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The objection raised in certain Labour eirclea at Swansea to a Corporation vote of 42W to the Bath and West Show is not very intelligible. The grant is what custom decrees every public body should make upon such an event; it is a practical form of dis- playing municipal hospitality, of evincing the interest that citizens of a progressive and liberal-minded town are expected to take in occaeioni of public importance within their sphere. The abstention of the Corporation from such action would be interpreted as an act of meanness that would be widely pub- lished, ind would spread a most undesirable reputation for the place elsewhere. rlhe society exists to promote agriculture, of whose import-ance une working men are be coming painfully conscious as they realise the injurious effect of dependence for the bulk of their food upon foreign sources of supply that are now being drained by other customers, who. moreover, can outbid the British consumer. It has done a very great deal to encourage stock-breeding that has made British stock the finest in point of quality in the world, and has, amidst a gmeral agricultural decay, in other branches of farming, maintained a supply that has until recently formed a very considerable proportion of British requirements. Suroly it is not sought to associate the Labour movement with a churlish and iu- hospitable attitude.. There were no such protests, we recall, raised at the time of the reception of the Trades Union Congress, when public money was devoted to the enter- tainment of that body—and very properly and appropriately so devoted. The Cor- poration represents the citizens of the town, and acts for them, and for its acts the General body of the people are responsible. If a niggardly policy is to be pursued to- wards local events of the description of the Batb and West Show, apart from t-bs odium to which the town will be exposed on the score of inhospitability, there will be the prospect of a boycott by institutions of such a status. We are not concerned to advocate an indiscriminate hospitality, or exaggerate the importance of some of the bodie* that hold their conferences im Svran- aei, but it is reasonable to expect the citizens of the town throuph the Corpora- tion to show courtesy and hospitality to the strangers within their gate.9 when the latter are of national interest or importance.

The communication received by the secre- tary of the Welsh Rugby Football Union from the secretary of the Union of French Athletic Societies is of unusual value and in- to theovQ. that,, greeted K'ihft ("<:forte ftfid-'Q'It,M".f¡tt Paris, and t» £ >b.«grve8 that Sport, we are assured has liad its own share in the draw- jug together of the two nations, on account of which we are oongratulating one another to-day." The remark is very true football in particular has been a most valuable auxili- arv to the entente condialc in bringing the masses of both countries into contact. Dinners, receptions and similar ceremonies .a:d festivities by public or quasi public bodies do not serve the same purpose r-o effectively, as the people at large are left as spectators. Football brings the British into contact with the French people far mora effectively than holidays usually devoted to visits to public institutions or to the holiday quarter of the French capital that exists for the benefit of foreign visitors, and that con- voys a caricatured imnression of the French character. It is. gratifying that South Wal es has been able to take an exceptionally prominent share in this aspect of the en- tente, which lias revealed much in the French oharacter that is congenial and of affinity to the British. Britishers are apt to regard themselves as in a pre-eminent degree an outdoor" people in respect to their sports, but justice has never been done to the same qualities of nerve, daring, cool-headedness and adven- ture, where displayed, as they have been so brilliantly and conspicuously, in France, in pioneering autoniobiliem and aviation. Both demand most of the equalities that sport is I credited with inculcating, save that of phy- ficaj hardihood, which is required in a de-I gree of pre-eminence from the driver of a racing automobile or an aeroplane that ob- t&ina in aone save the rarer forms^of sport, ? in certain kinds of hunting. -here is & Marked .dinerence between sport in Britain and in France, where it has not been to so great a degree professionalised, and where the disproportion between spectators ?i<o players is much less than upon this E. de of the Channel. But the difference is t(I the credif.t)f the French, who, in football, at. in boxing, promise to run us hard -n the future, and who see in sport one of the IIldla through -which a national revivification can bel tlff eete d.

14 The negotiations between the Miners ion, the National Union of Rail- Waymea and the Transport Workers— 0rgaMsations embracing 1,350,000 workers- to found a triple aliiarioe, or at least a triple e ft tente, have proceeded favourably up to the- present stage. Gigantic labour com- binations are to some extent a reply to eually extensive employers' combinations, though usually more comprehensive. Of tf-e three bodies, the miners have in the long run the capacity of. bringing the most deadly and effective pressure to bear, though it Squires a prolonged period for the effect of nationaJ mining strike to be seriously felt. The transport workers can be the most quickly, replaoed, should national necessity compel the formation of an organisation to ttt>d«rtak€ their work in default of them; ftrd the railwayman, though the quickest ? ?1 in making their action felt by the V^htnunity at large, can also be partically ? effectively aupnianted with much Skater ease than is the case with the ?'"ere. There will be general curiosity to P? wh?t po)icv the alliance, should it be b" .'U#bt about, will initiate. There will be L" a6rrn in looking forward to the prospect of "Ueh a labour etand:ng army and the?  "?fta.intv as to the ends it will be called t Tapo' to ;erve in view of the experience ,?'? in the railway and "lWd strikes. he, sympathetic rtoppage upon a great scale J™ -too frequently repeated will, it is felt, {Ir out, its own cure. A strike under rare ci;cnmstanœs 'is finan- cially Profitable. It satisnes the men who "Me in it because they consider that they "? putting forth their utmost efforts to i- ta'in their object, and that if they fail it _^• n°^ ? from a lack of endeavour upon +K eir Part- When they do succeed in ob- 'n'ng an increase in pay they forget that the 1(,,w of wages during the period of the Kttike. the ?ge of Union funds, and t?e rwaonai ?:f,? ?? have ? be made pood, ? np ? ? sum that is not regained, <EW?h  increased wages conceded, for ?''C?'<MM-&. P".t tb& I « sense, in caae of defeat, that at least they have done their best to compel the granting of their demands, and, in case of victory, the consciousness of success outweighs such calculations of profit and loss. But these are cases where ^elf-interest is con- cerned. A too frequent repetition of a de- mand upon men to incur serious losses in pursuance of a campaign that directly affects a very few men in an isolated district, will result in the end in the collapse of that policy. When the sympathetic strike that is declared is of a very few days' duration there may be a postponement of this inevit- able conclusion. But this species of stop- page is one that encourages in the other .side, the employers, a spirit of exasperation at Josses inflicted upon innocent parties that must bring about a determined re- sistance and challenge to the idea that work can be carried on in the intervals be- tween intermittent disputes of whose occur- rence none can foretell the date. The national strike, the possibility of which is forecasted by the suggested com- bination of railway men, dockers and coal- miners, is intrinsically anti-social and selfish. It means that one body of men, who feel themselves badly off, propose to remedy their lot by making still larger bodies of men miserable, and gain their ends at the cost of weakening the capacity for sacrifice by other men who desire to improve their own condi- tions. In addition, in the complex nature of our ci vilisation, there are certain services whose uninterrupted working is essential to actual livelihood. Whatever Government is in power, or whatever form of government, coal and the carriage of food are esisentials. The with-holding of these, or the prevention of others from rendering such services, is tantamount to lavin siege to the country, establishing a blockade, and incurring the certainty of enormous and unwarrantable suffering. It does not necessarily follow that such unwieldy labour combinations, will meet with better fortune than attends some oft;bei most notable of commercial alliances. TtM- United States Steel Trust and the so-called. Shipping Trust, which bought up the White] Star, Leyland, and other lines, have tidtj been conspicuously successful. In the case of the three great labour organisations, be- sides the motive of self-interest, and that of national interest—even humanity—there is the difficulty of controlling great masses of men, many of them enlisted by a species of compulsion, and listless in their attitude to the movement in whose ranks they have been impressed, and the absence of any great personality to unite by the magnetism of a commanding 'character bodies cf men who are liable to fall into hopeless confusion when deprived of a clear and forceful lead. The scenes at the conclusion of the national coalfield strike will not readily be forgotten in that connection. The unanimity that prevailed, npon the surface, at the outset, dissolved hopelessly at the termination of the most ambitious effort yet made to secure class concessions by the coercion of the peo- pie at 'c: d

ftie right Hoti. artel leiWfetff gentleman say boldly: Give me the .amend- ments to the Home Rule Bill which I ask for to; Mfeguard the dignity and,, the in- terts of Protestant Ulster, and I in re- turn will use all my influence and good- will to make Ireland an integral unit in a federal system If such language were uaed, I firmly believe that, hateful avenue down which we have looked too long would give place to a clear ani bright prospect which would bring honour and not discredit to all concerned, and would save these i-glands from evils for which our children will certainly otherwise hold us accountable." These words, used by Mr. Churchill in Parliament on Tuesday nisrht, | with their general endorsement by the Prime Minister later, and the favourable reception that they were accorded from Mr. Balfour, j Mr. Bonar Law and Sir Edward Carson, m* y j well prove a landmark in the long drawn Home Rule struggle, so barren and so evil, that has for a generation drained British po- litical energies and poisoned our poli^i-ral • life. The dramatic episode of the gun-run- ning at Larne has at length awakened the Government to the nature of the abyss to which their stubborn and stiff-necked policy had been driving. The question for them has been, through- out, how the better government of Ireland, the increased welfare and happiness of her people-tlte sole objectives of any honest legislation proposed by sane men-are to be served by the shooting down of the man- hood of the greatest of the Irish provinces. Light seems dawning at last upon men who; had nearly provoked a black and irretriev- j able tragedy, that would have left a legacy of hatred for generations, and would have indelibly disgraced British statesmanship. Almost at the very last moment surrender and concession are proposed but the path I to peace, though it is opening out at last, is blocked with many cbetacles. Great and better sacrifices may be demanded from the Unionists, to avert the catastrophe of civil war; the Ministerialists, in view of the ran- corous and sanguinary spirit so prevalent amongst them, will feel such sacrifice as they may be called upon to make as equal in mag- nitude and reluctance of granting. Ulster- men may well distrust to their heart the overtures of a Government that has almost consistently first insulted and then menaced their movement of protest and resistance. The Nationalists may well be implacable. Atnd the electorate? By what right can any party assume that it endorses Federal ism, a vague political abstraction that has never seri'?y been discussed and laid he -1 fore it ? The ohstädes are Buch n mieht wel1 seem to be Inoperable, were !t not for the conviction which Is dominating Parlia- ment that the avoidahce of bloodshed trans- cfinds every other consideration. The pass- age of the Home R,)!e Bill, with Ulster ex- cluded the subsequent foundation of a federal system In which Ulster might be reconciled and induced to enter into part- nership with Leinster, Munster, and Con- ,naugbt-tbis is the prospect to which the developments in Parliament, this week are pointing. But how perilously near to the diM?ter of Moof?hed in civil war Ulster stood, and the degree of c'dpabthty of t? ??inistrv. we 1 do not vet know. Mr. ChurcH'n' change of attitude may be the ?nckno-,N,I,d,,ment of the failure of an At- tempt by "a a secret stroke to cru-h by force of arms a resistance that is at yet no more than political. The Opposition demand for a' judicial en-I quiry into what has been described as the Government plot against Ulster was ba?cd upon a mass of facts, extracted slowly and with difficulty from reluctant and evasive Ministers. The charge they bring is that at a moment of perfect peace, wiien there j had been no act of active violence or aggre-1 sion, when the political question wan still j under discussion in Parliament, and. when Ministers had expressed themselves as .still hopeful df a pacific sittlement, it was sought suddenly to invest Ulster by infantry And cavaJry brigades on shore, and by a baitl^ | ship and a destroyer flotillas on sea to pozv :-4.;) the Province and thereby run -lating a oobjSict which 1 ■ J' some Ministers themselves had not despaired I of avoiding. The Government explanation is that them was no plot"; that the measures contemplated were organised to safeguard isolated and inadequately de- fended military magazines from attacks. By whom? Colonel Seeley said on March 25th that I was then and am now aware that any such attempt would be discounten- anced by the responsible leaders of the Ulster movement. Mr. Birrel later exculpated the Nationalist& from ?uspicion. Vr. whom then was the attack apprehended? I The Government has never produced the re- ports upon which they were led to order movements that, in the opinion of the Irish Commander-in-Chief, would create intense excitement in Ulster and possibly precipitate a crisis." On March 9th Mr. Churchill appears to have jumped to the conclusion that the re- jection in Parliament that day by Mr. Bonar l<aw and Sir Edward Carson of the offer of the exclusion of Ulster from the Home Rule Bill for six years, signified that Ulster, no longer concerned with her own affairs, was seeding to bar to the whole of the rest of Ireland, and was seeking to influence the destinies of British politics." Ulster, he concluded, no longer defended herself, but sought to attack the rights of others. On March 11th, after Mr. Lloyd George had entertained the Irish leaders to breakfast, ;,L Cabinet met and struck a committee that i."i :ded the Secretary for War, the First I/ord of the Admiralty, the Socretaxy of India, and the Attorney-General. The com- ment upon this is that it is very remark- able these high officers of State should be concerned with a limited military measure of precaution, to defend a few barracks against an irresponsible raid. And the evasion of Ministers begins at this stage. On March 25th Mr. Churchill said that at this meeting of the Cabinet on March 11th, it was decided to station a battle squadron and attendant vessels at Lamlaah-wme three and a half hours' steam from Belfast— where they would be in proximity to the coasts of Ireland in case of Serious disorder." The Prime Minister presided at this meeting at which this decision waa made. On March 23rd' the Premier told the "Tunes" that "as for the so-called naval movements, they simply consisted in the use of two small cruisers to convey a de- tachmeait of troops to Carrickfergus without the necessity of marching there through the streets of Belfast." Two days later Mr. Churchill, on March 25th, revealed that at a meeting of the Cabinet held under the presidency of Mr. Asquith, a battle-squad- ron was included in the naval dispositions. And on April 22nd the Prime Minister an- nounces that: "I became aware that these orders had been given in the morning of the 21st, and at my suggestion they were; countermanded." One' day the Premier knows nothing of the battleship squadron the next day Mr. Churchill says he was pre- sent at the meeting when the orders affect- ing it were given out; the next day the Premier Aityg hp became aware of these orders some ten davs liter! ¡ ny ""tJn SiarcH, 14th General Paget was in-* formed from the War Office that attempts might be made ip various parts of Ireland by evil-disposed persons to obtain possessi on of Government stores, arms and ammuni- tion. Arniagh, Omagh, Carrickfergus, and i Enmsktllcn were named as especially ex-I posed to attack. Precautionary measures were suggested. On March 14th the Chief I Liberal Whip, speaking at Huddersfield, said that capitulation to threats of menace of "social disorder would be worse than threatened civil disorder and outrage itself; and Mr. Churchill, after observing in a simi- lar strain that there were worse things than bloodshed "even on an extensive scale addo "Let as go forward together and I' put these grave matters to the proof." Ul- ster was challenged to show its determina- tion to protect its civil and religious liberties by force of arms; Ulster was told that the Government would not be deterred by the fear of bloodshed. On Friday, March 17th, General Paget, replying to the War Office warning, detailed the steps he had taken, and commented "I am of opinion that any such move of troops (garrisons from Armagh and Omagh) would create intense excite- ment in Ulster and possibly precipitate a crisis. The same evening he crossed to London. He met the Committee of the Cabinet whose composition is given above on the 18th, in company with the Chief of the General Staff, Sir Sptencer Ewart, and other officers. He attended a meeting on the 19th. On one of those days the Premier was present; but he abstained from dis- closing the fact himself, though Mr. Church. ill revealed it on March 30th, and Mr. Mc- Kenna on April 6th in a list he gave of the Cabinet members who attended those two meetings on March 18th and 19th, did not mention the Prime Minister. But beyond the fact that staff officers were appointed at the request of General Paget, there is a sinister and suspicious silence upon the part of the Government as to what occurred at these meetings, that were sufficiently im- portant to be attended by nearly every Min- isterial leader of first importance. Why is the subject of their deliberations not dis- closed? It is for enlightenment upon that, point that the judicial Inquiry is pressed for. On March 19th General Paget cabled over to General Friend, who acted as his deputy in Ireland, ordering certain movements on the part of three battalions, "to be simultane- ous, if possible, and to be com pie. e by oaun, Saturday 21st, with all secrecy." At the, same date and hour the commander of the scout, H.M.S. Attentive, received orders to be anchored off Carrickfergus "at daybreak on Saturday, the 21st inat. the Castle thus to be defended against attack by everv II means, and if co-operation of the Navy Ls necessary by guxis and searchlights from the ship." The same day the cruisers Ro) Arthur and Gibraltar, proceeding from Lam lash to Pembroke Dock, were diverted to Ivincjstown.. The same day the Third BaW, Squadron was ordered to sail to Lamlash from. Arosa Bay, on the north-west corner ,of Spain, its commander to land at i-i-, mouth arid proceed to London. Admiral Bay ley wired back asking for field guns-- which suggests the landing of a naval bri- gade—" which would be useful for exercising the men during the bad weather which may be expected." It is remarkable that this request should lw ¡ e from a squadron pl uceeding to the vicinity of Belfast, and "the bad weather that may be expected," though superficially meteorological, has a atrange ring about it. Then there were the military movements. Royal Engineers with apparatus for entrench- ¡ ing and bridge-building were despatched to Belfast. There, are known to have been ac- tual movements of the Bedfordshire. Cheshire, Dorset, and Duke of Cornwall's Iiirfit Infantry regiments, and the "Times correspondent at Dublin declares: "It is quite certain that virtually all the troo1- in Ireland south of tl-ie Boyne were warned on Th-anday and Friday to hold themselves in readiness to move upon Ulster. • Arrin)"- stents were made for an officer to take com- mand of the polioe at Belfast." General Paget wired later: "AH arrAngemente for getieral situations have beem made, and commence- ment of all movement* started successfully Warahipf to be ready to pour out 301b. ahelLs from their quick-tirers; battleships embark ing field guns; engineers with entrenching tools a host, of infantry upon the move a military governor for Belfast j movements "to be ma de with jMerecy" and completed at a fixed hour; ail this stir and tumul. over raids upon a few barracks, mostly in th heart of the country, by irreeponsib-le baud, of men. Do they not sound excemive--gm tesquely excessive? But do they not sound with their scale, speed, and secrecy, mor( reasonable ae part of a plan for the sudder mobilisation upon a given spot of a great navil and military; force, prepared for some- thing far greater t-hajt isolated attacks upo, magazines mostly situated III small and sparaeiy populated towns? •Ait this point the ooll-spse began. Sir Arthur Paget addressed the officers of the Third Gavalrv Brigade. They were given the option of accepting dismissal from the service if they objected to the orders tl-it would be issued to them. They preferred the option of dismissal. They were told that Ulster would be in a bl,e. and led to believe that military operations were in- tended of a character that it would be ridi- culous to describe, 84 the defence of a few barracks. Then followed a general arrest of movam-enta and countermanding of orders. The Ulster Council's statement states that the Third Cavalry Brigade, the Fifth Division, a.nd a force of 10,000 strong from Lichfield mi Staffordshire and Alder- shot were to be o^-e-nbrated upon Ulster; and the Sixth Eft vision in Ireland moved up in the roar of tbe Fifth, whilst the naval force was to establish a blockade, the police were to r-aid tar4* depots and seize the Ulster Unionist headquarters, and the naval and military forces were to aasist them to criifsh any armed resistance that might be offered. This Lester theory of an aggressive movement by a grea.t bodv of troops and a powerful naval detachment fits far more precisely to the facte named above than the Government declaration that there was, upon the other hand, a limited and defermve movement, in which the element ra.v&l co-operation was ab- Hurd. What we do not know is the natua-e of the transactions between Sir Arthur Paget and the Cabinet on Maroh 18th and 19th, and between him and his subordinate generale at Dublin later; what.fommunioa- fcionss pa.ed between Mr. Chttrchill and AdmiraJ Bayley, leading the latter to antici- pate bad weather"; besides the decisions come to at the Cabinet meetings on March 11th and 13th. Tie Ministry refuses to lift the veil of aecZ-tfy; and them have been an extraordinaary missbar of evasive, incon- aiatent. ajid simply dishonourable action* upon their part. There is the incident of the repudiated guarantees given to General Gougi by Colonel Seely, who resigned when the Cabinet hrokg, his pledged word, and by Lord • Morlay, who remains in the Cabinet. Them is the incident of Lord Haldane, who toF to" House of Lords that "no ord ers, .wer jjjwied, no orders will be wfliiftdt, .aiid no uu&x ijife ifeioMI for the coercion of Ulster" and the next day altered the printed, report of the speech to read "immediate coercion." There is the incident of Mr. McKenna, who said on April 2nd that every telegraphic message or written communication (eight in all) had been published; whilst on April 23rd 55 of these oomnmnicattons w-ere printed in a Government White Paper. There is the difficulty of andaratand ing Mr. Asquith's statement on March 2?«rd that no movement on the part of the Cavalry Brigade was ever contemplated; of recon- ciling it with the indisputable fact that the offieoers of the brigade were asked to choose between two alternatives. 1'f no orders w-erre to be given them, why raise the ques- tion of their readiness to obey or other- wise, at a,H? In face of this record of facts and the extreme roticence of the Gummment- which recalls the difficulty with which the truth about the Marconi incident was dragged from their lips—there are grave and weighty reasons for an enquiry into the change against the Government, that before the possibilities of agreement were exhausted they sought to resort to force that they were within an ace of provoking the frreatest traigedy that British history would have known for centuries that they would have drenched the soil of Ulster with the blood of loyal men, who had broken no law, whose everv act had hitherto passed unchallenged bv the Government, whose worst "crime" is that they sought government from Lon- don and not subjection to Dublin. ————— —————

The remark-able balancw-sheet of the Swansea Rugby Club for tne season 1913-14 justifies the comment that a drastic reversal of financial policy will be demanded in the future failing great and unexpected changes in the popular support forthcoming. The club is shown as living upon and rapidly eat- ing up the balance accumulated in past days when there was no competitor in the field. This cannot continue indefinitely. The club commenced the sewn with glOBD in hand by the close this had dwindled to £ 634. The salient features are the decline in foot- baU receipts from 23,900 to BI,979 the great disproportion betwn the receipts from cricket— £ 138 were taken at the gates, of which a single match accounted for £ 54— and the outlay, which was aome 2630 in ex- oess; and the remarkable expensivene-ss of running an amateur club, which paya JC60 in rent, against some PODD net in the case of its Association rival, nd has no weekly wages bill of L75 during the season to meet, 'I whilst the Association club has to cope with most of ,the items of outlay, notably for tra- velling, that have to be defrayed by the Rugby organisation. The result of the year's working has been instructive concern- ing what may be anticipated in the future, with a searching competition in progress be- tween the two codes. The football expenses mounted to £1,893, and the geneTal expenses to 2365, a total of £ 2,256. The football receipts were 11,979, and general receipts B75, a total of £ 2,054. There is a deficit cf JE200 in round numbers. This ix aerious in itself, but not very gTavely disquieting, in view of the field that, is open for the activities of an economist in reduc- ing the expenditure; the chances of obtain- ing an exceptional gate from a star team of visitors, and the circumstance that for a period last season the fortunes of the All Whites were at a low tbb. The disquieting factor is the tremendpus disparity between cricket receipts and outgoings. There is nothing to indicate that the growth of cricket, as a reneriue-yielding- pastime, is going to be otherwise than slow and tedious in the future. Last teason. setting aside a single ntatch with Mr. ScwelTs XI., the gite takings of £ 84 isitrely covered the o(wt of stock (of which the football and cricket ing branches alike require an astonishing imount), £ 79; or meet the expense of the groundsmen, £ 75 or, taken in conjunction with the receipts from the match specified, amount to little more than half the wages of the prC&sfjsionals, £ 298. The footb-Ilde- fisjtm«aifc did not pay its way last year, j wfaieb is bot, unlikely to be a typical year 34, • far experience of Association competition goes, hut with cricket as a millstone around its neck the prospects are gtbomy. I As against the possibility of windfalls ii-om vie its of teamp such as the South Afri- cans, New Zeaianders, and so on, there has le be set the chance of the Association, team --ueugtaerung its hold upon the local public jV securing promotion and bringing the own within the orbit of the first-cla&s T-eams, who command sn interest wider spreaa ,nan Rugby. Another season similar to tho ,&1, ana a situation will arise calling for I a reewisideration of policy. It is not, how- ever, particularly profitable to dilate upon ..he very striking disparity between the jj7,000 that is now computed to be a con- etervative estimate of the takings of the Swansea. Town Aseociation Club and the .&:2,200 obtained from season tickets and gate .axings by the Rugby Club. There were, it must be recollected, nearly double the number of Association matches I played at. home aa against the total of such iiugby games, and the second line of the Aseociation team further brought in an appreciable revenue. Probably a great num- oer of fcpectators attended Association matches in the absence of home Rugby fix- lures, or upon other days than Saturdays. It is not unlikely that Association enlists „ he support of a certain number of patrons who were indifferent to Rugby, besides (hawing a number of former Rugby ad- herents away. The disappearance of nearly all the figures in local Rugby who formerly held the tickle affections of the crowd tends further to lessen the support that was forth- coming in the paet. The loyal Old Gruard of Rugby would, however, be wise to as- sume, m considering the financial pros pects of the team, that Association competition will become even more stringent in coming seasons, and though the caprices and vagaries of football spectators render prophecy most unsafe, the incontestable fact remains that I the loss upon cricket would tax the re- sources of the most flourishing organisation I that had no rivals in its bid for public pat- ronage.

I The local observances of "May Day," or I of a convenient approximate date, seem to be falling into desuetude. A few hundred of the miners marched in a demonstration that, in point of numbers and array, was the reverse of imposing, at Swansea, on Sat- urday, but the vast majority clearly pre- ferred to treat it as a holiday, and perhaps turned it to the more profitable use in doing I -so. The gist of the speeches at the suc- ceeding meeting was that a number of fresh I demamds were to be formulated by the min- ers. As the coalowners are determined to bear no burden that they cannot pass on to the consumer, the public may have to re- coDcile themselves to the prospect of dearer coal. This is not a thing to be regarded with enthusiasm, as there are considerable classes who feel the stress of living more hardly than colliers, though they risk life and limb much the less and work in dav- light instead of. dark. The consumer is usually supposed to extend all good wishes to efforts of this section or that to get as much money as it can, but it is to bedoubt- ed whether this amiable and altruistic con- cern is always exercised on the part of the large bodies of people who feel acutely the coat of a rise mother price of such av arr.IC as coal, and do not possett the eame power as the colliers, w ho are very well able to I' look after themselves, to ease the strain upon their puree. At the meeting that succeeded the miners' parade at Swansea it was notified that else- where in the- coalfield applications for exemp- j tion from the Parliamentary levy had been sent in by the hundred. Such a fact proves the necessity for the legislation that was called forth by the Osborne judgment. It is an odious thing to foroe a man to contri- bute against his will to the support of poli- I tical principles in which he does not believe, but in the Socialistic labour movement such a thing has been contemplated with com- placence, though recent ballots have shown that in the case of the miners the number of men who are hostile to the idea of subsidis- ing a Parliamentary propaganda, and of those who are passively indifferent to- it, largely exceeds those who are ready to sup- port it. White in other important unions the majority of men take so little interest in the entire question that they do not even trouble to scratch an "X" upon the ballot- paper. The multiplication of levies for one purpose and another is making the support of the Labour movement deciaodly burden- some to the men in some cases, and South Wales eolliers recently showed ip unmistak- able fashion that there are limits to their j patience with the financial demands made upon them. Mr. Snowden, the principal speaker at the meeting, dilated upon the iniquity of Trades Unionists voting for Liberalism or Toryism. It is a plain fact, however, that the Labour party suffers from lack of ap- preciation from this very class to the ex- tent that Mr. Snowden considers its due, and in the especial district in which h spoke on Saturday, he could discover if he liked that a liberal infusion of a "capitalist" poli- tical doctrine was requited to make his parti- cular brand of jtolitical faith aooeptable. The docility of the Labour party in the House 01 Commons to the Liberals, who are tf a conspicuous degree a capitalist, and plutocratic party, is notorious. It would be a very simple-minded mortal who could be taken in by the sham campaigning of the Labour party upon the platform in the country against the Ministerialists whom they so loyally and unwaveringly support in Parliament. It is a support that they carry to such a degree that Labour members themselves, are furious with Army officers who, as they de- clare, refused to obey ord ers that might in- volve the shooting-down of Ulstermen who are, tens of thousands of them, Trades Unionists and working-men as good as any t) be found in Mr. John Ward's constitu- ency. It is a thousand pities it does not occur to Mr. Ward to endeavour to persuade the shipbuilders and mill hands of Belfast of the iniquity they are committing that, is held to justify military suppression. He might have occasion to be grateful for the HAtraint enforced by the discipline of the Ulster Volunteers. Belfast is not, a salu- brious spot at present for Labour members, who are betraying and deserting the work- ing-mon of Belfast—where there are 45,000 Trades Unionists—for thirty pieces of silver --in this case, £ 8 a week

A relief of the rates Budget aummar "A relief of the ra.tes Budet IJUmmar. i.?3 the proposals made by Mr. Moyd George on Monday in making the introduc- ticii of what, may prove to be the last of his Budgets for a considerable time. His projects are upon a sweeping, and a quite un- expectedly sweeping, scale. The reoent De- eartmental Commission upon the relation of local and so-called Imperial taxation reoom-I m?nded grants amounting to some 24,700,009 i i reiief of m'?nicipalities who hardlv kaow in what direction to turn to meet tbe rap- idly-increasing demands upon their ratable capacity, with the State multiplying burdens that were sufficiently oumerous before it in- tervened. The Chancellor give double that, amount—thrice IlE -srsuch as he had been uredite? with intending to contribute in maay sred'Me forcotx?. ?U told, nearly .?Q??QOO L' to be {orthoc'mng to ef?e the premRire upon ttie rateM)-er,- co 'thA oountrv-, -tv: •• an amount estimated to be equivalent to a ninepenny rate, striking an average. But it will be some time yet before it will be pos- sible to work out the extent to which de- finite localities will benefit, and the relief in certain places promises to be much less than wiU obtain elsewhere. The Chancellor is in no way gifted with capacity for concise and lucid statement, and it is not easy for the moment to diss- tangle his meaning from his statements. He had to meet expenditure of £ 205,600,000 with an income of f.200,650,000, and could not rely upon a recurrence of the reiuarkafcl; good fortune of last year, when the revenue increased about fifty per cent. in excess of his calculations. His errors of estimating are invariably upon the grand scale, and fr once in a way they have turned out to th< national profit. With a deficit of five mil lions he now undertakes to expend near!; ten millions upon the relief of the rate The money is to be found by guper-taxe: upon income-tax beyond £ 6,000 a year: re-graduation of the income-tax and an i crease of the death duties, which are to tak in the case of the millionaire's estates up i one-fifth of the total amount bequeathed. This will accelerate the process of breaking up the country's capital and distributing it in expenditure; an exhausting process, com- parable to opening an artery of the financial lifeblood of the land, and one whose evil ef- fects, though obscure, are likely to be felt even by the who never dreamed the con-, sequences could 'touch them. The net effect of the new revenue pro- posa.ls is still further to divorce the money- owners and money-spenders in Parliament, and to foster a spirit of financial irresponsi- bility and recklessness. Another ominous feature of the new local grants to be financ- ed by tha super-tax, new graduations, and i  ,it the sums to inereased death duties, is that the sums to be paid into the local exchequers from the National Treasury are to be employed as a lever to strengthen the power of the cen- tralised bureaucracy in London over, muni- cipalities and kindred bodies, which fondly imagine that they are "self-governing," and will in reality be helplessly under the thumb of the satellites of Whitehall, who— and not the ratepayera-will be the real dic- tators of policy and directors of municipal administration. "The Government would in- sist upon efficient services in return for their grant they proposed to use the grant to put pressure upon local authorities to carry out their duties efficientlv "-thew were amongst the phrases iisa by this enemy of municipal liberty. The civic birth-right is to be bartered for A mess of pottage; and even with the prof- fered bribe, tempting though it is. there will be those to protest against the principle implied, which makes a mock of the "local self-government" that is rapidly becoming the only form of government in this country that is really amenable to democratic con- trol. Swansea itself has had in recent years bitter experience of t!? &ubordioati?'n to London officialdom thAt Is the consequence of th e fJY8tem,})n p ?, 5.'8upe.rviSi!)lfand: f???}.f??- '??%?M? aM Mr. Uo.yd ? Cõrte contempi?tM a far greater extM8i11 of thi? encroachment upon loctl popular liberties by a bureauracywhich verv few Ministers have the ca-pacity or force of char- flcter effectively to curb. The grants that are projected represent the fulfilment of a promise that has been deferred until there had been created an incredulity as to, whether it would ever be redeemed. It is less a concession that is talked about than the payment of a debt. For years past, al- most concurrently with the advent of the Ministry to office and since, there has been a constant stream of legislation casting bur- don upon burden on the ratepayer, whose administration has been turned into a local agency for executing the edicts of Parlia- ment, which has been passing laws impps- ing obligations with a supreme indifference as to who is to pay for carrying them out. In the future, the Chancellor contem- plates adding about two million pounds to the subventions already made in respect to main roads arid the Poor Law a new public health grant of some four million pounds, in the first year; and 2i millions for educa- tion, besides special amounts for open-air schools (of which Swansea has been one of the pioneers), and technical, secondary, and higher education. Half the cost of feeding the children, and a similar proportion of the cost of the police, are to be met from the Exchequer. A considerable total of the money that it is suggested to vote is appar- ently to be devoted to the combatting of disease in various forms. With a national outlay of 005 millions—considerably exceed- I ing the war-time expenditure at the height of the South African con1licnd local au- thorities' outlay in a recent year of 167 mil- lions, of which 25 millions were found by Government contributions, the national and local administration of the country is now costing at least £ 372,000,000 a year, or some B8 per head of population. The features of the Budget are the re- striction of its main proposals to the relief of the rates; involving the diminution of the power of the local authorities and the aggrandisement of the London officialdom; the casting of the consequent burden upon the higher gradtss of incomes and a shrewd electioneering appeal to the multitude of I citizens who have felt the atrain of liveli- hood sharpen severely in rat" well as taxes under a regime that some of them imagined years ago to have been synony- mous with "retrenchment." Mr. Lbyd George strikes a note that oalls the atten- tion of the electorate to what it will not, be called upon to pay in rates, and what it will not, the bulk of -it, be called upon to pay in taxes. It s the time-honoured pro- cess of taking from the right-hand pocket to fill the aching void in the left. But be j ;t a rate or be it a tax, every penny of out- lay comes from somebody s pocket at the least; and it is a delusion of delusions to imagine that the miltioiuwbt3 do not pay i any variety of income tax will be immune from the consequences. Tho pinch may be II felt in a decreased ability to pay more wages, from pockets depleted by taxes, and upon which the grip is now to be the stronger, because there is the knowledge that with death there will follow a partial confiscation by the State. But, whoever pays now. and whoever pays in the long run, even the superficially rich are. it is to be appre- hended, neither so altruistic nor so simple! minded as to be disposed so bear the brunt I of the burden exclusively upon their own I shoulders.

The Empire advertisement, "Step This Way," with the gay lady in green and white tights frolicking about, blazed resplendent horn a Swansea hoarding this week in most peculiar proximity to a Jarge-type poster an- nouncing that the Rev. Mr. was due i to preach at a certain charel I J i The Swans' directorate cau console them j selves with the fact that for & club of the calibre of Manchester United to have to come to a two-year old organ isation for players; And pay a heavy transfer fee for ore of them, speaks volumes fur the name the team has made {or itself in English football ci'cle*.

I There were a few budding "White Liopes at Jh. Joseph's inui ou Tfouxauay 4!1g.&1.t. A roof advertisement at Swansea is mob .jpervious to the sag/it snowera we had on «$> i|i i^fcidj. ♦ The statement that Stoetty is Swansea"* Dost important autMirb had oetter 00 mada .1 a .\iormiou trauuear. 'lhat e a.U. ^»s-S>s-S £ Across one private house in the centre of Swansea ha-a p,.ü pauiuea a Wge aaverlise- iiieni, Wny not wciue toe CLAIUA-ey puttif "D. Murraga" wrl.Whoselect.ed tbe iJocfts1 cauuiuates for seats on the commit- c-ee of tne owauaea Cricket and FooUJatt And icr wnat puipose?" "hit Swans' supporters as they left the Vetch Field on Thursday evening after tneir team nad deleated iUuiwall by (arte goals to iiotmng Now, why the A hillside visitor was considerably startled by the thunder. But it wasn't, aid me ex- pj; (*i was three heavy motor lorries pass- ing t/irough Casiie-street togetner. «$f. It is said that tne satest place to carry your valuables is in the heels of your booto, which can be specially adapted. But what i,hout some of the Swansea gratings? "IIP The Brynmill Softool Swimming Club ia supportea ny voluntary eubscn^uons. Oub- scnoers have the consolation of knowing tne numher of young "water-rats'" are yearly met easing. -< s > ><<, It was the "nut" who helped her to get on. But it was the elegantly (tressed "lady" who scowled at the poorly clad old dame who at the sudden start of the tramcaj in- adverieiHiy jostled her. ♦<H>< ♦ ♦' In the Brynmill School swimming gala the youngsters in the gallery made no pre- tence about their "preferences." "Go on, Ivor," "00 on Albert," "Go on, >" well, the shouts were simply deafening. Jim Driscoll received a great reception at St. Joseph's Hall, Swansea, on Thursday night, and his kindn tl coming forward to help such a good cause will long be re- lIlftlnad by the Catholics of Greenhill. Mr. Frank Beaman, th.- ,,i -olven repre- sentative of tho 'Daily poig" !I,, the, lisr, of attendaivej ,f the Nesth Rufal rnt Cotincii, of which he is a valued member, with 70 attendances to his credit for the past year. The Carmarthenshire Health Committee has decided that only 250 copies'of the an- nual report of the c-oiintv nwdical officer be ordered in future, instead of 400. Perhaps they feel they have been getting too much of a good thing. HereV a cimnce tor. Swansea's gparts. Boxes for Epsom week are to bte had for from 45 to 75 guineas each. But," so the advertisement states, "early application is necessary on account of the American de- mand. '5 So hurry! What can one expect after "PV gma'ion" Why, at the Hene Castle Board of Trado inquiry that naughty word was graphically used in the witness-box by the blunt-spoken deA bund, and was duly taken up by the solicitor to the Board of Trade. When during the evening one can listen *W RachmanmoiTs "Prclug" 11 an exoerpt from a Tschaikowsky "Rhapsodic" and Men- delseohn'a "Spring Song" at a variety hall, it must be accepted that art indeed has its place in the modern music -hall. -("Trom- i bone"). «>♦»»»♦ Tbp h-oelegant young ladies from an up- town emporium who, in the course of a Thursday a1temooll' f stron pier-wMds. happened on a "rough up" between a couple of trawlermen who were settling a dispute in a manner thev have around t.b:e market," apparently enjoyed the experi- ence. A Strang, healthy chicken, with four legs, has been hatched on the premises of Mr. Seth Raby, Marble Hall-road.. The egg from which the bird was hatched was of peculiar shape. On Thursday the chick was trampled on by the other chicks and died. Al" i This is how a correspondent writes in an American journal When Greek meets Greek it's a tug-of-war, but when Cymra meets Cymro it is Bydd myrdd o rytedd- odau,' and so it was in Bisbee this night. Hymn-singing was enjoyed until the close of the midnight watches." A voung mamed man at the Upiands told his inends that hM married life is not all sunshine. His wife wanted him to get up m. the middle of the night to taJre the clothes off the line as she feared it was go- ing to rain. "That is," he says, "what you mcght call throwing a wet blanket on matri- monial hs.ppiae.ss." If the younger men were given to despis- ing the work of the past in Wales, them would be some excuse for these snarlings of those whose work is open to all now to judge. But, both in public utterance and j in the press, appreciation of the work of past Welsh composers is cliaracteristic of aU the younger men who think. It is n&- tural that the vices of even more experienced modern composers should appear in the work of young WelAmen. There are &W Eng- lish composers of eminence, whose original- ity and daring is admitted, who can still profitably sit at the feet of the giants of music."—(Dr. D. V, Puglian, Thomas in "'Th* Welsh Outlook. ") Two "ladies" were having a heated dia- logue in one of the humble thoroughfares of Swansea, discourses which contained san- guinary threats of summary vengeance, Wl. flattering allusions to relatives past and pre- sent, avowals oftentimes renewed as to ability to dissect portions of eoch other's in. ternal anatomies, references to each other's clothes, packmen, furniture, and other per- sonal matters too numerous to mention. As every syllable in the "swear vocabulary" had been used up and the principals in the debate were breathless, the onlookers began to move off, whan one of the feminine orators suddenly "sparked up" and, looking her opponent majestically up and down, remark- ed with crushing finality, "Well, what I says is was t (