Llangollen Advertiser Denbighshire Merionethshire and North Wales Journal

THE death is announced, in Liverpool, of Mr- John Morris, formerly of Rhyl. Mr. Morris was for years publisher of the Rhyl Record and 3 Dywysogaeth. The Welsh Church is deeply in- debted to him for his enterprise as a publisher of Church literature. Nor should we in this con- nection forget a kindly reference to the memory of Giraldus, who was a most prolific Church writer. Alltud Eivion is also a writer and pub- lisher who has done much for the Church. What has the Church done for them? IN the current number of Y C'erddor, Mr. David Jenkins, Mus. Bac., pleads strenuously, and with much reason, for an equitable recognition of music as one of the subjects for study in the new county education schemes. He maintains that if Wales has shown that it can produce anything of value, it has done so in music, which has a fertile soil in Wales, and is worth being cultivated and developed." He urges upon the friends of music who are members of Welsh public bodies to insist that its claims should be recognised, so that Welsh youths may have the same oppor- tunities to develop their musical talents as the Germans have. ♦ ■ IF a man fails to achieve fame by the labour of a lifetime, it is within his reach by living until his hundredth birthday. The German illustrated papers give portraits and memoirs of two persons who have become eminent by this easy and simple process. The widow Frau Barboser Midler, of Munich, has just died in her 101st year. The old woman enjoyed bodily and mental freshness to the last, and on her 100th birthday was grati- fied by receiving a congratulatory bouquet from the Prince Regent Luitpold. The veteran soldier Gottfried Gornpel, of the village of Reipsich, near Merseberg, is another instance of South German longevity. He has just entered upon his 102nd year, and is still a lively and vigorous man. His birthday was made the occasion of a local festival, and the old gentleman received a present from the Emperor. AN important point of law was decided on Monday by the Lord Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Collins, and the wonder is that it should so long have been left in doubt, for it is one that must many a time have attracted attention since the Act in question was passed. The origin of the appeal which has just been heard related to certain convictions of a person at Eastbourne for keeping a room or office for the purpose of betting, and where bets were made, but without, in the case referred to, any deposit of money. It was argued that as no money was paid in advance the conviction relating to such an alleged offence could not be sustained. From the judgment it is certain that the appeal against both the convic- tions failed, and that betting in a house or in a room specially kept for nt,) purpose, whether deposits are made or not, L illegal. But clubs unfortunately would appear to be exempt from this law, otherwise Tattersall's and other aristo- cratic institutions would have to close. THE movement for the recognition of the Welsh language as a subject of academic study is leading to some important results even outside the Prin- cipality. The latest development in this direction is one which will be very gratifying to a large class of Welsh students. The Conjoint Board of Medical Education in Scotland has decided to admit Welsh as a modern language in the preli- minary examination. In view of the large number of Welsh students who pursue their medical studies at the Scotch Universities, this concession on the part of the Conjoint Board is one of con- siderable importance to Wales. The following is the syllabus of examination as approved by the Board :—1. Grammar: Equivalent to Dewi Mun's "Grammadeg Cymraeg." 2. Two texts: "YstGn Sioned," by Canon Silvan Evans, or any equiva- lent text at the candidate's option, and Ceiriog's Oriau'r Hwyr." 3. Translation of an English passage into Welsh. 4. Writing a short essay or a letter in Welsh upon one out of a given list of subjects. » THE Elementary Education (School Attendance Act) of 1893 comes into operation on Monday next (January 1st). By that Act no child will henceforth be allowed to be absent from efficient elementary instruction or be taken into employ- ment before he reaches the age of 11. Between the ages of 11 and 13 he will be allowed to be partially or wholly absent from school if he passes the standard for total or partial exemption pre- scribed by the bye-laws of the district. The Act orders that in all existing bye-laws wherever the word ten occurs eleven shall be substituted. It will not, therefore, be absolutely necessary for local authorities (School Boards and School Attendance Committees) to re-enact bye-laws for their districts, but, in any revision of bye- laws which may henceforth be proposed for approval by the Education Department and sanctioned by the Queen in Council, the term 11 will be substituted for 10. The department have, therefore, revised their model form of bye-laws to meet all cases where any revision is proposed for their approval. These bye-laws provide for the attendance of all children between 5 and 13 at school, unless the child is under efficient instruction in some other manner, or is prevented from attending school by sickness, or when there is no public elementary school open within a distance not exceeding three miles from the residence of such child. If a child between 11 and 13 obtains a certificate that he has passed the standard for total or partial exemption he also will be partially or totally exempted from school attendance. Nothing in the bye-laws may prevens the withdrawal of any child from any religiout observance or instruction in religious subjects; they may not require any child to attend school on any day exclusively set apart for any religious observance by the "religious body to which its parent belongs, nor have the bye-laws any force or effect if contrary to anything contained in any Act for regulating the education of a child employed in labour. It will thus be seen that a child must not merely comply with the bye-laws regulating his attendance at school, but that he is subject also to the Factory and Workshop Acts and must attend school wherever these latter Acts -require as a condition of employment partial attendance at school. AN important case as affecting the carriage of timber over roads has been decided. The action was brought by the Boncarth Highway Board against a Mr. E. Robinson, and the decision was on two points in his favour, and against him on the third. It was held by the magistrates that the timber trade was an industry of the district, and that, therefore, it was not extraordinary traffic, and consequently that no extra charge could be made upon him. On the other hand it was decided that he had, as regards some of his vehicles, carried heavier weights than timber merchants usually carry, and he had to pay a certain sum on that account, but without costs. The Boncarth Board will now have to metal and maintain their roads in such a condition as to render them fit to carry the said timber traffic. LOCAL AND DISTRICT. Messrs. Birch and Williams, Cherry Tree, Llan- gollen, won the prize offered at the Ruthin Christmas Show for the best pen of game fowls (open to North Wales), as well as that offered for any other variety. Mr. Vernon Stanley Jones, son of the Rev. John Jones, headmaster of Ystrad Meurig School, and King's scholar of Eton College, has just won a scholarship of the value of over one thousand pounds at King's College, Cambridge. He is now just 18 years of age. Our readers will remember that he is the boy who won the Eton Scholarship some four years and a half ago (when under 14 years of age), straight from Ystrad Meurig School. A meeting of the promoters of the Abergele and Pensarn Pier Company was held at Abergele on Friday evening, under the presidency of Mr. William Williams, J.P., Rhyl. Mr. J. Wallis Davies, secretary and solicitor to the company, explained that everything necessary for the formation of a company had been carried out. They had now to consider whether they would construct a new pier or whether it would be advisable to purchase one which was on sale at Douglas. The latter was offered to them for £ 1,200, but the cost of taking it down, the freight, and fixing up again would make a total of £ 2,500, which, however, would be C500 less than the cost of a new pier. In the aggregate the tradesmen of the town paid £4,000 a year in carriage, and as the reduction in the charges for freight would be about one half that charged by the railway company it would bring in the company a yearly revenue of C2,000, thereby saving their customers the other £ 2,000. Calculating upon an income of £1,000, with an expenditure of X-400, and £ 100 to the reserve fund, it would leave them £;)00 available for dividend. There was no doubt that when the pier was constructed it would be the means of developing Abergele and Pensarn to a great extent. After some discussion a committee was appointed to inspect the pier at Douglas and report. We desire to call the attention of our readers to the advantages offered by the scholarships of the Royal College of Music, Kensington Gore, London, of which H.R.Ii. the Prince of Wales is the founder and president. Preliminary examinations for 15 Open iree Scholarships will be held on January 31st in various lc cal centres throughout the United Kingdom. The scholarships will be allotted as follows:— Composition, 3 singing, 3 pianoforte, 2 organ, 1 violin, 1 violoncello, 1 wind instruments, 4. They are each of the value of £ 40 a year, and entitle the holders to a systematic free education in music, and are as a rule tenable for three years. In some cases maintenanco is added. Further information and forms of application can be obtained on application to Dir. George Watson, registrar. Royal College of Music, Kensington Gore, London, S.W. The fifth annual Eisteddfod Caer was held on Boxing Day, and attracted a considerable number of persons to the ancient city. Col. H. T. Brown took the chair at the first meeting, while the evening meeting was presided over by Mr. B. C. Roberts, J.P. Mr. Emlyn Evans adjudicated in the musical contests, and the other adjudicators included Hwfa Mon (poetry) and Prof. Anwyl (translations). The two prizes offered for translations were won by Mr. D. Jones, Nantglyn Board Schools. The best eng- lynion on football were adjudged to have been written by Mr. H. M. Hughes, now of New York, but formerly of Glynceiriog. The best tenor voca- list was Mr. Edward Lloyd, of Llanfyllin the best baritone Mr. Arthur Davies, of Cefn Mawr and the best soprano Miss Hannah Jones, Bwlchgwyn. Mr. William Roberts (Gwilym Ceiriog), Llangollen, was announced as the winner of a prize of £ 2 for a poem on The Garden." The chief interest centred in the choral compe- titions. That for male voices attracted as many as seven entries, but only five put in an appearance- namely, the Birkenhead Apollo Choir (conductor, Mr. Thomas Peters) the Cefnmawr Choir (conduc- tor, Mr. G. W. Hughes) the Llanarmon Choir (con- ductor, Mr. J. D. Lloyd) the Penycae Choir (con- ductor, Mr. J. Owen Jones) and the Rhos Choir (conductor, Mr. R. Mills). The test piece was The Crusaders," by D. Prothero,which received a splendid interpretation at the hands of two of the choirs, but the Cefnmawr Choir were adjudged the better, and to them went the Duke of Westminsters prize of ten guineas. The chief choral contest for a prize of £20 and a silver-mounted baton lay between the AcrefairChoral Society (conductor, Mr. J. T. Gabriel), the Cefnmawr Choral Society (conductor, Mr. G. W. Hughes), and the Oswestry Philharmonic Society (conductor, Mr. John Roberts). Each choir numbered 70 voices, the test chorus being the" Hallelujah;" from Beethoven's Mount of Olives." A grand contest resulted in a victory for the Oswestry choir. Miss Jones, of Talvbont, a lady who has spent seven years as a missionary in China under the auspices of the London Missionary Society, and who is soon to return to her much-loved work amid the teeming population of that distant Western empire, gave a resume of her voyage out, the religions of the people, and her experience, to an audience that filled the Penllyn (Llangollen) Mission Room, on Tuesday evening. Miss Jones spoke in an earnest, though unassum- ing manner, directing frequent appeals to the sympathies and consciences of her hearers, whose attention she captivated for over an hour. The statistics she adduced were striking. There were some fourteen hundred labourers in the field. but out of a population estimated at 500.000,000, 34,000 only were Christians while it would have occupied the whole population, formed in single file, and close together as possible, sixteen years to pass a given point, all the Christians would have filed past in a single day In appealing to the audience to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the myriads of Chinamen who lived in ignorance of their Saviour, she declared that the sacrifice on her part would now be to remain in this country. The other speakers were the Rev. W. Foulkes and Messrs. R. Evans (Walton School) and J. Davies (Ty Coch). It is most probable that ere long we shall have the pleasure of chronicling the departure of two young ladies from the Penllyn Mission Room for foreign mission fields, either in India or China. The Llangollen fair was very small on Tuesday, on account of the Christmas market being over. The stock comprised but few cattle and pigs and very few sheep. The workmen employed on the Plas-yn-Vivod estate, to the number of sixty, were treated by Capt. Best to a Christmas dinner, that has- now become an annual event, at the Eagles Hotel, on Saturday. When it is said that the catering of Miss Davies was equal to that of former occasions, a high tribute is paid to the future hostess of this old-established hotel. Mr. R. Evans, the bailiff, occupied the chair, while the vice-chairman was Mr. B. Curtiss, the head-gardener. Captain Best, R.N., of Plas-yn-Vivod, has again this Christmas, in accordance with his customary benevolence, cheered the hearts and brightened the hearths of the poor in the town and neighbourhood- with gifts of coal, the distributor being Mr. Chas, Williams, coal merchant. The order of services and preachers at the various places of worship of Llangollen and neighbourhood for next Sunday are as follow Parish (St. Colien's) Church: Holy Communion (p'ain) at 3 a.m.; Litanv and Sermm, followed by 2nd Celebration (Welsh) at" 10 a.m.. Matins and Sermon at 11 30 a.m.: First Evensong and Catechising at 3 30 p.m.; Second Evensong- and Sermon at 6 p.m. Rev. Enoch Rhys James B.D., vicar; the Revs. Henry E. Thomas, B.A. (senior), and T. J. Roberts, B.A. curates. St. John's (Welsh) Church (Abbey-road): Evensong at 6 p.m. Llantysilio Church: English services every Sunday at 11 15 a.m.: also from Whit-Sunday to October (inclusive) at 3 15 p.m. Holy Communion on 1st Sunday in the month. Walsh services at 10 15 a.m. and 6 p.m. Holy Communion on 3rd Sunday in the month. Rev. J. S. Jones, B.A. (Cantab.), vicar. St. Thomas's Church (GHyndyirdwy) Welsh service and sermon at 10 a.m. English service and sermon at II a.m. Sunday school at 2 p.m. Welsh service (sermon) at 6 p.m. Holy Communion, 1st Sunday in the month. Rev. John Evans, vicar. Rehoboth Calvinistic Methodist Chapel: sermons at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. by the Rev. W. Foulkes, pastor. Haglish Baptist Chapel (Penybryn) sermons at 10 30 a.m. and 6 p.m. by the Rev. Lewis Morris, Oldham. English Wesleyan Chapel (Market-street): sermons at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. by the Rev, J. Renshaw, Llangollen. Welsh Baptist Chapel: sermons at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. by the Rev. I1. Williams, pastor. Welsh Wesleyan Chapel: sermons at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. by the Rev. Isaac Jones, Llangollen. Congregational Chapel (Church-street): sermons at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. by the Rev. R. Williams (Hwfa Mon), pastor. Mission Room (Brook-street): sermons at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. by the Rev. W. Williams, Brymbo. -+- The members of the Llangollen Band of Hope held their weekly meeting on Saturday evening at the Girls' School, East-street, under the presidency of Mr. Levi Roberts. The meeting was opened with an address by the chairman, followed by songs by Messrs. Thos. Hughes, J. Thos. Jones, R. T. Jonc-s, Levi Roberts, Misses Nellie Hughes, and Jane Jones, also recitations by Missss A. G. Roberts and M. Roberts. --+- A rather exciting football match was played on the Cricket Field, on December 25th, between the Llangollen Shop Assistants and the Llangollen Red Rovers. The Shop Assistants won the toss and played with the wind in their favour for the first half and managed to put two goals in before half time. The second half of the game was entirely changed, the Rovers having it all their own way and scored two goals in a very short time. They were, however, unable to score again until near the end. when one more goal was added to their score. This proved too much for the disheartened Shop Assistants, who showed the white feather by going off the field before time was up. The result was- Red Rovers 3, and Shop Assistants 2. Last Friday evening the newly-formed Liberal Association for Cyssylltau and Trevor 'Issa met in the Baptist Chapel, Garth. Mr. Hugh Davies, A.C.. vice-president of the association, presided, and much business of a preliminary character was transacted. The most important proceeding porh«j)C! htqo thp Hivirtino- +1,.0 .-< divisions, appointing canvassers in each, and at the next meeting, to be held at Vroncyssylltau, the report of the canvassers, with list of would-be members, &c., will be submitted. Three weeks ago, a boatman named John Probert, from the Pant, was missing. He left home with a woman and child in charge of a boat for Black Park Colliery. When near the Bridge Inn, Chirk, he left the boat and went to the inn, where he had a pint of beer, and was refused more. He, however, never returned to the boat, and the woman went on without him. As it was supposed that deceased was working a boat between Chester and Manchester, no search was made. On Tuesday morning. a boatman named Henry Maxfielfl. of St. Martins Moors, belonging to the boat Live and Let Live," was passing through the tunnel with his boat when he found the body of the man floating in the water in an advanced state of decom- position. and had him removed by the police to outbuildings near the Hand Hotel. The parishioners of Hawarden have decided to present an address to the Rev. Hy. Drew, the curate, who is leaving for the Cape of Good Hope in the second week in January, to take ministerial duties there, and also to erect some appropriate object in the parish church to commemorate his association with it for the past ten years. The rev. gentleman will have charge of the parish of Claremont, about six miles from Capetown. A stained-glass window erected to the memory of the late Charlotte Andrew of Plasnewydd and Wenffrwd, near Llangollen, was unveiled and dedi- cated at Trevor Church, yesterday week, by the Rev. Canon Fletcher of Wrexham. The window, which was erected in Llantysilio Church in 18G4, has recently been removed to Trevor Church, where the lady in whose memory it is erected formerly worshipped. The subject is Timothy reading the Scriptures, with Eunice and Lois on either side. It is the work of Mr. Ballandine of London. After the unveiling a few appropriate prayers were said by the Rev. Canon Fletcher, and the morning service was read by the Vicar of Trevor, the Rev. H. T. Owen, and a sermon was preached by the Rev. Canon Fletcher from II. Timothy iii. 15. He said that the window suggested two thoughts, the study of Holy Scripture and the faith of Eunice and Lois, and it was to the former of these he would direct the attention of the congregation. He then spoke of Holy Scripture as being the inspired revelation of God; it had two sides, human and divine, and God did not destroy the individuality of the writer, although He inspired him with the Holy Spirit. Next he spoke of the reason why the Bible is received, the Old Testament on the authority of the Jewish Church, and the New Testament on the authority of the Christian Church. The preacher then enlarged on the Church being the interpreter and witness of the Bible, and as explaining what the true meaning of the Bible is, and concluded with a few practical observations upon the right use of Holy Scriptures. In the afternoon the Rev. E. J. Evans of Chirk, preached, and collections at botlv services were in aid of the erection of the window. -+-- Gwilym Evans, the van salesman in custody at Colwyn Bay for uttering a cheque, knowing the same to be forged, was again brought up on Friday, when William Frederick Liffen, outside manager for Messrs. Peek, Frean, and Company, said that the prisoner was engaged by the firm on the 9th September and discharged on December 2nd. He had sent in his resignation to the firm before he was discharged. The firm had received bills from various hotels on account of the prisoner's expenditure to the amount of £4:3 8s. One item of £ 32 14s. Gd. was incurred at the Hesketh Arms,. Abergele, between October 21st and December 2nd.— The prisoner was again remanded.