Evening Express

TKI.KI'HOXU National 502 Post-oSice,9o. TuLKfiKAMS "}[(Lil, Cardiff."

N 0 T E 8 BY "OBSERVER." CARDIFF, Friday Morning. We are all liegiuning to cool down again after the excitement of "Santa Clans," and tiling's are resuming their old familiar aspect. But, as the b" ship leaves her "wake" behind her, so letters and money still come in, tven though the treat is over, and these are, as usual, dealt- with in another column. Is this the kind of weather we are to have at Christmas—a vile concatenation of mud and peasoup? Where is the Yule, immortalised bv Dickens, with its mountains of snow and a glorious glow of jollity o'erepreading every- thing? Nothing more depressing that to turn from this bright picture of the novelist's to the dank and dull reality! "Morien" is at it again. This time he falls foul of ''Punch and Judy. There seems to be no ancient exhibition sacred from 111., assaults of this Druidical old sinner. "Punch and Judy" a Druidic relic, indeed? Hoity- toity and what next, I should like to know. How these Radicals love one another! This morning our contemporary takes Master Frank Beavan by the ear and gives him a most vigorous trouncing, the while talking vaguely about other offenders against the sacred cause, who, if they don't have a csue, will "feel the lash." The dear creature. 1 By tlia wav, Sir Edward Reed is off to the Engadine, there tc benefit by the fine, dry mountain air. \Vhat! after mixing, as he has done, with the "vigorous breezy Radicalism" of Cardiff, is he still iu want of a tome? Strange this, surely, passing strange! We have been having some gruesome sights in our river lately--two decomposed bodies within a week of one another, and a. dead child in the canal. Surely, this should satisfy even the most intense craving after the morbid and the sensational! Do bodies ever float down to the Seit unnoticed and unknown? In the night time, perhaps. The knowledge of this kind of thing scarcely makes one envy the poor patients at Bridgend Asylum, who iu times of drought have to drink the polluted waters of the Ogmore! The water supply of the asylum is very bad; even now thev are on short commons, and at times the patients' baths are in danger of being discon- tinued. Perhaps, it is a merciful providence these poor folk are insane under such circum- stances. The Royal Welsh Ladies' Choir have been having a glorious time up in the North, ana the papers there teem with enthusiastic eulogiums of their singing. Well done, gallant little Wales ? Just as well that outsiders should know your people can do something else be- sides run tithee riots and talk emi-treaonable politics. S;r>The Charity Organisation Society wishes to warn the inhabitants of Cardiff and Newport aoiiins* giving subscriptions to persons collect- ing monev for emigration funds, for homes for foreigners and destitute people, and the like, if their claims are not substantiated by con- nection with a, responsible committee of in- dividuals whose names are known. Even in cases where individuals profess to have received the countenance and support of prominent citizens, the statements should not be accepted without verification by communication with the gentlemen in question, ^r with this society. The societv has epecial cause at this moment to issue this warning.I am, &c., JOHN W. BAKER, Hon. Sec. We. have arrived at the shortest day--or rather days-in the year. The earliest setting and latest rising of the sun do not run con- currently. Thus, on the 29th, 30th, and 31st that luminary rises as late as 3.9 a.m. but its earliest setting—3.49 p.m.lasts from the 8th to the 18th. However, by common consent, to-day, the 21st, is considered the shortest day of tbe year W0 may, therefore, CO:1g-ratu- late ourselves that the worst is almo,t past, and that before long the dark hours will begin to make their gradual exit. In the midst of the wretched meteorological conditions now prevalent, it is amusing to turn to the effusion of a. certain John Collinson, of Tarcroft, Brading;, Mp OF Wight, who writes the editor of the "Pall 3-Jall Gazette" as follow:As the exponent of the latest form of practical meteorology, the. details of which are stated in my book on 'Rainmaking and Sunshine,' I have promised to arrange that, by means of odylie force the present wet weather shall be succeeded by fine: the fine weather to commence on the 19th instant, and to continue during the Christmas holidays, to the 27th of the current month. It may interest many of YOI11' readers to know of thi", and to watch the experiment. Similar experi- ments 11a,ve 1Y2en mad" successfully IJefore. It was bv means of this remarkable force that the tine weather of last Easter and other Bank Holidays was pre-arranged." rill in- clined to fear that something's gone wrong wjth the works—the weather's, of eouriie! The Society for the Protection of Birds (Hill-crest, Redhill) is sending out leaflets in which the claims of the society are urged upon various classes of per:30ns. Boys and girls are entreated to refrain from plucking off the berries which keep the birds from starn1-tion, and boys especially are urged to throw away their catapults. The destruction of birds "for the disfigurement of women's heads" by aigrettes and wings is severely condemned, and boys are asked to combine in opposing the wholesale capture of birds by men who come, mostly on Sundays, with decoys, nets, and poles to devastate the countryside. It is pointed out that real "OSl1reys" in the bonnet, real berries strung in rones or massed in coral branched round church columns, mean slaughtered birds and starving fledglings in summer and heaps of birds dead of hunger in the woods and under the hedges in winter. The substitution of artificial flowers in the one case and of artificial berries in the other would not only save much bird life, but help many poor women hard pressed to find employment. I I have just betu glancing at the Christmas number of the "\Veekl.v Mail," and an exeeI- lent pennyworth has my friend Mr. Padfiekl made up. Several of the tales have been specially written for the paper, including one by Mr. J. A. Eraser, one by Mrs. Austin, another by Mr. Pendleton, and ypt another by Mr. Alexander Baircl, author of "Watts Wraith," "Amaryllis," "Parting Ways," "Criminal Life in an Oriental City," &e. Be- sides the above there is the usual budget of reasonable matter, which cannot fail to please the large circle of readers of this popular family paper. Sir,—Tn reference to swearing :in the Rhondda. a letter on which appeared iu your columns by one of those who actually do swe*r, I don't believe he has furthered his cause by letting the pnmmtmih- know what he is; but I am surprised that he should try and mini- mise Welsh swearing hy saying that profane language jJl the Rlwnctda is mostly all ElIg- lish. Again, in trying to make out a case felf himself, he states that what little Welsh swearing there is comes from the Welsh pul- pit. Well, sir, 1 admit that there is it largt) percentage of English swearing, but there is also a large percentage of \Yehll111elJ who prefer to use it. that is. to swear in English, one of whom, 1 think, is yourlate correspon- dent, the reason of which is inexplicable, save to one who swears. 1-Ie lws tried to prove his case by making fun of those who object to him, and ha- a family of children to rear, would he like toltcar those children speak to him in the manner that he speaks to hi" own companions, or would he like tln-m to call him or his wife some of tho=e hard mimes that he avers are given from the Welsh nulpit. or would he ap- prove of one of them using the foul language that we conummlyliear from those specks of humanity, "the Bristol hoy, hefore h's family, especially the female section, or, if he is not married, would he be scamp enough to use it to his own parents? From the drift or tone of his letter, I should think he would, but, from what T know of Rhoudda families, I am in a doubt. and put down his letter as mere brag. Mv advice to "One Who Swears" is to keep his whereabouts a secret, as the police are on the look out for an escaped lunatic, aim ;t is possible that if they see him they may have him.-—I am, &c.. Ferndale. THOMAS, WILLIAMS.

MR.,j MACLEAN. Initiated Honorary Member of Cardiff CMdfeliows' Lodge. An interesting ceremony "as performed at the Loyal Bute Dock Lodge (No. 3,014) of the Grand United Order of Oddfellows, held at the George. Hotel, Docks, Cardiff, on Thursday evening, Mr. J. 51. Maclean being initiated as an honorary member of the Order, together with, Mr. Councillor Morgan Morgan. Bro. T. J. Lloyd, P.N.G., acted as Noble Grand, and the Vice Grand chair was occupied by Bro. George Gannett, I'.N.G. There were also present Bros. Councillor Hughes, Councillor Gerhold, Dr. Mullin, E. C. Read (permanent secretary), •T. Jones (assistant secretary), P. A. Westlake (warden), J. Davies, I.G., T. H. Luff, O.G., U. C. Parsons, D.M., W. H. Owens, Dis.M., and Rees Harries, W., and among the visitors were Bros. Tapp, I'.N.G. (H. O. Fisher Lodge), Stephens, P.8., A. Warren, I.G., and A. Elweigli (Dumfries Lodge), S. Bater, Sec. (S. A. Brain Lodge), and Bros. Critchard, N.& and S. Andrews. V.G. (Earl of Dumfries Lodge). After the initiation ceremony Bro. Tapp welcomed the two new honorary members into the Order. Bro. Councillor Hughes then, amid loud applause, invested both Mr. Maclean and Mr. Morgan Morgan, and Bro. U. C. Parsons, District Master, presented them with emblems of the Order.—Mr. Morgan Morgan briefly responded. Mr. Maclean, upon rising to acknowledge the honour done him, was received with the greatest cordiajiitfy. Having expressed the pleasure he felt at being initiated thae evening, he ntaae a pathetic reference to the detithofhis esteemed friend, Sir Morgan Morgan, who had been a, member of the Order, and went on to remark that in joining the Loyal Bute Dock Lodge he did not feel that the ceremony he had gone through was an idle and unmtaning one. (Applause.) This was a time when the proceedings of Friendly Societies were attracting mare amI more the notice of public men, and on looking into the balance-sheet which Councillor Hughes submitted to him he found that they had large funds, which appeared to be wisely 'and economically distributed. (Applause.) The question which was attracting a good deal of attention just now—old age pensions—had not yet engaged the notice of the society in a direct way, but they would observe that the men who had been most concerned in pressing this matter on the notice of the country had now stated it would be impossible to carry out any system of old age pensions except with tlw assistance and largely through the agency of Friendly Societies. (Applause.) That was an extremely importallt. matter, and would operate in making these societies attract a great deal more public notice than they had hitherto done. These Friendly Soeieties were peculiar to this counti v. They did not exist in such a well-organised form ill any other country, and ho thought it would be a thousand pities if they were to be superseded by the intervention of the Sbte, which, as a rule, distributed its fends in a most extravagant way, and did the smallest amount of g'ood at the greatest cost. (Hear, hear.) They must all agrEe that there should he an improvement in the Poor-law, and that piore attention should be paid to old people and the bringing up of the vouug chihhen of the poorer classes, hut it was better that this attention should be paid iu a way that relief would not be accompanied by the taint of pauperism. (Applause.) With regard to old-age liens ions, he was very much opposed to what he mig-ht call the indiscrimi- nate prodigality which many persons advocated in the disposal of publio money which was taken out of the poeWs of hard-working ratepavers. (Hear, hear.) For any proposal of that kind a very sound and clear financial basis should be established, for where such funds were ad- ministered by State officials they were liable to the .greatest amount of imposition. The advau- h".p of Friendly Societies of thi-1 kind was that they iuouired into e-K-h individufl and the'" th"-t monev was ^arefcllv distributed. (Anplause.) Tn conclusion. Mr. Madean assured those pre- sent that h» would oonfum^ to take an active interest in the Order, and do all in his power to Tvnmoto its interests. (Applause.) A d f -es wpr-i p.nb-eon°ntlv delivered by "Rro. S O. Williams. P.T) M '<nd lodge trea- surer. District S"'cretarv W. H. Owens, and BrIt, Councillor l-Ti'irhcs. The subsequent proceedings were of a con- vivial character. A. vote of ooooolenr-e wa« oassed with the relatives of the late Grand Secretary, Bro. I ivsey.

COMPANY LIQUIDATION. Morriston Doctor Sued for Calls on I' Shares. At Swansea County-court on Thursday (be- forE; .lunge Gwi]Yll1 Williams), the Routh Wales Debt Recovery Company, as assignees for Mr. D. R. Knoyle, liquidator, of the United Tin- plate Company, sued Dr. E. Riee Morgan, of Morriston, for the sum of £ 6, being calls on shares iu the company. There was a, counter- claim, defendant alleging that the assignment was technically fraudulent and should be set a<ide. — After hearing the case which was one of the failure of a company before it reallv started operations—his Honour said Air. Knoyle, as liquidator, had conducted the matter in the most approved fashion, and the defendant took up an untenable position, and would have to pay the sum claimed.—Mr. Tvor Bowen, who anpeared for nlaintifts, said that an allegation of fraud had been made against his client, an officer of the court, and Fp. therefore, asked for costs on the hieher scale.—Mr. Leyson. for the plaintiff, said the fraud alleged was only tech- nical.—His Honour said that was not so. as the plaintiff in the box had said Mr. Knoyle had acted rlisl10nonra,hlv, t í r, T,.i=yson thplJ said his honour had no power to give co=ts as desired because of an a11eg-ation of fr;n1d.-Hi, Honour This is a matter of nubile importance, and I give costs on the scale above £ 20.

DEATH OF A NEWPORT SURGEON. We regret- to announce the death of Dr. Arthur Williams Loveridge, which occurred at hie: residence, 35, Bridge-street, N eWl1<)rt, on Tuesday. Dr. Loveridge appeared to be in his usual health till about three weeks ago, when he caught a colrl, which resulted in an attack of pneumonia. Not the sbghtest danger, however, was apprehended till the morning of the 13th, when paralvsis suddenly set in. which resulted ill his ,lDath on Tuesday evening la-st. Dr. Loveridge was the eldest son of the late Mr. Thomas Loveridge. of Merthyr Tydfil, and was horn in that. town ill 1858. He was educated first at the Merthyr Grammar School and after- wards at Crawford College. From the latt-er place, he went to the Middlesex Hospital, and during his curriculum there he tilled Rome ot the honorary positions connected with the hos- pital. After he was qualified he became junior house-surgeon to the Huddersfield Infirmary, and then, resident medical officer to the Clayton Hospital. Wakefield, after which he filled the post- of house-surgeon to the West Norfolk Hospital at King's Lvnn up to tho time that ho settled m Newport—in 1887—where he has suoeessfollv practised n11til now. nr, Loveridge was 011P of the honorary surgeons to tJH New- port and. Couutv ^.nfirmary, and was much respected and lwlovecl in the town, botll by his mcdienl brethren and his patients. L :¡."

Financial Crisis in Newfoundland. A CrntTal News telegram from St. John's on j. Thursday says :A favourable report has beeR issued by tho commihee concerning the pros- pects of the Union iBank. It i« believed th>tttne institution wiH be able to discharge its sbliga- I ions in full if allowed time.

Church Work at Swansea MORE LIBERATIONIST MISRE. PRESENTATION. Rev. J. Matthews Called 10 Task Hi? Graphic Picture of a Deserted Church. TO THE EDITOR OF THE t: EVENING EXPRESS" S:r,At a meeting held at Yeruàale Oft December 4. at which I was present, the Rev. J. Matthews, of Swansea, who is, I believe, an accredited agent of the Liberation Society, stated that twelve years ago there was no Welsh church at Swansea, and Grew a graphic picture of the church deserted by its congregation, the windows boarded up. and so on aud he further stated that at that time no spiritual provision was made in Swansea for the Welsli-speakiug people. I doubted the truth of the statement at the time, but, not being in possession of the facts of the .:>fIW. I did not refer to it. A few days afterwards I was informed hy a gentleman who hact lived in Swansea that at the time mentioned the Welsh Church was. it is true, closed, but only for the jwrpose of restoration, and that other provision was temporarily made for the congregation. 11p. also informed me that Mr. Matthews had often made this state- ment before in exactly the same words, and that it ban often been disproved, and tha't at one of air. Matthews's meetings. ;t was publicly contradicted, hy a Swansea man. I made further inquiries, and founci that Mr. Matthews made the same statement some four months ago at Milford, and the Rev. Edward Howells, vicar of Milford Haven. replied to it as fol- lovs in the Milford "Parish Messenger" for September last: — M;ltthevv'i made reference to the Welsh Chwcfc i fir i n^ai ,an'? ie ltfl «'e audience, to £ clc £ l h 1,ad "*■ Ascribed the chmvh f.ivir "i?, windows hoarded up, and the whole wl w.fV'1"" 1vas 'rpsor!t 111 the audience when Al.watt.news made this astomulmg statement, and X veiuujet to ask the ehorinati permission to correct vprV^a rvfl'i And I did so for this rei«on: At the nt-cUro -N[r- Matthews was referring—some >e-rf a"C_i1 vras a communicant in that, verv 11w?1,a teacher in the Sunrlav School, and simenntended the Band of Hope. While'.Mr. Matthews j "'s "(?;ller ahnut the country attacking the Clnircb I was theie on the spot and knew all about it. What hapld uHI. I will tell the story as briefly as I can The old Welsh Church in Hia-h-street, Swansea had her-one sully dilapidate 1. The circumstances' sur- rrr,tiding the old cluirch were unique in the whole of the diocese. There was no other church in the diocese similarly situated. The building itself was situated not in its own parish, hut in the adjoining parish of St. Miry. The vicar and churchwardens detemuned to buiid a new Parish Church within the ?>oirdaries nf the parish, and transfer the old church to the authorities of the parish in which ,t was situated. The new Church of St. John, Hafod, was, consequently, built, at a cost of £7,mO. and then nego- tiatic;¡¡s-Joilg an:l te(Uol1s-were entered jnto, the result of which was that the 01(1 church was trans- ferred to t ew trust2"S. Near the old church, and separated hv a low wall, stood a cemetery chapel. The members of the Welsh Church decided upon enlarg- in." this chapel to twice itli original size, Ï1: order that they might hold their services there during the re-building of tln church. This was done and the (,()I1).;lc!ation for some two years worshipped 1)1 this enlarged chapel. In 1835 the old church was restored, at a cost- of ahout £ 4,000. The. large congregations, the bright services, and the vigorous, earnest work which 1's going on at thl1 prelient moment give Mr. Matthews's statement a l1at, contradiction. 8.0 much alive is tllP. Welsh Church in Swansea that, iu atlrh- tioil to having paid every nennv of the £ 4,000, they aTe now looking forward to the opening (If a new orsjan, which is being built at a cost of £ 300. Now, why did Mr. Matthews make this statement? Was it because he thought a statement of that kind made 60 miles awav from the town would, not be contra- dicted? Surely, that cause which has to be propped up with such fallacies and misrepresentations must be rotten indeed. But is tins the only Welsh Church, in Swansea? Mr. Matthews lives in the town, and I wonder that he has never heard of St. Luke s, Cwmbwrla; St. Peter's, Cockett; St. Johns, Morns- ton; St. John's Mission Church, Manselton, and the two Welsh Churches in the parish of Llansainlet. Ad these places are suburbs of Swansea, and m these churches Welsh services are mgularl.v held. The.e are something like 40 clergy ministering in ann around Swansea, and out of that number nineteen are regu- Ifily employed in ministering in botn English and Welsh." We have, therefore, a minister of religion publicly making a statement that he knows to be false in order to prejudice his hearers against the Church, in a place where he thinks the facts will not be known. The fact that the church in question was temporarily closed for two years does not make Mr. Matthews's case any better, for lie distinctly led the audience to believe that tlL; church was permanently given up and that nothing hau taken its place. Had he told the whole truth, the story would have been point- less, and would not have served the purpo.e for which it was told—the purpose of proving that 110 spiritual provision was made twelve years ago for the Welsh-speaking people iu Swansea. Indeed, the fact that there was the outward semblance of a half-truth in Mr. Matthews's statement surely makes it worse. Most people will admit that a falsehood based on a half-truth is a good deal worse than a bold, downright lie. The point in itself is of small importance, but it is of great importance as a characteristic instance of Mr. Matthews's methods, ana of the methods, I regret to say, of a good many Liberationists, as we have recently seen. The extraordinary demoralisa- tion of so many of the attackers of the Church can surely only arise from the fact that their cause is not a just one. Mr. Matthews did not, by the way, state at ferndale what is a fact, that seven Noncon- formist chapels have been closed in Swansea. Tn three rases, at least, chapels have been closed in poor dis- tricts and the congregations have migrated to more prosperous neighbourhoods after a fashion which, as everyone knows. is very com- mon among Nonconformists, in spite of their talk about democracy and the poor. The three cases I refer to are Bethany Chapel. Edward- street (which is, or was recently, a timber- store, ana whose congregation Imve removed to Argvll Chapel); the Iron Chapel, Fleet- street (Conjrregationalist), which was re-erected in St. Gabriel's Parish; and the Burrows Chapel 'Calvinistm Methodist), which was sold, and with the proceeds another chappl was erc-cted. What would Mr. Matthews say if 1 announced at a public meeting, as a proof of tho decline of Nonconformity, that these chapels had ceased to exist, but omitted to add that others had taken their place ? He would be fully iustifieo in saying that I disgraced the cause which I represent. What, then, is to lie said of Mr. Matthews, who not only makes a, parallel statement once, but repeats it three ]1lonths after it has been disproved in a place where he hopes to escape exnosure?—I am See ROfHmT E. DELT, Organising Secretary Church Defence Institution for Llandaff Diocese. Cardiff, Dec. 19.

RADICALS AND TITHES. Another Scheme for Utilising the Spoils. Speaking at a meeting at Landore on Thurs- day night, Mr. W. LI. Williams said that the Disestablishment Bill as introduced in the last session had one grave defect from the Nationalist point of view, and the remedies which had been suggested did not seem to him to meet the circumstances. Mr. D A. Thomas, M.P., wished the tithes to be dis- tributed all the basis of population, while Mr. Alfred Thomas had advocated county alloca- tion of tithes. It was of the greatest impor- tance that the" elsh members should be united in their policy with regard to the BIll, and it would be a great mistake to weary the House oi Commons and endanger the pa.ssinjj of the Bill bv moving too many amendments in Committee. But the grave defect contained in the Bill with regard to the allocation of tithes should be, if possible, removed before the re-introduction of the Bill. He had hoped that when the tithes would come to be restored to national uses a National Councilor some such body would be formed to administer the funds. It- might be that it was too late now to expect such a provision to be inserted in Mr. Asquith's Bill, but he trusted that tho Church property would be vested in trustees, who could hand over the funds to the National Council. He would like to date the fuller and larger development of their national life from the overthrow of the Establishment, and he believed that Wales would cram more benefit from the training it would receive from th* administration of the funds of the National Council than even from the expenditure of the funds themselves for national nurposes.

SWANSEA PARLIAMENTARY DISTRICT. A rumour having obtained a good deal of credence in the Neath district that Mr. Medley, C.C., of Pontardawe, one of the candi- dates for the impending vacancy in the Swan- sea Parliamentary District, had made his peace with the Liberal Association and intended to withdraw, our Neath reporter asked the gentle- man yesterday whether lie projiosed to continue his candidature. Mr. TTedley replied in the affir- mative, nndsaid. "0n..Tanuary 12 the adjourned meeting of the Central Liberal Association will be held. An attempt will be made then to re-open the question. I don't know what the result will lie. One thing I am certain of, and that is, I intend to continue my candidature."

J. Hussey, Hatter, Hosier, and Ladies' and Gentlemen's Hair.dressing Rooms, 16, HIgh- street,. Cardiff.