Welsh Gazette and West Wales Advertiser

THE LAND QUESTION. IN the House of Commons on Friday Mr. Agar Robartes moved the second reading of the Land Tenure Bill, the object of which is to extend and simplify the law of compensa- tion for tenants' improvements, and to im- prove rural life not by quack remedies, but by dealing with bad landlords. The Bill is based on the principle that the tenant- farmer's capital should not be liable to con- fiscation, and we suppose it is a principle of which all farmers approve, except possibly a few cranks. It simplifies and extends the law of compensation, gives the tenant greater powers of improvement, ard a right to claim for damage done by game. and also for unreasonable disturbance. The Daily News remarks that although its title of ( The Farmers' Charter is probably a little grandiloquent, its provisions mark a real attempt at protecting the tenant in the work of his hands. The Opposition loudly awerted this to be the commencement of the system of dual ownership. English land- lordism has seen the collapse in Ireland of the landlord system, the crash of feudal- ism" which Cobden predicted half a century ago. Already it is commencing to feel fore- bodings lest its dominance should pass away in a similar fashion. That passing was through the method of the recognition of dual ownership. The dual ownership, once recognised, became impossible. One of the two parties had to go. In Ireland it was the landlord. The English farmer and peasant have apprehended that nearly four- teen millions of British money and a hundred millions of British credit has gone to lid Ireland of its landlords. They aie becoming impatient to ascertain when some similar attention is to be paid to their own condition. The small farmer desires securi- ty of tenure and some settled compensation for improvements. He is injure 1 by the thooting rights ,iid usages of the owner. The whole of England is injured by the shooting lights and usages which have made the land the pleasure ground of the wealthy At last with a menacing rural de-population, this country is awakening to the fact that it is being bled white as veal." There is no question facing it in any degree com- parable to the question of the land. The country population is fleeing into the cities. All that is enterprising and ambitious in the villages leave early and return no uiore." There can be no question but that the need for a radical reform in the land laws is a pressing one. It is felt all over the country. But we think we could impress the truth of this upon our readers with greater force if we were to narrow our vision to Cardiganshire only. We have before us a copy of a statement forwarded this month by the Board of Agriculture to their corres- pondents in this district. This shows the changes which are recorded in the Census Returns as having occurred among the prin- cipal classes engaged in agriculture in the county of Cardigan during the twenty years from 1881 to 1901. The figures are startl- ing, and they seem to indicate that the farmer's grievances are genuine, and that he is far from being a merely hypocrital grumbler. In 1881 there were 5,571 farm- ers and graziers in Cardiganshire but by 1901 the total number had gone down to 3,543 -a decrease of 2,028 in twenty years In 1881 there were 5,831 agricultural lab- ourers and farm servants in the county; but by 1901 there were only 2,6:-38-a de- crease of 3,193 in twenty years! It should, however, be pointed out that the numbers in 1881 refer to the "Registration County," and in 1901 to the "Administrative County," so that the figures are not precisely compar- able. But even taking that into considera- tion the change is still very great and the worse of it is that the mischief is proceeding apace. The conditions of land tenure in this country are impossible, and there need be no wonder that the people are forsaking the soil and the most ancient of industries. The Land Tenure Bill discussed in Parlia- ment last week may not go far enough; but it touches the fringe of a great question, and farmers should not be slow to observe that the present House of Commons is soon be- ginning to deal with agriculture, to which the last House, in all its long existence, devoted only a few hours of its time-six hours at most, according to Lord Onslow,

REDUCTION OF ARMA- MENTS. A few weeks ago the British battleship Dreadnought was launched at Portsmouth. and now comes the news, as we then ven- tured to anticipate, that other great European Powers follow suit. The German Government has decided by a large majority to increase its fleet by six large cruisers, and Reuter's agent states that this is a direct result of the addition of the Dread- nought to the British Navy. The Prime Minister was asked in the House of Commons on Monday whether he proposed to take steps, either at the forthcoming Hague Conference or directly, to put a stop tc this burdensome competition between the shipbuilding programmes of the Great Powers concerned, and whether, in accord- ance with his expressed opinions on the subject of the simultaneous reduction of armaments by negotiation, he would take the first opportunity of approaching the German Government in furtherance of this desirable object. In a notable speech at Oxford on Saturday night, Mr. Leonard Courtney made an impressive appeal for a reduction of armaments on the part of this country. He said that the passage in which the Prime Minister, speaking in the Albert Hall, had expressed his hope that we might be foremost in establishing a league of peace had echoed and re-echoed all over the country. How are we to carry out that idea ? If we do so in a really substantial manner we may do something to keep the loyalty of the voters to the Liberal party. If, on the contrary, we are still to hear from Liberal Benches the cry constantly raised by their predecessors of the necessity of prepara- tion against imminent enemies, Mr. Court- ney does did not think we can rely on the permanence of the power of the Liberal party. It is not a mere question of the organisation of the War Office, where we have a Minister second to none in acuteness of intellect and in breadth of vision. The problem is not how to realise a given army at the least cost or how to organise it best for the work it may have to carry throngh. The problem is not for the War Office bul-, for the Cabinet—how to establish our relations with other countries, nay, how to anticipate our relations with other countries, that we may show them what we really mean in the reduction of armaments. At the coming meeting of the Hague Tribunal, Mr. Courtney said he hoped we might 'be able to 0 go a little further than we did at the first n meeting. The most admirable passage in Mr. Courtney's speech was his appeal to the courage of the country. He frankly ad- mitted that there is always some risk that we may be attacked. There is some element of truth in the description put before us of the temper of particular statesmen and the aims of particular Governments. The question is whether we are prepared to combat that temper and to meet those aims by action, by showing confidence that in the righteousness of our cause we have a greater defence than can be found in enlarged arma- ments, and that in the matter of military preparation, as in the matter of Free Trade, we had better not wait for the co-operation of other nations, but must run the glorious risk of leading the way. He did not wish in the slightest degree to deny the existence of risks, but he confessed for his part that he was tired of the constant presentation to our imagination of the nations of the world as so many predatory hordes, ready at the least sight of an opportunity to seize upon what belongs to other nations and to snatch and devour that which is not their own. He did not believe that to be the real temper of the civilised nations of Europe. They are all more or less in alarm, genuine alarm, at one another, and the country which can first show some confidence that the best way to prevent attack is not to in- vite it by distrust, that country, said Mr. Courtney, will establish for itself a great reputation and will be glorified as the real pioneer in the formation of a League of Peace. "Sbould we be in great peril," asked Mr. Courtney, if w& reverted to the seal* of expenditure which we indulged in ten years Ago ? Is ishero anybody who can. believe that we should be risking our independence and freedom if we took occasion to reduce our armaments to what: they were when the last Liberal Govern- ment was in office ? Is there anybody who believes we should be at once invaded i? we took the opportunity of our present situa- tion to go back upon the moderate arma- ments which reigned from 1892 to 1895? Yet by so doing we should excite the greatest international interest, and we should operate most strongly in the develop- ment of the well-being of our people." -w

NOTES AND COMMENTS. The Halkyn Mining Company paid a divid- end of 30 per cent. for last year. ———— The Cambrian Railways Biljl was read a second time in the House of Lords on Mon- day. -p- As a result of the recount of the votes polled in North Westmorland, Mr. Leif Jones's majority has been increased to five. Lord Kerry has withdrawn his petition. The Council of the University College of South Wales have adopted a standing order providing that in future St. David's Day shall be observed as a College holiday. The Carnarvon National Eisteddfod Ex- ecutive have decided that intoxicants shall not be sold in the Eisteddfod grounds. The question involves a sacrifice of L80. -fl- As will be seen by an advertisement in this week's issue, the old Welsh Parlia- ment house in which Owen Glyndwr held his Parliament, in the year 1402, is in the Market. A Bill, of which notice has been given in the House of Commons, provides that every passenger ticket issued for a journey on any railway in the United Kingdom shall be available for use at any time. An appalling mine disaster took place on Saturday morning at Courrieres, near Lens, in Northern France. An explosion, followed by a terrible fire, occurred in several shafts of the great coalmine, and it seems certain that some 1,200 miners have perished. The result of the polling in the Basing- stoke division of Hampshire was declared on Tuesday. The fight was complicated by the presence of aji Independent Liberal candi- date, and the seat is retained by the Con- servatives. -11-- Mr. John Phillips of Aberdovey was last week publicly presented with a gold watch and chain, awarded him by President Roose- velt, in recognition of his services in assist- ing to rescue the shipwrecked crew of the American barquentine Elmiranda," which was wrecked at sea last November. Sir Charles Dilke presided on Tuesday over a private meeting of Liberal members, who received a report from the deputation re- cently appointed to interview the Lord Chancellor in favour of the appointment of a "more adequate proportion" of Liberal magistrates in the counties. It is under- stood that the Lord Chancellor, whilst in general sympathy, pointed out some difficul- ties, and suggested, inter alia, that lists of suggested nominations for the bench should be stent, not from local divisions, but from counties as a whole. -f!- Nothing has been more remarkable in the brief history of the present Parliament up to date than the number of clever and suc- cessful maiden speeches which have been made. A striking example in last Monday night's debate, says the Star," was the telling speech of Mr. Llewellyn Williams, the new Liberal member for the Carmarthen Boroughs, on the Welsh tinplate trade. It held the respectful attention of the House, and it provoked the "Times" to ineffectual attempts at refutation. -11- The Places of Worship Enfranchisement Bill has been tabled, but Mr. S. T. ErvanB, who is its sponsor, has not been fortunate enough in the ballot to secure a good place for it. The Bill, if passed, would enable trustees of leasehold chapels to aoquire the freehold on fair terms. A similar Bill haa twice secured a second reading in previous Parliaments, and once even got past the Committee on Law, but the boon it would confer on Nonconformists has still to be won. A debate took place in the French Chamber on Wednesday week as to the manner in which the takiug of inventories of church property had been conducted. The Govern- ment was defeated, and the Premier, M. ROlivier, afterwards tendered the re.signatioll of the Cabinet to President Fallieres, who accepted it. M. Sarrien is the new Premier. -/1- Mr. R. S. Jackson, M.P.. speaking at Greenwich said that the way business was conducted at the House of Commons did not commend itself to business men. He com- pared it to the London County Council, ajid the comparison was very disadvantageous to the Commons. The members in the Commons were, said he, very selfish, and some of them spoke for three-quarters of an hour and had regard only for themselves and their constituencies. He advocated the eight-hour day outside of the House, and he thought they should advocate it in that Chamber. -11- Lord Burghclere proposes to reintroduce next week his Bill for granting the use of public elementary schoolrooms for the pur- pose of holding meetings in support of can- didates for Parliamentary and other elec- tions. This is a subject which has occupied his attention for more than 20 years. Last year Lord Burghclere again brought the matter forward, and hi& Public Meetings (Facilities) Bill passed through all its stages in the House of Lords, and was. read a second time in the House of Commons. It was, however, blocked in Committee. At last it seems as if this much needed measure would become the law of the land. The Prime Minister has written to Mr. S. T. Evans, M.P., assuring him that Welsh disestablishment remains an integral part of the legislative programme of the Liberal party, but that he does not consider a Suspensory Bill the best way of approach- ing the subject. He adds that the Govern- ment have no desire whatever to shirk the question. We print the Prime Minister's letter in another column. This may put the growing suspicion in the country that the Government wanted to avoid Disestablish- ment at rest for a time. But Wales will not tolerate an indefinite postponement. The action brought in the Cardiff County < Court to test the legality of the levies made by the South Wales Miners' Federation for the support of its representative in Parlia- ment was concluded on Friday. The Judge found that the rule of the Federation under which the levies were made waa neither illegal nor ultra vires, and that the plain- tiff (a. dissentient member of the trada union) was neither entitled to be repaid the moneys he had contributed to the Parlia- mentary representation fund nor to an in- junction restraining the defendants hen levying moneys under the rule. He th 0- fore gave judgment for the Federal .m, with costs, but granted a stay of execution. --11-- The total of the National Drink Bill con- tinues to diminish. Dr. Dawson Burns, in his annual statement tells us that last yar wo spent £ 164,167,941 in intoxicants, which is C4,8191,224 less than the previous year. The improvement in taste and morals which these figures point to has been going on for some years. In the last six years there has been an annual decrease in the drink ex- penditure, amounting in all to £ 21,759,286. As the population has increased two-and-a- half millions in these years the total rela- "7¿.1.1- -1':J.H_ 1- _1_u_1 "1 i J.\ t1 KxiiiLiL exp^nuiiuje nas aimirusueci oy nearly 34 millions. This is encouraging, but the annual average expenditure OJ]. drink still amounts to about 1:19 per family of five. The speaking on the Education question at the National Free Church, Council in Birmingham last week was very determined in its hostility to compromise of principles and to a magnanimity that would sacri- fice essential justice. As Dr. Clifford put it, the Free Churches will not sanction the leaving open of a back door through which sectarianism, expelled from the front, can stealthily creep in again. Mr. Meyer and Mr. Jowett were equally firm on this point with Dr. Clifford. It may be difficult for Anglican ecclesiastics to realise it, but there was the ring of thorough sincerity in the many yearnings expressed for peace and friendship and united action with the Church of England on many subjects common to all the Christian Churches, but the fighting must go on till the injustice is removed. -¡¡- The first Census of the British Empire was issued as a Blue-book last week; this volume is the result of four years' toil. The census was taken at the same time as the English census in 1901. By desire of the then Colonial Secretary the statistics for all British possessions have been collated, and analysed as nearly as possible on the lines of the English report. This was an immense task. The tables now published were de- rived from reports ranging in bulk from a ten-page pamphlet concerning the 2,253 inhabitants of the Falkland Islands" to the 60 volumes concerning the Indian Em- pire, which contains 29iJ million persons and speaks 147 languages. The total population of the British Empire is, say the report, about 400,000,000. The area of the Empire is nearly 12 million square miles. The most noticeable fact brought out in the census is that throughout the Empire the rate of in- crease in population shows a great decline since the last decennium. In the case of India, however, this is chiefly accounted for by famine and plague. -'f- A deputation representing all sections of the licensed trade of the United Kingdom waited upon the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer oil Friday afternoon to lay before him their grievances and to suggest that some of their burdens should be removed in the coming Budget. Mr. Asquith in his re- ply said it was an admitted iict, that during I the last few years there had been a consider- able diminution in the consumption of beer and spirits. He could not, however, see any relation between the increased taxation which a few years ago was imposed on their trade and that diminution in consumption on the part, of the public. Part of the de- crease was undoubtedly due to the growth of the habits of temperance and self-control. If ever it was possible to make some altera- tion in the taxes imposed upon them he would bear in mind what they had said, but they must not understand him as holding out any prospect of obtaining relief in the immediate future. _{I_- Mr. James Bryce, Chief Secretary for Ireland, who was on Saturday the guest of the St. Patrick's Club, at the Clarendon Hotel, Oxford, said he thought they might agree that on the whole Ireland had had too much politics. When the Englishman thought about Ireland he thought of a country which had given a great deal of trouble and in which agitation was always going on. One of the things which lay be- fore the next generation of Irishmen was to dispel that impression. There were two ways of doing that- One was by the mater- ial improvement of the country, and the other by cultivating what might be called the intellectual, sentimental, and romantic side of the country, and happily both of these movements had latterly begun. He believed that the prospects before Ireland in this last decade and the decade to come were probably better than they had been for many years past. What they wanted now v1 as a good feel.r.g h«t*ven'ii the parties, and races, and creeds in Ireland itself, and the best thing that an Irishman cculd work lor was to bring Irishmen together and to try and see that. barriers of creed, race, tiid party should no longer divide them as tln-v had done so often in the past. -lI- rh?- lory t'fe Traders hare disowned Mr. Lalfour. ol Devonshire, presid- ing over a special general meeting of Unionist Free Trade Club at We6tiri Palace Hotel, said that he did not w 110 renew anything in the nature of personal controversy with Mr. Balfour, and he would not discuss whether the ex-Premier's letter was in all respects consistent with his pre- vious declarations. He regretted if, in his previous observations* he had done any in- justice to Mr. Balfour, in not attaching suffi- cient importance to the qualifications which accompanied his acceptance of the nrin- ciple of a general tariff or of a taxation of food. He had not spoken in ignorance of those qualifications. They formed an ex- tensive list, and the ordinary brain almost reeled in the effort to discover whether the main proposition or the qualifications at- tached to it were the more important. He was bound to say that these qualifications I ions did not substantially alter the view which he had for some time been compelled to en- tertain, that Mr. Balfour was in substantial agreement with Mr. Chamberlain on the subject of Tariff Reform. He further said it was the duty of the club to oppose, as best they could, the policy which had now been adopted by Mr. Balfour.—Lord James of Hereford, who also spoke, understood that they were no longer followers of Mr. Balfour. They had hoped in vain. that Free rade would be developed in his utterances, but now it must be known that that club collectively did not acknowledge his leader- ship.

PROTECTION OF THE COAST LINE. Mr. li G Aiianson-Tv inn reau a paper last, week at Caxton .t.1all, w esiuuinst-er, before the membeiS ot the tivu uixeL .viechanical Engineers Society suggesting the adoptiou. of etiaui-cable groynes lor tue. protection of our coast lines iiom the inroad ot the sea. He sajxl that the advance ot the sea was often clue to eios.ou taking place below low-water level. That i)eA was alter- ing many places was proved, by the sound- ings round the coast lines where erosion had been steady and coil L *U[-Llou* Along. the Kerry coast, tor instance, it was a faot that, to-day many feci of water could be soiuided where less than a century ago a he-use stood in a Iairly large home farm, and 1r. AllallOOll- h itUl aucled the personal rwoLlection oi having pk«yeu cricket thirty- fivo years ago in a held in the neighbourhood of the present low-watc mark. The life and utility of a wall or e-,u»a ikment were dependent on the stability or the founda- tions, and strictly the bame might "be said of a shore, they could, erect as many walls, embankments, and groynes as they pleased, but unless they could prevent tne erosion, below low-water level they were of no avail. At the best they could be only palliative. illcasu res. Experience, oteiued. to show that low groynes acted far better in some places than in others, though ti.ey invariably ap- peared to have a beneficial effect. The idea of carrying the groyne, well down, to low- water mark was all excellent OliO, because the greatest visible area—over which travel- ling material was moving—was affected, and consequently the greatest ihance was offered for ading to the accumulation of natural protection. Remarkable as it might appear, actual experiment had proved that. a heavy chain cable alone when stretched from about mean sea level to low-water mark would arrest the travel of the larger stones composing the general mass of travel- ing shingle, and would, in course of time,, accumulate a small ridge or bank, which at once began to fulfil the functions of a low groyne. —

ROMAN CATHOLICS AND EDUCATION. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Liverpool in a pastoral letter read in all his churches on Sunday, lays it down as a fundamental principle- neid by Catholics that moral and religious instruction cannot be divorced from secular education and that teachera must necessarily have high moral and re- ligious ideals, in deiault of which parents are bound to reflle to place their children under them, cost whet- it may. The Bishop tells the parents tnat for neglecting this duty they will have to answer hereafter before God's tribunal. Catholic parental rights and wishes are indissoluably united, and when the State questions such rights and wishes it can only help on the destruc- tion of domestic and social order. The State has only the right to intervene to protect society against parental neglect, and when it does so it is bound, as in re- formatory schools, to respect parental con- victions. Catholics, the Bishop adds, have ever refused mixed education as dangerous to faith and morals, and were such pro- posed in pending legislation they must stand outside of it. Catholics claim their own schools and teachers free and unfet- tered, preserving the Catholic atmosphere. but they are not averse to financial control. The Roman Catholics of Liverpool on Tuesday held a mass meeting in St. George's- hall, also an overflow meeting, preceded, by immense processions, totalling ov. r 50,000, to protest against any illi ringernellt of par- ental rights in the matter of education. the Roman Catnolic Bishop ox Liverpool ,.c presided. Resolutions were passed that in eicmentary schools religious teachinc must be gtven by Roman Catholic teachers, the same concession being given to Anglicans, Jews, and Nonconformists. This was said to 10" 1 be the solution originally proposed bv Mr Birred himself. Itoman Catholic were ready to acknowledge ollicial inspection and official checking of all expenditure, but ab- solutely refused undenominational educa- tion --+-

PAYMENT OF MEMBERS. EYIL RESULTS AND HOW TO PREVENT THEM. I'lio Spi-,ctatot- dealing with the ques- tioi, oi the payment of members of the House or Commons says In the first place, we object to the very great waste of public money involved in the proposal to pay every member of Parliament, whether he wants to be paid or not. Next, we object to the that Parliament should dip into the Treasury and pay itself, on the ground that to do so must to a certain extent lower the position of Parliament. Not only will the salaried servants of the State feel that J 1 iney are now on the same level as the House of t ommons, but those who are more highly paid than members of Pa:'lia-;>e:it will not unnatnraiiy consider that the State regards them as worth more than its rop^sentatives. Yet another objection is to be found in the tact that if members of Parliament are to be paid, so ought members of county coun- cils, town councils, and other elective bodies. 1 he work done by members oc these remv- sentntive bodies is often *Jn(] very exacting, and the case for their pay- ro-nt i. every bit as svoiig as for pav- ing members of ParlianWnt, Blit if all elected persons are to be paid, and paid a living wage, the charge on the nation will not be kept at £ 200,000 a vear. but may easily reach two millions. Though, it was. no doubt, the sincere desire of many of those who voted for Mr. Lever's motion to increase the representation of the working classes in Parliament, we are by no means, sure that such an aim will be achieved if the principle be put in practice. We think it far mor0 likely that the effect of giving td"U a year to every member of Parliament will be to encourage the entry of the pro- professional politician, and of the smaller professional man into the House of Com- mons. The genuine L?hovn- mnmt,pr will run the risk, we believe, of beinc shoulder- ed out of political life by the glib profes- sional politician, who is able to make him- self a position in the party caucus. If. however, it should be deemed essential by thf working classes tliit their representa- tives should be paid, and the nation as a. whole endorses that view. then we hold that the proper way to give eiFect to their de- cision is not by voting £ 300 a year to everv member of P, but bv'allowing ilnv constituency which so desire? to levy a"local l'ate to keen its member of Parliament in London without any peeuninrv post to him- self,"