected visit of his Majesty with the warmest enthusiasm. He eulogises the Chateau almost beyond words, and wishes that there were" many more Englishmen like Lord Rendel." Such sentiment cannot be over-rated. The King, with his proverbial tact and good sense, is a favourite as much abroad as at home, and at heart the French love his simplicity of taste and sincerity of speech. It is well that the two countries should be brought more and more into harmony, for, despite the stupid display of bad taste on the part of some of the Paris organs, the French people arouse ouv admiration and command our friendship. Statesmanship may fail where sentiment, as indicated by the Figaro," succeeds and the King, setting aside all injured feelings, if he pays the visit, is assured of rt right royal welcome. By the death of Miss Marion Lloyd at Pretoria, the last surviving official of the Welsh Military Hospital has passed away. Miss Lloyd had acted as superintendent of the Hospital from the start with signal ability and devotion, and she alone of all the chief officials survived the terrible ordeal which the Hospital had to undergo. She was the daughter of Mr J. P. Lloyd, of Panalltybie, Newcastle-Emlyn, and sister of the Rev J. E. Lloyd, curate of St Michael's, Aberystwyth. Miss Lloyd resigned her J position as matron of the Bolton Infirmary in order to take up the work in South Africa. Her brother, Mr Percy Lloyd, of the Wilt- shire Yeomanry, died of enteric at Bloem- fontein last year, and her sister. Miss Connie Lloyd, now on the nursing staff at Wynberg, was also ill, but recovered. 'Miss Lloyd did excellent service, and is said to have been a general favourite with the soldiers, from Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener to the private. She had only recently been gazetted for the Order of the Red Cross, and her death is a source of genuine regret. A short biographical sketch is given elsewhere. The Home Office has addressed the follow- ing circular to all provincial mayors and other local authorities of the United Kingdom:- I am directed by the Secretary of State to inform you that some months ago the coroner for Nottingham called his attention to the frequency with which the death of young children is caused by their clothing taking fire at unprotected fire-grates, and that the Council of the Coroners' Society of Englaqd and Wales, with whom Mr Ritchie has com- municated, have been good enough to obtain a return on the subject from 200 coroners in England and Wales. It appears from this return that in the years 1899 and 1900 these coroners held 1,684 inquests on the bodies of children whose deaths resulted from burning, and that in 1,425 of those cases the inquests showed that the fire was unprotected bv a guard. The loss of life thus caused is so s so serious and deplorable that the facts should be made as widely known as possible by printed notices to the public through the local press, and the Secretary of State sug- gests that steps for this purpose should be taken without delay." Lord Rosebery's speech at Swansea is, of course, says the London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian." a subiect of Q'pnt>NI talk. His desire for a lessening of Welsh enthusiasms in the future is taken, rightly or wrongly,as an intimation that Welsh Dis- establishment is to form no part of his programme. It is remarked that the subject has also been carefully dropped hy Sir E. Grey and Mr Asquith. This attitude pre- sents a very serious problem. For forty yeai s and more Welsh disestablishment has been the burning political question of Walas. For many years it has been thp- test question at every contested election. It was for a long time the sneer of the Liberal Unionists that it was Mr Gladstone's invari- able policy to do nothing to reward Welsh loyalty. Welshmen, however, had the pene- tration to see that by frankly supporting their fellow-Celtic Nationalists in Ireland they were, in truth, aiding their own cause. In London all the Welshmen whom I happen to know are not only strong supporters of Irish Home Rule and Welsh Disestablish- ment, but they also desire Welsh land reform, and many of them are Welsh Home Rulers. In fact, in Welsh chapels and Welsh societies to-day there is as strong a feeling as ever for these measures. I feel convinced that Welshmen would never give a warm support to such a third party as Lord Rosebery desires, and if such a thing as the adoption of the Rosebery line by Liberals were possible it is more than probable that an independent Welsh Nationalist party would be called into exis- tence-e. result which most Liberals would deplore.