The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard

apartments. ABERYSTWYTH. Ap ART MEN T S.-PENBRYN, 55,! -dL MARINE TERRACE, Proprietress, Mrs Harry Lloyd (late Rock House.) Comfortable apartments in best portion on the Marine-parade. House re-decorated throughout. Moderate terms. —Apply, Proprietress. y510 C~LIFF VIEW BOARDING ESTAB- LISHMENT. Best end of Victoria-terrace Splendid fea view. Sheltered from the north and east winds. Lighted by Electricity. Every modern convenience Terms moderate.—Apply for Tariff to Mrs EDGAR ATWOQD s946 AVONDALE BOARDING HOUSE, ALSO PRIVATE APARTMENTS, 13, MARINE TERRACE. Expansive Sea View Electric Light; Bath (Hot and Cold). Sanitary arrangemente perfect. Home from Home.—Terms moderate. p988 Proprietress—Mrs OWEN OWEN. APARTMENT OR BOARD RESIDENCE AT ABERYSTWYTH PLYNLYMON HOUSE, VICTORIA (MARINE) TERRACE. MRS E. A. HALL. APARTMENTS OR BOARD RESIDENCE. Plynlymon House is modern-built on the finest and Wealthiest portion of the Marine-parade, is provided with baths and all necessary appliances, and is comfortably furnished. Each Sitting Room has AN UNINTKKRUPTKD SEA VIEW and the Bedrooms are large and airy. The SANITARY ARRANGEMRNTS are certified by the Medical Officer of Health for the Borough to be perfect -and complete." Special Terms tor Winter and Spring Months. Excellent Reference? as to Cuisine and Management. u£Ünt£is Jlbh,.tSp." ABERYSTWYTH~ SMOKE LEYENSON'S No. 1 F V BRAND CIGARETTES. TERRACE ROAD AND PIER STREET, ABERYSTWYTH. And of all High-Class Tobacconists. THEY ARE HAND-MADE AND GUARANTEED 0 THE FINEST VIRGINIA. Price, 3/6 per 100 Post Free all over the United Kingdom. J. LEVENSON IS THE SOLE AGENT FOR KAPP AND PETERSON AND M.C.C. PIPES Also Agent for LOEWE & Co.'s B.B.B., London, Own Make Pipes. Cigar tte 1 made on the Premises While You Wait. J. LEVENSON, TERRACE ROAD ABERYSTWYTH. GAHDEN SEEDS. G. WILKINSON OUR STOCK OF New Garden Seeds complete & comprise the following Peas American Wonder, Chelsea Gem, Dickson'b Firat and Best, Eclipse, English Wonder, Gradus, Sutton's A.I., Sutton's Dwarf, Defiance, The Sherwood, William Hurst, William the First, Daisy, Dr Hogg, Duke of Albany, Duke of York, Dwarf Telephone, Gladstone, Layton's Fillbat-ket, Ne Plus Ultra, Rentpayer, Stratagem, Sutton's Eureka, Telephone, Veitch's Perfection. SEED POTATOES. Mayatt's Ash Leaf, River's Ash Leaf, Beauty of Hebron, White Hebrons, Duke of York, Puritan, Snowdrop, Southern Star, Up-to-date, Windsor Castle. Broad Beans, French Beans, and Scarlet Runners, of the Finest Quality and all kinds of Vegetable Seeds. FLOWER SEEDS IN GREAT VARIETY. Firtree Oil, Lemon Oil, Fumigatora, Manures, and every requisite for the Kitchen and Ficver Garden. FLOWER POTS IN ALL SIZES. WREATHS & CROSSES IN CHOICEST DESIGNS Catalogues Free. ^———————■ —■ CAMBRIAN RAILWAYS. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that -1-1 on and from July 1st, 1904, tiie Return Halves of Onliuary Tickets will be available r 8 under For distance up to and including 20 miles Two Days and from Saturday to Monday. For distances exceeding 20 miles, Six Months. Tourist Ticket? to and from this Company's Stations will in future be available for Six Months instead of Two Mouths as formerly. LIVERPOOL SPRING RACES.—March 24th-26th, 1904. GRAND NATIONAL STEEPLECHASE, MARCH 25rh. CHEAP EXCURSIONS will be run to LIVERPOOL. Full particulars at the Stations and Offices of the 'Company. C. S. DENNISS, Oswestry. Secretary & Gene al Manager. March, 1904. o521 On Wednesday, Feb. 17th, and Tuesday, Feb 23rd, March 1 st and 8th, 1904, CHEAP EXCURSION TICKETS WILL BE ISSUED TO LON DON (EUSTON), Full particulars from Offices and Stations of the Company. RAMS are now conveyed between Stations _I_\) on the Cambrian Ra;ways at a charge as for Two Dogs, with a minimum of Two ShillingH iach Ram. b74 WEEK-END EXCURSION TICKETS WILL BE ISSUED EVERY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY TO EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW (By the direct route via Whitchurch Crewe, Preston, and Carlisle), Available for Return on the following Sunday (where Train Service permits), Monday or Tuesday. For particulars of Fares; &c, see Handbills issued 'by the Company. EVERY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY WEEK-END TICKETS are issued from LONDON (L. & N. W. & G. W. Stations To MACHYNLLETH, ABERYSTWYTH ABERDOVEY, TOWYN, BARMOUTH DOLGELLEY, LLANBEDR AND PENSARN, HARLECH, PORTMADOC, CRICCIETH, AND PWLLHELI. Available for return on the following Sunday where train service permits), Monday, or Tuesday. TOURIST TICKETS Are issued from the Principal Cambrian Stations to all HEALTH RESORTS On the Cambrian Railways also to CATERING-PLACES IN ENGLAND, NORTH WALES, ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT, NORTH EAST COAST, &c, &c, &c. CHEAP WEEK-END EXCURSION TICKETS are issued EVERY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY TO Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Peter- borough, Derby, Burton-on-Trent, Stafford, Coventry, Manchester, Preston, Blackburn, Bol- Leeds, Dewsbury, Hudderefield, Liverpool, ^irkenhead, Wigan, Warrington, Leicenter, "^Shrewsbury, Bradford, Sheffield, and Northamp- ton. Prom Machynlleth, Borth, Aberystwyth, Aber- J°Vey, Towyn, Barmouth, Dolgelley, Harlech, Jj^rtmadoc, Penrhyndeudraeth.Criccieth, and Pwll- tTickets to Shrewsbury are not issued from Machynlleth. Passengers return on the Sunday (train service '?rtr,'tting), Monday, or Tuesday following issue 01 tickets. On Monday, March 21st, 1904, CHEAP EXCURSIONS for 2, 3, 5, and 8 Days, WILL RUN TO London (EUSTON) Particulars at the Stations and Offices of the company. C. S. DENNISS, Qawegt Secretary and General Manager. b4arch, 1904. e492 CIREETMGA, (Entertainments. ABERYSTWYTH. WELSH NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. PRESIDENT The Right Honourable THE EARL OF POWIS VICE-PRESIDENTS Lord HENRY VANE TEMPEST, The Right Honourable Sir H. AUBREY- FLETCHER. Bart. M.B., Sir RICHARD GREEN PRICE BART, Sir PRYSE PRYSE, BART, Mr R. M. GREAVES. THE ABOVE SOCIETY will hold its SHOW AT ABERYSTWYTH, ON AUGUST 3RD, 1904. Particulars can be obtained from L. PRYSE Pantgwyn, Aberystwyth. e478 HACKNEY STALLION SHOW. NORTH CARDIGANSHIRE COB IMPROVE MENT SOCIETY. THE above Society, requiring a Hackney Stallion not under 15-3 h.h. to travel the district this season, will hold a Show at Aber- ystwyth Smithfi-Id ON APRIL 4th [Easter Monday Next). Prize £ 30 Os. Od All exhibitors must at time of entry sign an agreement that it their horse wins 'the prizp. the horse will travel the district in accordance with the c mdicions of the Society. A copy of agree. ment and all particulars can be obtained from RUFUS WILLIAMS, Lion Royal Hotel, Aberystwyth. y—*»—r«wwiwir» TREGARON Third Annual Horse Show AND RACES WILL BE HELD AT SUN N Y HILL PAR K, MARCH 15th, 1904, When a Champion Silver Cup (value 20gs.) and over A;40 will be oflered for competition. For further particulars, apply to BEN DAVIES, LI wyngwynau, •> gecretaries DAN JONES, Tyngwnawn, ) <427 PWLLHELI. EASTER MONDAY, APRIL 4th, 1904. FIFTH ANNUAL Sports and Cycle Races WILL TAKE PLACE ON THE recusation GR/JUNIJ. attractive programme 10 GUFNEA. CHALLENGE CUP. Particulars from- F. E. YOUNG, Estate Offioes, e525 Pwllheli EASTER MONDAY. Grand Eisteddfod AT PWLLHELF. EXCELLENT COMPETITIONS. SILVER CROWN TO THE BARD. Gold Medal to the Reciter, AND 91 5s. each for Solos. Compositions to be in hand March 24th. Names of Competitors March 30th. D CAIlAlXKr EVANS, „ e515 T. W. THOMAS, J

NORTH CARDIGANSHIRE AGRIOULT U UAL SOCIETY. THE simple question the farmers of North Cardiganshire have to ask themselves is whether it is in their interests that the North Cardiganshire Agricultural Society is to be abolished in order to establish a society for the whole of Wales. We will not now discuss whether a society for the whole of Wales should be established or not that is not the question. We will not now discuss whether Mr. VAUGHAN DAVIES or any other supporter of the na- tional scheme is disinterested or not that is not the question. We will not now dis- cuss whether there should be a local show at Llanilar or not that is not the question. We will not now discuss whether a gen- eral show held at Aberystwyth will not be of benefit to somebody or other that is not the question. The simple issue now before the local landowners and farmers is whether it is for their benefit that the North Cardiganshire Agricultural Society should be abolished, as it will be abolished, if the present policy is maintained. We are not going to be lured or driven by any- body into the discussion of personal ques- tions and side issues. We say that some weeks ago a scheme was brought cut and Z!1 dried to a meeting of the North Cardigan- shire Agricultural Society for its abolition, and a motion for delay, so that the subject could be fairly discussed, was not accepted either by the promoters of that general scheme, or by the majority of those pre- sent, but the plan for the destruction of the old society was rushed through—un- wisely and unnecessarily rushed through. We do not care what anybody's intentions are—there is the simple fact what- -ire ever their intentions were, that the North Cardiganshire Agricultural So- j ciety is murdered by its pro- fessed friends in the fulness of its strength and without the least reason or justifica- tion. The Earl of Powis, Mr. W. R. M. WYNNE, the lord lieutenant of Merioneth- shire, Mr. OSMOND WILLIAMS, M.P., Colonel PRYCE-JONES, M.P., are no more likely than Mr. VAUGHAN DAVIES, M.P., 'I to wilfully do injury to the farmers of North Cardiganshire. We know that quite well and we do not accuse them or him of wilful intention to do any wrong whatever. We are sure that Mr. VAUGHAN DAVIES, if he will only give this subject careful and calm consideration, and will consult his friends, the farmers, will find that it is quite unnecessary to slay the North Cardiganshire Agricultural Society in order to secure the success of the gen- eral society which he and others are desir- ous of establishing. This is not a ques- tion of financial guarantees. The North Cardiganshire Society has been financially successful and is successful. There is no more risk in guaranteeing the society than in guaranteeing a Bank of England note, or in becoming security for the interest on British consols. There is no more reason why a show should not be held at Llanilar than at Talybont, but the funds for the Llanilar show should not be provided by the North Cardiganshire Agricultural So- ciety and the show itself should not be pro- moted instead of the show for the North Cardiganshire Agricultural Society. We do not care two straws what course any individual takes in this matter. We nei- ther own land nor cultivate it. But we I are going to presume that everybody is endowed with ordinary common sense, and we further presume that anybody who de- liberately insists on slaughtering the North Cardiganshire Agricultural Society, or who upholds those who do the slaugh- tering, shall have no shadow of excuse that they were not duly warned and made fully aware of the objection felt by farmers throughout the district to the unnecessary and stupid process. We do not attach a great deal of importance to what was said on Monday. What we ask Mr. VAUGHAN DAVIES to do as the President of the North Agricultural Society is to ask himself calmly whether it is necessary, or wise to sanction or approve, either directly or in- directly, the destruction of the existing society. This question is not put to him in an unfriendly spirit, and it is put to him while there is still ample time to pre- vent disaster. We are not going to im- pute either blame or responsibility for the hurried and unnecessary course which has been pursued. We make the following statements First, the course pursued has been hurried and ill-considered; second, the establishment of a national society does not necessarily require the abolition of the North Cardiganshire Agricultural So- ciety; third, the farmers of North Cardi- ganshire are opposed to the abolition of their successful society; and, fourth, a show at Llanilar out of the funds of the North Cardiganshire Society does not comply with the constitution of the North Cardiganshire Society and ought to be the outcome of local effort.

ABERYSTWYTH MARKETS ON Monday last Mr. VAUGHAN DAVIES, M.P., presided at the Lion Hotel over a large and representative gathering of farmers who met together in conference on the Aberystwyth market question. This conference was the outcome of a series of successful meetings held by the Aberyst- wyth Ratepayers' Association in the rural districts during the past months. It was resolved that a deputation should wait upon the Town Council with the object of securing the co-operation of that body in the difficult and prolonged work which will be necessary if the markets are to be consi- derably and permanently improved. The CHAIRMAN, in his carefully thought-out speech, put the main points plainly and clearly and these points must be kept steadily in view through the slow pro- cesses of future effort. As the CHAIRMAN said, too much must not be expected from the Town Council. Indeed, too much must not be expected from anybody. What will be needed on all sides will be a ro- bust faith and unmeasured patience cou- pled with intelligent co-operation. A great deal was said at Monday's confer- ence on the custom among local farmers of selling their stock at home. The CHAIR- MAN and other speakers dealt with this ruinous custom-ruinous to farmers—but it will be impossible ever to induce farmers to abandon any custom which they believe to be profitable. What has to be done is to make the markets widely known, to provide decent and reasonable accom- modation and facilities, and to wait until experience provides a remedy. Our be- lief is that increased production on a large scale can only be secured anywhere by improving the producers' opportunities of disposing of his produce whether in the shape of cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, wool, fowls, eggs, fruit, vegetables, and other things such as honev and flowers. The University College of Wales has an agri- y "I cultural department and it would be an excellent thing in many ways if farmers were helped to obtain improved breeds of fowls and were taught how to prepare them and their produce for market. At present the only pyblic evidence we have of the College agricultural department are silly speeches about railway rates and na- tional agricultural societies. A little practical work would be less showy, but much more useful. There are now three railways running into Aberystwyth and it is needless to say that they can do a great Z, deal if so disposed towards developing markets. The great difficulty about rail- way companies is to persuade them that they ought to join in promoting under- takings that do not pay at the start. The Town Council, again, has great power for good in its hands if the members could be induced to join together and, still more im- portant, could be induced to believe that enormous improvements could be effected. The Ratepayers' Association can also do much, but the College, the Railways, the Town Council, and the Ratepayers' Asso- ciation combined cannot succeed unless the farmers themselves will do their part. We believe that they will do their part for the simple reason that good markets are the first condition of agricultural success. Farmers have to be convinced that there is something more behind this movement than mere promises that will never be ful- filled. There are great and numerous diffi- culties to overcome, and as Mr. VAUGHAN DAVIES said on Monday they cannot all be overcome at once, nor does the task of overcoming them rest upon any one body or upon one particular set of people. All the difficulties cannot even be grappled with at once. We believe that sooner or later the specially endowed market organ- izer will be found and then progress will be rapid. Until he appears we must all do what is possible. There is no desire at Aberystwyth to interfere with local fairs at villages like Llanrhystyd and other places. When the Aberystwyth markets have been so far improved as to attract high-class dealers, the small buyers who now go from farm to farm will bring to Aberystwyth the stock they pick up at small fairs and from farmers who now believe they do well for themselves by sell- ing stock in the fields where it looks at its best and sells at its worst. The task the Aberystwyth Ratepayers' Association has in hand is one of great difficulty and com- plexity. The successful conference on Monday marks one stage in the undertak- ing. That conference is a fresh starting place. There will be differences of opinion as to policy and procedure and priority, but we think the nature of the task is suffi- ciently well understood that the members of the Ratepayers' Association will realize that there is room in the movement for everybody and that the establishment of markets is really the establishment of an enormous co-operative business with many branches, and in which the main profits are indirect and come to everybody in propor- tion to individual activity. We are told, of course, that this and that and the other is impossible. Very well, we are not go- ing to do anything that is impossible, but the only way to discover what is possible is to try to do whatever appears to be desir- able, even if it proves to be impossible. The luncheon and conference of last Mon- day, with Mr. VAUGHAN DAVIES in the chair, were good things and beneficial even if the market project was not obviously advanced by them. The meetings held in the rural districts were also good things and worth all they cost in time and money and energy if their only outcome was the conference. We believe in united effort and in absolute refusal to accept defeat. A deputation will wait upon the Town Council in the course of a week or two and we believe that then something will be done to advance the scheme which the Rate- payer* Association has in hand. We shalf fm ve plenty of opportunities in the future to -1eal with the manifold phases of this wide anJ important subject.

WELSH COLLEGES AND THEIR REQUIREMENTS. THE attempt on the par,4- 41, -iiig Welsh Uni- versity Colleges to obtain a^ditio^nal grants from the Government has Sailed, and we, at any rate, are not surprised a-ttt«he failure. Even the Welsh members of P^wlianaent do not seem to have been made acquainted with the intention to ask for increased grants. This is the sort of ineptitude that marks the course of the colleges. We are mainly interested in the Aberyst- wyth College and it needs to be very ro- bust and very determined indeed to render any help whatever to that institution. The very worst forms of the most dry-as-dust academic traditions are in full force at Aberystwyth and it would be more reason- able to expect modern methods from one of the most backward of Oxford or Cam- bridge colleges than to expect them from the University College at Aberystwyth. Twenty-five years ago there were hundreds of men interested in the Aberystwyth Col- lege, and its welfare and progress were matters of keen public interest, but to-day nobody knows and nobody cares anything about it and its needs are a secret which it is quite welcome to keep to itself. The outside public have been given to under- stand that they may give money if they please, but must not say how it is to be spent, and whatever interest they may take in the College must not be allowed to take the form of ungrammatical expres- sion or of low-bred enthusiasm. The men who built the College and made it successful in the face of almost insuper- able difficulties were not of the academic, finnikin order, but were men of business who knew what they wanted and got it. WTe do not think there is any limit to the support the College could obtain if it had a bold policy and kept itself in intimate touch with the business men of the Princi- pality. People are not going to run after the multifarious authorities of the Univer- sity College of NVales to implore them to be allowed to render it assistance, nor will they cross-examine them in order to extort from them what it is they would like to have in the form of fresh developments. There was a time when the newspapers of the country were alive with the schemes and developments and progress and achievements of the Aberystwyth College. Now nobody ever hears of it and the whole thing is carried on as if it had a plethora of two-and-a-half per cents, and did not know what to do in the face of its accumu- lated and ever-pressing successes. The College is not only a teaching place, but it is a place of business that requires in- telligent and tactful management and a policy that is intelligible to the average business man, and it can no more do with- out publicity than it can do without stu- dents, or professors, or classrooms. There is a nervous timidity coupled with an un- reasoning rashness in the College that makes the authorities appear ridiculous to those who take the trouble to think about its, affairs. We admit that those who give it thought are few and they are de- creasing in number. An exclusiveness has been achieved which spells disaster, for these are not the days when any College can stand still with safety. We do not believe in the finality of the Govern- ment's refusal to give the Welsh Colleges further grants, but the Colleges themselves will have to do something to make further Z" grants not only possible, but imperative. It must always be remembered that it was not the authorities of the Aberystwyth College who obtained for it the grant it now enjoys, and if the work had been left to the authorities it would never have ob- tained a permanent grant at all. Outside public support has died and the Govern- ment know that it has died and why it has died. As we have pointed out more than once in these columns the Government can- not give additional help to institutions that are not doing increased work and showing increased worthiness and force. The Aberystwyth College has laboured as- siduously to get into ruts and it follows them with almost comical monotony. Let a list of the friends and supporters of the Aberystwyth College twenty-five years ago be compared with its friends and suppor- ters now, and it will be seen that the old friends were planners and workers while the new friends, if there are any, do no- thing and nobody knows them. If the Aberystwyth College can do without fur- ther help nothing more need be said, but if the institution is to grow and to develop then it is as necessary now as in 1873 to take the people into confidence and to en- list their sympathy and support. There are rich men in WTales who would be proud to be identified with its University Col- leges, but these men are not going to re- ceive instructions from academic business incapables how their money is to be spent. Now that the Government have refused to increase the grants to the Welsh Univer- sity Colleges, are they going to sit down under this refusal and take no steps what- ever to understand the refusal, or to get rid of reasons for it, or to supply fresh arguments for a reversal of the decision ? The Aberystwyth College is in need of a thorough overhauling and the methods of the authorities greatly require modern- ising. A quarter of a century's rust is be- ginning to tell, and it is high time that more than one side of the institution should be brought up-to-date at any cost if the College is to hold its own and to fulfil its early promise.

THE EDUCATION CAM- PAIGN. EVERY County Council in Wales without exception has returned a Nonconformist and Liberal majority in order to oppose the unjust clauses of the recent Education Act. The elections, which have been crowned by the Liberal victories in Radnorshire and Breconshire, two counties previously on the other side, are not the conflict itself, but are the preparation for it. The fight now close at hand is still to be fought, but there can be no shadow of doubt that the people are in earnest and will not hesitate to take any course, regardless of conse- quences, which their leaders, of whom Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE is the chief, say is advis- able. We believe that this war is un- necessary-that it is retrogressive and al- together opposed to the best interests of Wales—but it has been forced upon the people of the Principality by certain clauses in an Act of Parliament which were in- tended to give Conformists definite pre- ferences and advantages which they ought not to possess. Whales is so circumstanced that the Act tells in favour of Nonconfor- mists here in ways that tell against them over the border. This fact was not real- ized by the Conservative Government dur- ing the passing of the measure through Parliament and to-dav the Church of Eng- land in Wales is face to face in every County Council with resolute Nonconfor- mist majorities who are resolved not to j count the costs of conflict, but to fight an uncompromising battle for ivhat they deem to be justice and reasonableness. The victory of Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE aid his forces is complete, and if the war is forced we believe the disaster to religion to edu- cation, to the Church of England, and also to Nonconformity will be great. We do not ask our readers to agree with us, for we know that the majority of them cannot possibly agree with us, and yet in the lull between the election victories and the be- ginning of the actual strife we ask Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE and the leading Nonconfor- mists on the one hand, and the Bishop of St. ASAPH and the leading Conformists on the other, whether it is not possible even yet to make an arrangement which will prevent the sacred name of religion from being dragged in the mire to the injury of all that is beautiful and helpful in spirit- ual life. We do not doubt the earnest- ness of the Nonconformists or the sin- cerity of the Conformists, and we appeal to both sides in the name of their own SAVIOUR whether they cannot find a rea- sonable and satisfactory way out of what seems to us to be a not very difficult situa- tion. The Church says that it will close the schools. Nonconformity in reply will seek to close the churches by disestablish- ment and disendowment. It may be that neither the one nor the other will be closed, but the conflict will make religion in Wales an object of scoffing to the outside masses and progress of every kind will be retarded, if not brought to a complete standstill. It seems to us that the Church of England ought to take the initiative in trying to bring about an arrangement which would enable religion to be taught in all elemen- tary schools without friction or any mea- sure of injustice. But if the Church de- clines, then we think it would be good statesmanship on the part of Mr. LLOYD- GEORGE and of those who act with him to make reasonable and even generous pro- posals to the Church so that religion in its highest and truest conception may be up- held and vindicated. We are appealing to two branches of the Christian church for the reasonable exercise of that spirit which they themselves profess to uphold and to practise. We know that both sides are prepared to fight. This to us is the sad feature of the situation. Every county in Wrales is ready to enter the arena and nobody doubts that the Church of England is willing to join issue with her foes! The electors have spoken in no wavoring voice, and unless the leaders on both sides can be induced to bring religion to bear on the points at issue, Wales will soon be involved in one of the most bitter and senseless strifes that ever divided her people into hostile camps. Many members of the Church of England, as well as mem- bers of Nonconformist bodies, believe that the differences between them are capable of reasonable adjustment. Whatever course the Church of England may take we hope that the Nonconformists, strong in the position in which they have been placed by the County Council elections, will make an earnest effort to avoid a religious con- flict that can bring no permanent advan- tage to either side. What we fear is that the difficulty of settlement does not lie with Mr LLOYD-GEORGE or with the Bishop of St. ASAPH or with Mr. HUMPHREYS- OWEX, but with the smaller men on both sides who are more eager for victory than for justice, and who care more for their side than for religion and progress. We have always believed in religious teaching in elementary schools for the simple reason that we never could see how elementary instruction can be given without imparting religion, but we do not understand why the leaders of all the churches cannot agree on a form of religious teaching that would be satisfactory to everybody who does not want to force his own particular denomina- tional views, apart from the broad truths of Christianity, upon children. The unani- mous results of the County Council elec- tions show what must be expected if the fight is to be fought to the final issue. Strife will beget strife and ill of all sorts will abound. We do not think there is any- thing wrong in asking that peace may be preserved, and we should be glad to see both sides willing to make concessions for the sake of the religion which they each desire to promote. The majority of the people have spoken. We ask the members of the Church of England what they would have expected from Nonconformists if the elections had gone as decisively on the side of the Church as they have gone on the side of Nonconformists? Is it in vain to ask for reasonableness, remembering that we are pleading with those who profess to be the followers of JESUS CHRIST.

EDITORIAL NOTES. There is a perfect slump in police business at Aberystwyth. For two weeks there have been no cases at the weekly petty sessions. # February imports were three millions and a half more and exports over a million more than for the same month last year. The way to get rid of these' increases is protection. The Standard of Wednesday states that the Education Vote will be taken on Monday next. Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE will on that occasion move a resolution calling attention to the fai- lure of the Act in Wales. This is the Motion which the hon. member first intended to bring forward on the Address. In the House of Commons, on Tuesday, the PnuIE MINISTER, in answer to Mr BRTNMOH 7 JONES, announced that he would appoint a Royal Commission to inquire into the dis- orders in the Established Church. It is high time that what is called brawling in church and' the causes of it should be brought to an end. The members of the Church of England are threatening to close their elementary schools unless they receive rate-aid. Did it ever strike them that the closing of the schools might be followed by the closing of the churches ? The thing called Disendowment and Disestablishment is not dead and is likely before long to be very much alive—unless wisdom prevails. On Tuesday and Wednesday everybody was congratulating everybody else on the bright- ness and mildness of the weather. The east winds had gone. The biting cold had given place to warm sunshine. The clouds had disappeared and even the most dqwn-hearted lodging-house keeper began to feel that it was time to begin to shake carpets and to prepare for the summer. Ploughing and sowing are being proceeded with as rapidly as the water subsides from the drenched land. All agricultural work is greatly in arrears. Another week has passed and nothing material has happened in the war between Russia and Japan. A great bombardment was reported and one person was reported to have been killed. The most notable thing about the war is a reported growth of bad feeling in Russia against this country on the ground, real or imaginary, that this country has assisted in bringing about the war. We are afraid this accusation is not baseless. The papers continue to report battles one day and to contradict them the next. t _n The Archbishop of YORK has received £ 20,000 from an anonymous donor for the widows and orphans of the poorer clergy of that diocese. Another gentleman who wished to remain unknown, left £1,000 to the Bible Society the other day and did not want to b known. The fear of publicity is quite in- telligible. If they were known they would be pestered their lives out by all sorts of beg- gars. We believe that many people abstain from giving for fear of being made miserable by importunate beggars whom nobody could satisfy. At the last meeting of the Pontardawe Board of Guardians Mr HERBERT LLOYD, the chair- man, said that at the recent Poor Law Confer- ence it was observed that the time was coming I when boards of guardians would be swept away and the conduct of the poor law relegated to a central body-the county councils. There can be little doubt, we think, that Boards of Guardians will cease to exÏ'iI,t and all their work will be done by Rural Councils in the county and by Town Councils in towns. What is needed is the classification of workhouses and improved general administration of the Poor Laws-, This work will most likely fall to the lot of County Councils. It has- been decided in the High Courts of Justice that a local Mayor has no right to take the chair at a meeting of local justices in virtue of his position as Mayor. Mr. F. W. LAWSON claimed a declaration that as Mayor he was, by virtue of the Municipal Cor- porations Act of 1882, entitled to precedence over all other Juatices acting in and for the Borough, and entitled to take the chair at all meetings of the Justices^ Mr Justice FARWELL, having reviewed the law bearing on the sub- ject. said he came to the conclusion that the Plaintiff's contention failed, and the action would therefore be dismissed with costs. Lord ROWTON'S homes are a commercial suc- cess and pay five per cent. This is satisfac- tory, for in the long run no social movement can succeed that does not pay its way. One of the surprising things to us is that working men do not join together to provide them- selves with houses. We know that many working men do not intend to; remain where they are and are afraid of doing anything that would in any measure tie them down. Work- ing men, as a rule, pay eight or ten per cent. in rent on the money expended in providing them with houses. What is true of rent is true of everything working men buy. They give from five to ten per cent more for every- thing they buy than those give who are better off. And then people want to know why work- ing people are poor. The answer is not far to scek^ Among the Danes, Norwegians, and Finns, women are employed as sailors, and prove themselves to be expert mariners. Why not ? There is nothing in mere sex to disqualify wo- men from being sailors, or soldiers, or parsons, or lawyers, or even barmaids. We would ex- empt women from no work and from no re- sponsibility, nor would we exclude them from any place or any privilege. We would leave them free as men are free. Until this justice has been done to women men will never know what women really are, nor will women them- selves know. At present women are their own greatest foes. They are not to blame for this, for they are subject to men. Even the best of women are subject to men in all sorts of subtle ways. Women are ready when it seems to suit their purpose to support that coercion which has been their own curse for thousands of years. Women, as yet, have scarcely made a beginning in the work of emancipation. The question whether there is one law for the poor and another for the rich is often raised. There can be no doubt that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor. A beerhouse in Hebden Bridge has been dis- covered by the police to be registered as a com- mon lodging-house, and the police stated that the landlord supplied his lodgers with drink during prohibited hours. They also com- plained that it was impossible to exercise pro- per supervision over the house. The defence set up was that this was a poor man's hotel, and differed not at all in principle from fash- ionable hotels. The licence was renewed on condition that no drink is sold during prohi- bited hours. What would be said if the rule imposed upon this poor man's hotel at Hebden Bridge were imposed upon the hotels fre- quented by the well-to-do ? The law is often inoperative upon the rich and the poor know it. A great deal is said about the migration of the people from the rural districts to towns. The wages earned in the rural districts are low, the work is hard and unpleasant, and the life is dull and cheerless. An agricultural la- bourer who is receiving fifteen shillings a week on the land can go and earn twice or three times as much as a coal miner, and he goes. Why should he not go into the mines, or quar- ries, or into the police force, or into the rail- way service? Is there any reason why men should work on the land for starvation wages when they can live in comparative comfort in towns ? There is a demand for men in towns and also for women as servants. This means that a rural labourer, if he has any sort of force in him, migrates to the towns and does well. It is the fault of landowners that the rural population is declining. There are thou- sands of people of middle age who would re- turn to the country to live if they could buy land on which to build houses, but landowners will not sell land. They are afraid to see the villages grow. and yet they complain that rents are declining! It is people, not rabbits, that give value to land. If the landowners in this district were wise in their own interests they would bring back to the land not la- bourers, but people who have made money in trade and who would like to live in the country if they could get there. Then there is the establishment of rural industries, but that is too large a topic for a notc. of this kind. At the last meeting of the Newtown Council Mr. EDWARD JONES moved that an application be made to the various Railway Companies to place Newtown on the list of places to which tourist tickets are issued'. The mover of'the resolution made out a good case for the acceptance of his motion and the Council passed it unanimously. Mr. ELLISON referred to the beauty of the district. What puzzles us, and what has puzzled us for well on to forty years, is why the Cambrian Railways Com- pany are blind to the beauty of their own dis- trict. We do not think there is any town in Wales that has more beautiful walks or more interesting and reposeful scenery than New- town. Many of the old grassy roads are per- fect marvels of still beauty, and if the people were fully alive to their own possessions, and the Cambrian Railways would co-operate with the people, we think everybody would be gainers. We do not understand the Cam- brian Railways. Here they have a town on their own line in which one of the most cele- brated men in the world was born and is buried and they make nothing of it. This policy may be wise in some profound way we do not comprehend, but if we were asked what course to take we would say run ROBERT OWEN'S birthplace for all it is worth, not only as a beautiful spot, but as identified with one of the greatest men of the country. What Mr. EDWARD JONES, Mr. ELLISON, and other mem- bers of the Council should do is to persevere in every way. It is more than half way to victory not to accept defeat. r At the usual monthly meeting, on Tuesday, of the Aberystwyth Ratepayers' Association it was resolved to hold another public meet- ing in reference to the Borough Finances, when the opinion of the ratepayers will be taken on the strange action of the Council. In November, the Council agreed to grant an ini-estigation into- the Borough Accounts for the past ten years. At a subsequent meeting this resolution was rescinded and it was agreed to only grant an investigation into one yéar's accounts, namely, for the year 1903, w&ich have act yet been pub- lished This is how foreign nations outstrip us. From returns recently obtained, it is clear that the traffic in old and decrePIt HONS#><I tn FU Continent is on THE increase.. Lasf week, no fewer than one.hundred and ninety-seven old horses were shipped from the various uv:,kg in London. When Mr. CHAMBERLAIN has secured taxed food for the people of this country we shall want all our old" horses for food and as many as ws can get of those b&- longing to other peopVE! It IS A grÐaIt scheme, that of Mr. CHAMBERLAIN'S,, even if you only look at it from the point of view of old horses for food! Members of the Church of England" are* threatening to close their schools if they can- not have all their own way. Very well, leathern. close their schools. Others will have to be built, t.hat is all, and there will be an. end, for ever to the present miserable squabble in- the name of religion. In a short, time the people of Wales will be face to face in the real, battle and if the Nonconformists run away be- cause they will have to build some schools, the sooner they run the better, but will they run ?' We think not. The bogey in the closed schools will frighten no one. Ah, how much: might be done if there were a little TPliuion; -0- about, and if those who profess it only had? faith in it and in one another. < The Western Mail" is very pathetic, and no wonder, for even Radnorshire has gone LLOYD-GEORGE. Never, perhaps, in the his-- tory of Welsh politics has any man won so great and conspicuous a victory as the county council elections have given to Mr. LLOYD- GEORGE, and the "Western Mail is sad and even ill-tempered, which is a mistake. Our Conservative contemporaryl does not seem to be able to get the sort of consolation it so much needs out of Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE'S sup- posed trouncing by the defeated VICAR of Brecon. We will give the "Western Mail" a little advice. Learn to take defeat with calmness and even with cheerfulness. De- feat often absolves those who suffer it gladly from much unpleasant responsibility. Wales and Mr LLOYD-GEORGE have won. That is, the great fact that the country and Parlia- ment will recognize. It is said, we do not know with what truth, that there are about half-a-dozen Welsh papers for sale. One thing is certain that the difficulty of making Welsh newspapers pay is increasingly great. Even the chief Welsh newspaper publishes the bulk of its advertisements in the English language. This is a fact too significant to be ignored. The purchasers of newspapers pay very little, if anything, over the cost of paper and publi- cation. What we mean is that a newspaper that makes on its sale a gross profit of twenty shillings per thousand does well. This twenty shillings per thousand cannot cover the cost of production and therefore loss en- sues. The Welsh newspaper does not re- port fully and it is doomed, not only on that ground, but because the advertiser does not see the necessity of publishing advertisements in the Welsh language and, without adver- tisements, papers cannot continue to exist. Most Welsh newspapers are overloaded with quack advertisements which are inserted to save the cost of composition. If Mr. DAVID DAVIES, Llandinam, is pos*. sessed of a sense of humour, as we think he is, he must have greatly enjoyed himself ever since the publication of his letter revealing his views on the Education Act and his disap- proval of the no-rate policy. We like the plain outspokenness of the letter and we are not going to criticise it. He thinks for himself and has the courage of his opinions, two facts of far more importance than whether he thinks profoundly or whether his opinions are right or not. There is something quite re- freshing in his direct repudiation of the tac- tics which the people' who counted so surely on him and his wealth expected. We have been afraid sometimes that adulation and obsequiousness would sap his force, but his letter shows that he is in no immediate danger, and it is of far more importance that he should think and speak and act wrongly if it so happens, than that he should be somebody's echo. There is a good deal to be said for the case he puts with such delightful frankness, but there is also a good deal to be said for the other side, as he most likely knows. Our wish for him is that he may preserve his inde- pendence of character and never shrink from plain utterance any more than he shrank from it in his recent letter. The consternation he has caused is probably far greater than he realizes. Judge PARRY, of Manchester, delivered a speech the other day at a St. DAVID'S dinner at Carnarvon. Among the good things he said: were some observations about fresh air. He said that he heard Welshmen talk about the, air of their country, but be saw a "Welshman's windows open. Tlx>Y were al-- ways closed. Some OF them would not open., During a long journey lie had made that day- there was only one house which had its- windows open, and it was a doctor's house. It was perhaps good for the doctors that the- windows of other people should remain shut. He confessed for one that he should be de- lighted to see more attention paid to this as- "pect of hygiene. There would be more "health and less miserable indigestion and consumption and smaller ailments if people- "talked not. so much about pure air, but breathed more of it. A missionary effort might b-3 made by those in authority to get the people to perform some of these small things which were now neglected." The doctors of Whales have done and are doing alt that lies in their power to promote a freer use of fresh air. The people do not believe in air that they cannot smell, and the stronger the. smell the better they like it.