South Wales Daily News

r THE MERTHYR COLLIERY ACCIDENT. GREATER CARE REQUIRED. JURY CENSURE THE FOREMAN. On Monday, at the Music-hall Inn, Penydarren, Merthyr, the Coroner (Mr R. J. Rhys), and a jury, of whom Mr Cass Price was foreman, resumed the inquest upon the body of Walter Edwards, a young man 22 years of age, who was killed by a second fall whilst engaged with another man (who escaped) in clearing a firsb fail at the 2ft. gin. seam of the Abercanaid Pit, belonging to the Messrs Hill's Plymouth Company. Mr Sims, inspector of mines, and Mr W. Green, the colliery t1'.anager, were now present. Mr John Mansel Sims, inspector of mines, stated j that he had visited the scene of the accident, a.nd he described the state of the fall. In reply to tho coroner, he said he would not have taken any exception to the way in which the place was timbered before the falls took place. The fall had come with a break caused by a squeeze. There was a probability that if there had been double timbering the accident would' not have happened, but he did think the place was reasonably timbered having reference to the nature of the ground. Ho thought the deceased was In 1\ paculiar position, or the hll would not have caught him. The Coroner explained that the deceased was shovelling to another man at the time. Sergt. Bennett, in answer to the Coroner, said Rees FhiIHpa, ripper, could not attend as a witness because he was suffering from influenza and bronchitis, as to which Dr. Ward's certificate was now handed in. Wm. Thomas, shotman, who visited the placo on the morning of the accident in the capacity of fireman, recalled, said he did not sound the roof with a, hammer or a stick, but he got on the top of the stones from the firsb fall to examine the placo with his lamp. If he had had a long bar or a rail in his hand, he might have tried the roof. He did try with his hand. He considered the place safe, as he had done in the morning. The Coroner pointed out that in tho meantime, however, the first fall had taken place. Witness, in reply to further questions, said he could have taken a mandril from one of the men and tried the roof.—By Inspector Sims: He had been in a, colliery since he was a doorboy. He had been a fireman two and a. half years; he generally had with him a- hammer. Ho might havo sounded the roof and met the samo tate. It was quite possible, but he considered the place was quite safe. The Coroner, in summing up, remarked that if the man had been killed by the first fail there might have baen some question as to the adequacy of the timber- ing, but as it was by the seccnd fall, they must draw some distinction. He thought when the colliery officials sent men to clear a fall they could not bo too careful about examining tho place when men had to work under it. Of course everybody knew in these colliery districts that where one fall occurred another might come down after it. It was for them-to consider whether the fireman for the day (Wm. Thomas) did everything he reasonably could have done to examine the place before he started the men to clear the fall. The room was cleared for the jury to consider their verdict. Upon re-assembling the Foreman (Mr Cass Price) said Wo are all agreed that Walter Edwards met his death by accident, and we wish to add as a rider that the coroner should censure the shot- man for not having done his-duty. He should have examined the workings in a more careful manner before lie put the men to work at the placv'

ALLEGED INCENDIARISM AT CARDIFF. PRISONERS BEE ORE THE BENCH. The two Greeks Christo Doye and Anastasia Doye wero brought up at Cardiff Police-court on Monday, charged with feloniously setting fire to a dwelhng houae and shop, No. 30, Bute-street, with intent to defraud an insurance company. The fire, which caused considerable damage, was discovered on Sunday morning, and circum- stances in connection with it aroused the suspicions of tho police. At the outsat Mr C. Harley Downs, who appeared for the prisoner Ohristo Doye, applied that the case be remanded. He understood that tha prosecution intended to ask for an adjournment. Mr Lewis Morgan, who defended Anastasia Doyo, also asked that the caso might be remanded. Tha Bench agreed to remand prisoners for a week, but refused to allow bail.

It is announced that M. Canivet, director of the Paris, who was acquitted on charges of blackmailing, left Paris on Sunday for Constanti- nuple owing to tit turn taken by the proceedings in tho case of Messrs Allez Bros. He is supposed to have feared re-arress and confinement in Mnzas Prison.

WELSH GOSSIP. Sir George Osborne Morgan has again beefl appointed Chairman of the Standing Committal on Law. Sir E. J. Reed's nephew, the erstwhile membel for East Bradford, was one of the defeated "Moderates" at the London County Council election. There lived an old soul in Upper Carmarthen1 shire who maintained that St. Paul was an Au" trian. He based his conclusion on the vers" Ystruan o ddyn wyf fi" (Romans vii., 24). I Lord Bute has signed a petition in favour 01 the removal of the ecclesiastical impediments ill the way of the education of Roman Catholics at Oxford and Cambridge. The Bretons, John Jones's firsb cousins, have through q.11 time been regarded by the French at the flower of their navy. They maintain thil proud distinction to the present day. Mr T. H. Idris and Mr Edwin Jones, two of the three old Welsh members of the London County Council, have been re-olected, but Mr Howell J. Williams, also a Progressive, hal suffered defeat. On the second reading of the Welsh Disestab- lishment Bill, Sir Frederick Milner proposes t& move :—" That this House declines to proced with the Bill until a religious census has been taken in Wales." The Countess of Dunraven lately sent to the Queen some specimens of lace manufactured at Mrs Robert Vere O'Brien's school in Limerick, and her Majesty and Princess Henry of Batten berg made purchases to the value of £80. Lord Penrhyn has given instructions t3 Mt Young, his chief agent, to add a day's pay to the wages of the 3,000 quairymen in his employment at Penrhyn Slate Quarries, as an indication of his sympathy with them in the distress arising from the frost. In no place was St. David's Day more loyally observed than in Edinburgh, where professors, medical men, preachers, and laymen of all denominations congregated together by the sweet) ties of brotherhood. Nearly every item 014 the programme was carried out in Welsh. At no period of its history has the vitality 01 the Welsh language been more pronounced than at the present day. The editors of Young JVltles-the organ of the Gymru Fydd—will not be the last to endorse this. The paper will shortly bo converted into a'duog'ot. Eu hiaith a gad- want." Professor Darlington (who is, as all the world knows, a racy Welsh writer) has said thab the thirst fur education is more intense in Wales than in any country in the world. He regards the tacb that over 100.000 subscriptions towards Aberystwyth Collage were received in sums undor half-a-crown, and that several poor JBebhesda quarrymen contributed their five pounds to Bangor College, as a very signiticanb omen foi the future of education in Gwalia. Sir John Jones Jenkins, who has been in indifferent health for some time, has been advised by Dr. Griffiths, his medical attendant, to take a. trip to the Continent. He leaves in a few days. Councillor Freeman, of Swansea, is about to leave tor Spain with a like object; and Dr. W. Morgan, the chairman of the Swansea School Board, who is now convalescent, is only waiting for the weather to break up before sailing for the Mediterranean. The county council election for the Bridgend Division created unusual interest, and for two reasons—the introduction of politics, and the fact that one candidate is a Welshman and the other a Scotchman. A very clever poetical" skit on the fight appeared in the last issue of the Gin- morgan Gazette from the facile pen of Mr D. H. Lewis. Mr Lewis is a brother ot the Rev. Elveb Lewis, Lianelly, last year's chaired bard, and was educated ab the Kingston-upon-Hull Grammar School. Writing of the late Lord Aberdare in the Times, Sir Charles Dalrymple, M.P., says: — "Ib happ&ned to me to know with what oare and trouble Lord Aberdare dealt with the Church patronage of the Crown in Scotland, whioh. according to the custom prevalent before the Patronage Abolition Act was passed,, was vested in the Secretary of State. He took the utmost pains to ascertain everything that could be known about candidates, and was grateful for information supplied to him from independent quarters, quit. apart from political connection with himself." Apropos of the late frost, a local bard, upo. being asked for an impromptu upon the occasion of the bursting of a numbar of water-pipes in sr neighbouring bouse, where, under the trying circumstance?, the weaker vessel played ths stronger part, delivered himself thus, and sang- lt to the tune Twrgwyn," which greatly added t4 the comicality of the impromptu :— Y dwfr oil a rhewodd, I-w-bwb, A'r pibau plwm a forstiodd, I-w-bwb Carlamnu Shon gyflymwyd, Adiangodd nm eI fywyd, Ond a baner foddwyd, I-w-bwb, Gwell gwraig erioed ni anwyd, I-w- bwb. Hirwain. G. E. 3, The Rev. G. Griffiths (Penar), Pentre Estylai who preached anniversary sermons at Horeb, Llwydcoed, on Sunday, is one of the most eloquent of our young Welsh preachers, and those who heard him at the Welsh publio meeting ab the Park-hall, Cardiff, on the occasion of the Welsh Congregational Union meetings will not soon forget the way in which he carried with him that immense crowd. Mr Griffiths is a native of Trecynon, Aberdare, and has worked as a collier. and his only training for the ministry he received, at the Trecynon Academy under the Rev. R. J. Jones, M.A. He has, however, been a hard and diligent student ever since, and is one of out chaired bards. The Monmouthshire County Council electioV on Monday was reduced to the barest proportion- only five contests out of 48 possibles. Evidentlj the constituencies think well of the county councillors, and deservedly, too. Commercial travellers in the hills note the newer and bettel order of things for which the county council art primarily to be credited. The chief figure wha disappears from the council is the Duke of Beam fort. He was not nominated again. During tha six years his grace held office, and attended pretty regularly, he never did anything note, worthy. Stop he once discovered, in awesome phrase, that several Dissenters were being pnt on an educational committee, and was timorous, enough to remonstrate. The way Councillor (now Alderman) Harris, with the leonine norm dt plume, went for that poor old duko in Royal descent was a sight for the gods. As usual, the enterprising reporter "gave the discusion-shor, heated, and punctuated with satirical Jaughter- in the first person. Since then the dukehasneve* smelt" Dissenters anywhere. Mr John Williams, checkweigher, of YnysybwJ, the secretary of the now organisation of th, miners of South Wah-s and Monmouthshire, is assuredly a man of many parts and varied attain' ments. Born 35 years ago Aberair.an, ht commenced life as a door boy at the old Plough Pit of the Powell Duffryn Company. From hia early youth he was a leader of inen, and, before the fusion of the scale oatne about, Mr Williams was for years the chairman of the Sliding-scala Committee of the Ocean Colliery workmen. Ha is a powerful platform speaker, and his extra- ordinary influence over his fellow-workmen was often illustrated in the days gone by, when the Ocean workmen, drawn from seven collieries, mefi in mass meetings under his presidency at the Drill-hall, Pemie. to diieiiss their grievances* Among the bards, Mr Williams is known by the euphemistic nom de plume of Eryr Glan Gwawr, and his ability as conductor and adjudicator at eisteddfodau has rendered his name a. fatniliaf one in Welsh literary circles. Although his duties as checkweigher of a large colliery furnish him with but meagre leisure, he has yet found bime to promote innumerable industrial societies for the uplifting of his fellow-workmen, and for the last five years he has represented his disbricl on the Mountain Ash Urban District Council. Two years ago he contested the Dnffryn Division for a seat on the Glamorgan County Council against a powerful opponent, and was defeated only by a few votas. As if his duties were not already sufficiently onerous, Mr Williams, who has for years been a local preacher with tha Baptists, was recently ordained to th full work of the ministry in that Uenomiiwtion, so that now he may be entitled "Rev." It is note- worthy also that it was by dint of hard homa study—being deprived of the opportunities fol collegiate training-that he qualified himself fol this additional honour conferred upon hinw With such an energetic secretary ab the helm, tht new organisation, if of itself worthy, must) oel t,,i1l1v make headway.

11nblic Camparais, &t. Tbe UST for SUBSCRIPTIONS will OPEN THIS DAY (TUESDAY), 5th 1a.rch. 1895. and CLOSE the following ATURDAY for London and MONDAY for the 'Country. ISSUK of 80.000 EIGHT PER CENT. CUMULATIVE PBEFEKENCE SHARES, on which the Vendors u-aarantee a Minimum of t'»ur per Cent. during the ompletion of the Work-?. THE PEAT-CH.ARCOAL FUEL AND IRON COMPANY OF IRELAND (LIMITED). Hedstered untie* the Limited Liability Acts, 1262 to 1?30. Capital, £ 120,0-30, divined into 30.000 Ordinary hare of £ 1 each. all of which are tak n by the In part payment of the purchase money, and £ 0,000 ivight per Cent. Cnnmlative Preference hare" of £ 1 cctch, oi which 00.000 are now offered to the Pubhc. '/he Preference £ bares are preferntial for Capital as wcil :1! fOf Dividends, and are entitled to partic:p¡1.te eonatiy in surplus Profits 3.fter 8 per Cent. has been paid un the Ordinary Shares, anÜ are payable as follows 5; on Application, 10s on Allotment, and the Balance at Two and Six Months after Allotment. DIJU £ CrOfi-S. The Right lIon, the Earl of DONOUGHMORE, 1('C.)1.G.. Chairman. A. H. CHANTER, J<q (Director, Arnold, Perrett,and C I,imilell), Bradley Court. Gloucestershire. WM. GOS-JUAN T'jOMEY, Esq., LL.D., Ardmore, lirav, Cn. WVklow. G. H. IC IN AH AN, Eq., 11. C.E. (Trio. Coll., Dubl.). M.R.I.A., late DiSrlct Surveyor, H.M. Geological Survev, Ireland. Sir EDWARD LEE, Knt., 14, Waterloo-place, Pall .1all.. W. RtKKEUS. The NATIONAL BANK (LIMITED), 13, Olù Broad-street, London, E.C. 54, College-green, Dublin; and Branches. SOLICITORS. Messrs SMILES, OU.AlD, YATES, and OLLARD, 15, B,dforci.row, W.C., a.nd Church-court, Clement's. lane. E.C., London. ERNEST W. HAP.RIS; Esq., LLD" 2, St. Andrew- street, Dublin. BROKERS. Messrs KNIGHT and LETCHER, 2, Tokenhouse- buildings, Lothburv, amI Stock Exchange, London, E.C. Messrs MANIFOLD and HINES, College-green, and Stock Exchange, Dublin. AUDITORS. Messrs HARVEY PREEN and CO., bartered accoun- tants, Basing House, Basinehall-street, London, E.C. Messrs ALFRED KIJ.LINGLEY and CO" I, Foster- place, College-green, Dublin. ENGINEER.—OSWALD ROSg. Esq., C.E., London. SECRETAKY. —J. H. CLARKE, Esq. OFFICES. 5, St. Peter's-alley, Cornhill. London, E.C. 1 and 2, Jlüstcr-pÏace, College-green, Dublin. PROSPECTUS. This Company is formed for the following purposes :— 1. To acquire an estate in the Barony of Drumahair, county Leitrim, Irel3.nd. consisting of 1.105 acres, and all the mineral rights relating thereto, and machinery, plnt, engines, blast furnaces, cottages, and buildings thereon. 2. To manufacture peat charcual for fuel and other purposes, and to recover the bye products — ammonia, acetic acid, naphtha, etc. 3. '1'0 marmfactUre charcoal pig iron. 4. To trade generally in accordance with the powers conferred by the Memorandum of Association. S. To acquire Mr W. A. Byrom's patent process (PMent N. 3310 of 183g), by which the wa ie heat and gases ivell off from the blast furnaces are ntilised in cOlljilllction with what is known as I he "Rose" retort, which is automatic in action and arrnited to drh-e off. recover and conlltJnse the volatile SUI> t;¡.uces. aud prepare the peat- for compression into charcoal blocks for fuel ánd for smelting purposes. By these means 3. complete cycle of operations i., !!ffected. the retorts f rnish. jng the charcoal for fuel and smelting the iron, at the same time ;5 the byo products are being recovered, aid the furn ees producin th" pilt-Yr"Il I1fe yielùin their waste heat ami gases as W for the prcdllctJOn of th charcoal from the peat. The Company have iiecnred the services of :.1r Oswald Rose (the inventor of the Rose Retort) as Managing Engineer, thereby ensuring the proper working of lhe process. 111e Creevelea Estate, which the Company purchases, consists of 1,ICS-acres of land, and is situated in the Barony of Drumahair, five and a half miles from the town and tation of Drumahair, OJl the Leitrim and Sligo Railway, and is about four miles from the navicable water" of Lough AHen, whence the River 3h,mnon flow", giving water carriage to the sea at Limerick. Sli" can also be reached both by water through Lough Gill, and by rail from Drumahair. The estate IS held for the residue of a term of 999 years from 1st of May, 1698. at quit rent of £ 4 7s 8d per anuum (except 3.S to a small portion occupied by stables, &c., held for nearly 700 years::lot a quit rent of £ 5), and. i" therefore p!<1cUcalIy freehold. These hereditaments are subject to a rent charge of £ 100 per annum created in 1882 to the Sligo, I.eitrim, and orthern Counties Railway Company, by way of guarantee for the payment of certaiu dividends to t3e hareholders in that Company, for a term of 2.5 years from 1882. Repurts have been made as to the property by Pro. fessor Hun, LLD, P.R.S., F.G.S., late director or the Geological Survey of Iieland, by the late Edward T. Hardman, M.E., F.C.S., of H.M. Geological Survey, anr1. by JrJohn Higson, M I.C.K., of the firm of J. an(1 P. lligson, uf Manchester. Estimates of thø necessary plant, working expenses, and returns by Mr Richard Harrison, late assistant to Sir C, W. Siemens, and opinions as to the system of working by Pro iOSSOr Wanklyn, ?tIr Ralph Betley, J!G.i:1., Lecturer on Chemistry and Physics to the Wigan Mining School, and Mr Â. H. Holdich, formerly Chief Analytical Chemist to the Wigan CoøJ and Iron Company. Extracts from these Reports accompany the Pros- pectus, and the Reports can be S6en at tile offices of the Solicitors to the Company. ?Ill" Holdich, in spnking of the Rose-Byrom process ann the Ironstone, says :— I feel sure that the whole cycle of operations will be successful. I have aho had an opportunity of examining the Ironstone on the estate, and ha,e 110 hesitation in declaring it well suited for the manufacture of bigh. clAss Iron, and also of Steel." It i.s impossible to over-estimate the importance to Irelanll of this invention. by which an ancient industry wHl be revived. The immense masses of pea. hitherto serviceable only as domestic fuel, are made avaihble for commerce, and the manufacture of steel and iron Can now be re-introduced into the country. The plant consists of two furnaces, engine, boilers, and a moulder's cupola, kilns, workshops, stores, and cottages. It is proposed to put down turbines of 150 horse- power, as there is ample water supply trom three lakes on and adjoining the property, which have 3. difference of level above the works of more than 700 feet. 10 i,,¡ intended to erect a sufficient number of retorts for distilling the peat with suitable comprssing machinery and condensation and rectifying plant to produce 26,250 tons of compresed char- coal, 300 tons of sulphate of ammonia, 220 tons of "rey acetate of lime. and 90,000 gallons of wood naphtha per annum. Of the char.-oal thus produced 10,D.,7 tons will be required for the blast furnaces, and 15,703 tons will be available for sale for FUEL AND OTHER PURPOSES. The estimated cost of the new plant and alterations, including compressing and rectifying mehi!1ery. sulphate of ammonia, pJan, c., IS £ 13,00o. The Chrcoal Iroll produced will be similar in character to the well-known Swedish charcoal iron, which commands the highest prices io the m¡\1"kt for tool-steel tillI other special purposes, including horse- shoss and nail. The demand for charcoal for various manufacturing purposes is well known, and cOí1sider. able profits are anticipated from thh, part of the Com. pany's operations. The want of sulphate of ammonia for agricultural purposes in Ireland the Company pro. pos" to supply, and the other by-products of distillation readily command a gale at highly remunerative prices. Mr Ruse writes as follow ;— '1'0 the Directors of The Pet-Ch¡¡.rcoa1 Fuel and Iron Company of Ireland. Gentlemen,-I h1\v orefuliy gone into the question of the manufacture of Peat-Charcoal and Charcoal Pi 11'011 on the Creevelea Estate, and find that eight sets of retorts will m3.uufacture per annum 26.250 tons of Peat-Charcoal, r-nd that 4,800 tons of Pig Iron can be manufactured with the presenli blast furnace anti blowing engine plant. I have enrefullv worked out th actual cost of manubctnre of the above, and have estimated the elliJJg prices of the materials at the works, allowing 10 per cent. for depreciation of buildings, plant -nul machinery, with the following results (details of which I have pleasure in handing ym) ;— 1'0 6,2bO tons of Peat-Charcoal (profit).. £ 8,960 16 § „ 4,800.. Charcoal lroll „ „ 8.936 4 Ó Bye Proélucta „ «. S,610 0 0 £ 27,507 0 6 I am, your bedient seral1t, OSWALD BOSK, C.E. London, August 1st, 1894. If, therefore, the following be de- ducted from this amount, viz. :— 8 per cant, interest on 90,000 Pre. i&fdlCe Shares £ 7,200 8 per cent. interest on 30,000 Ordinary Shares 2,400 Reserve Fund annually 5.000 Maintenance and Insurance 2,500 17,100 0 0 £ 10,107 0 It will be found that there remains a balance of £ 10,407 03 6d available for further dividends. The purchase money for the entire property, patent, cotti>«e-i, &c., has been fixed at the sum of £ 60,000, payable as to £ 20,000 in cash, £ 10,000 in fully paid-up Preference Shares, aml the balance, £ 30,000, in fully paid-up Ordinary Shares. The plant, machinery, and stock of ore on the ground will be taken at a/1 agreed price of £ 3,500. The only contracts affecting the Company are an agreement dated the 13th day of August, 1894, and made between the vendors, :M:r Nathaniel Briùges amI Mr WilliaTD Ascroft Byrom, of the ODe part, and ?oIr Alfred Killingley, :¡,s trustee for and on behalf of the Company, of the other part, fOl" the purchase of the Creevelea Estate, and for the acquisition of the patent and an agreement dated the 27th day of August, 1894, between Mr Oswald Rose, of the one part, and 1\11' Alfred Killingley, a3 such trustee, of the other part; and an areement dated 1st day of Mar. h, 1895. and made between the said Nath<1.niel Bridges of the first part, William Âseroft Byron: of the second part, ami tlie Company of the third part. Copies of these and of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and tha plans, may be seen at the Offices of the Comp1\ny, or of their Solicitors. The Vendors wdl provide all the preliminary ex- penses of the formation and bringing out of th Com- pany and'he issue of its capital, up to and including the allotment of shares, and have reserved to th m. selves the right to enter into, and have entered into, arrangements with third parties for this purpose to which toe Company ig not a party. As these arraügements may technically be contracts within the meaning of Section 3" of the Companies Act, 1867, applicants for shares sha1l be deemed to have notice thereof, and to h3.ve waived compliance with 1!uch section iu reference thereto. A Stock Exchange quotation of the Company's Shares will be applIed for In London and Dublin as soon as possible. Applications should be mad" on theform accompany- iug the Prospectus, and forwarded to the Companý's Bankers, Together with a remittance for the amount JYdoyable un application. Should no allotment be made, the deposit money will be returned in full, and where the number of shares allot tell is less t han the number applied for, the surplus will be crediteri in reduction of amount péLyable on allotment Prospectuses anil fonns of application can be ob. mell at the Offices of the Company or of their Brokers, Bankers, Auditors, and Solicitors. London, March 4th, 1895. 39. QUEEN. STREET, 39, QARDIFF. JpURE fjTEAS OF gOOD! QUALITY, AT JpAIR RICES. JgJLLIS DAVIES AND CO. BUD WAREHOUSE M, LORD. STREET, LIVERPOOL. 1438 TEETH.-Complete Sot, One Guinea. Fiv \v[1.lTanty. GOODMAN AND Co., 10f 1)uke.stree aull5ó, Queeu.5ueet, Cardiff. 13041-1114 Husnuss Àbhrtssts. ROGERS' AK ALES AND PORTERS IJl GallonCasksandupward PALE AND MILD ALES .fromlOdperGallon PORTER AND STOUTS. -from Is per Gallon BREWERY, BRISTOL CARDIFF STORES, WORKING-STREET 1161 J. MARSH and c OMPY., I UNDERTAKERS, ADULTS' FUNERALS 1st Class, with Best Glass-siue hearse, or Victoria Car, Two Best Coaches and Pairs to Match, lin. Elm Shell, full lined, fine, Satin-trimmed Robe, lin. outside O tk Coffin (polished) with Best Brass I Furniture, Elaborate Name Plate (ensraved). Bearers, and Self-a.ttenda.nce £ 12 12 0 2nd Class, as above, Without Shell and Bearers 9 9 0 1st Class, lin. Elm Polished Coffin, with Brass Furnitute and Carriages and At- tendance a,, Above 5 10 0 With imitation Brass Furniture (Kn- graved Plate) 6 0 0 2nd Class, With Shellibier and Coach. 4 4 0 OSLY ADDRESS- 80, ST. MARY-STREET, CARDIFF. 1365 MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST MASTKBS' CLOTHING BKST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BKST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTKES' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHKAPKST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTKRS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. A. jg,EMINDER! HAVE YOU SEEN RASTERS & £ J.O.'S NEW STYLES FOR BOYS 1 THE VERY BEST CHOICE in the Country. THE SMARTEST DESIGNS ever introduced. THE STYLE, FIT, & FINISH unequalled. THE PRICE cut down to the Lowest Fraction. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTEKS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTKKS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. MASTERS' CLOTHING BEST AND CHEAPEST. | T 0 N E B R 0 s Sons of the late Aid. Gains Augustus Stone), COMPLETE FUNERAL FURNISHERS AND FUNERAL DIRECT RS. Every requisite for Funerals of all classes. Proprietors of Funeral Cars, Hearses, Shilli- biers, and Coaches. Superb Flemish Horses, &c. Price List on Application. Please Note the Only Address:- 5, W O R KING-S T R E E T Telegraphic Address :— "STONE 13itos., 1715 Telephone: Telegrams: No. 545, National.Royalty, Cardiff.' OYAL jLJOTEL, cARDIFF. NEW GRILL ROOM NOW OPEN. Chop or Steak, with Bread, Is. LUNCHEONS DAILY, from 1 to 3 o'clock. Table d Ilote Luncheons. 2 6 Fish, Joint, and Cheese 2 0 Joint, Sweets, and Cheese 2 0 Joint and Cheese 1. TABLE D'HOTE DINNERS, 3s. SERVED AT 6.0 to 8.0. NO CHARGE FOR ATTENDANCE. 13:1 A. JUDAH, Manager. TD BUILERS, &Ci 0 S S L E Y S c OTTO GAS AND OIL ENGINES, FOR DRIVING WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY, MORTAR MILLS, ltc. MANY IMPROVEMENTS. REDUCED PRICES. CASH OI HIRE PURCHASE. For particulars apply SOUTH WALES OFFICE 22, MOUNT STUART-SQUARE, CARDIFF. TELEGRAMS—" OTTO," CARDIFF. G. A. STONE & CO., UNDERTAKERS. ESTABLISHED OVER 30 YEARS. AT THE OLD AND ONLY ADDRESS- 10, 11, & 12, WORKING-STREET, CA RDIFF. UNDER THE MANAGEMENT UF Miss STONE, assisted by an Edicient StstiT. Telegraphic A,I(Iress,- "Stone, Undertaker Cardiff.' 8a—1103

BIRTHS, MAJLtltl AGES, DJBATHb e Nttices of Birthi, Marnanft, and Dtatht, 1* each, if not exceeding TO wordp, and 6d for eaeh extra IS wards. MARRIAGES. JONES—LARKIN.—On March 2nd, at Conway-road Wesleyan Chapel, by the Rev. H. Burson, assisted by the Rev. E. Woolrych, Dan Elias Jones, fourth son of the late Alderman 1). Jones, J.P., Cardiff, to Minnie, second daughter of Captain T. Larkin (steamship Cresswell), 9, Plasturton-place, Cardiff. 732 SUFFERN—ROBINSON.—March 2nd, at Charles-street Weley,n Chapel, by Rev. C. H. Hocken, Captain Itobert Suffern, of Belfast, to Elizabeth Eleanor, eldest daughter of Captain J. T. Robinson, Wellfield- road, Rotti;. 696 DEATHS. BOWDEN.—In ever loving memory of Albert John Bowden, who died at Cardiff March 5th, 1894. To memory very dear. 793 BOYER.—At Penarth, on the 2nd March, Rosa Marian, the lovely and beloved child of Annie Susan and Robert Skeffington Boyer, of whooping cough, influenza, and pneumonia, aged 7 months. COLWILL.—On March 4th, at 11, Lead-street, Cardiff, Amelia Laura, the dearly-beloved wife of George Colwill, railway inspector. Funeral Thursday, 2 p.m. Friends please accept this intimation. 824 EDWARDS.—On March 2nd, at Misfrn Inn, Mountain Aoh. Mary Edwards, aged 77, widow of late Herbert Edwards, Gmijz Berthlwyd, Quaker's Yard. Funeral Thursday, March 7th, at one o'clock sharp, for Horeb Chapel, Quaker's Yard. 812 GRIFFITH.- On the 3rd inst, at his residence, Glan- ffrr;tlwvllt, Taibach, William Griffiths, aeed 67 years Public funeral on Thursday, at 3.15 punctual. Friends will please accept this intimation. LEWIS.—On the 4th inst.. at Les Eaux, Clytha Park, Newport, Mon., Myra Elizabeth White Beckingliam, the beloved wife of Edward Lewis, aged 55. 1981 LEWIS.—March 2nd, 1395, at 40, Windsor-street, Tre. cynon, Aberdare, Benjamin Lewis, Butcher, aged 71. Funeral, Wednesday, 3.30 p.m. Deeply regretted. PR.OTHEltOE. -On 28th February, at Mill House, Blaina, Leah. the beloved wife of Thomas Protheroe, mer- chant. Funeral Wednesday, 3 o'clock, for Blaina ('eraetery. 633 SHKPHERT).—March 3rd, a.t 61, Oakfield-street, Cardiff, W. M. Shepherd, aged 36. Funeral on Wednesday, March 5th, at 4 p.m. prompt for New Cemetery. Gentlemen only. 748 WOOD.—On March 2nd, at his residence, 79, Newport. road, William Christopher Wood, aged 60. Funeral on Wednesday, 2.30. Friends please accept thi4 intimation. 747

CONFUSING THE ISSUE. AN able and trenchant political writer whose criticisms have edified and instructed thousands, inquires in the current number of one of the most thoughtful and best conducted of London weeklies, Hew is it that honourable men who really try to deal justly by their opponents, often fall into such confusion of thought, such painful errors as to fact when they are striving to be most fair 1" The question, in varied forma of inquiry, has been asked repeatedly in the columns of the South Wales Daily News, and we are as far from the solution of the ¥ '————————————————————————— puzzle to-day as we have ever been. We are not asking why certain persons, jour- nalists and others, either wilfully or ignorantly, distort and misrepresent the opinions and arguments of their opponents. That question is readily answered. It is caused by some sad defect in the moral or mental faculty of the delinquent. But it is impossible to solve the difficulty so readily when the misrepresentations and errors are repeated and emphasised by men of character and thought and culture, who, we are satisfied, would not wilfdly mislead and deceive; such men, for instance, as those who now occupy seats on the Episcopal and the Archiepiscopal Bench. The vast majority of the Welsh people and of the Welsh members are de. manding, and have demanded for years, the separation of the Episcopal Church in Wales from the State in other words, they insist that one sect of Christians in the Princi- pality, and that sect not the largest, shall no longer be unduly favoured by the political State, and receive privileges, honours, and prerogatives and be endowed with national property to teach the ecclesiasticism and the dogmas of that one sect. We are not at present discussing whether the demand of the Welsh people and of the Welsh members is right or wrong we are simply stating what the demand is. Now there would appear to be no real difficulty in the wayofanymenlucidly apprehending the nature and extent of that demand to grip clearly and fully what the Welsh people require. They wish to abolish the State connection with the Episcopal Church in Wales. This and this only. Nevertheless, although the Welsh Nonconformist and Dissenting demand has been made plain by enunciating it in every form of words of which language is capable, Arch- bishops and Bishops, and learned Proctors and Reverend Doctors persistently misrep- resent the Welsh request as a demand for the extinction of the Episcopal Church in Wales and tor the suppression of its religious services. To what strange hallucination or twist in mental vision are we to attribute this calumnious perversion — this grave misrepresentation of the Welsh de- mand ? Wilful and intentional misstate- ment being out of the question, how are these startling, these painful errors in fact and statement by such men to be accounted for ? The keen political critic to whom we have referred is disposed to think that the problem is in part explained by the two sides of the shield' hypothesis." But that hypothesis is not relevant to this particular difficulty, inasmuch as the mis- apprehension and misrepresentation by the Church Defence advocates are made concerning the views and the intentions of Welsh Dissenters and Nonconformists, views and intentions which they have never hidden beneath ambiguous or misleading phrases, but have ever made clear to and understandable by the people. The writer whom we have quoted is by no means satisfied with his own interpretation, and says, But it needs something more than this fully to explain the difficulty." Exactly and neither he nor we have been able to discover that some- thing more." The Archbishop of CANTER- BURY, at the great Church Defence meeting held in the Queen's-hall, Langham-place, on St. DAVID'S Day, which was presided over by himself and his brother Archbishop of YORK, said, in attempting to rebut the demand of the Welsh people, "There was nothing in the Principality that for an- tiquity and high memories could compare with that Church and for long centuries the Church in Wales was practically the nation. That was St. DAVID'S Day, and St. DAVID was a typical Bishop, but the Church was old even when that great man was born." Now, what possible bearing has this upon the ques- tion at issue, or what possible bearing does the Archbishop think it has ? Does Dr. BENSON really labour under the delusion that in their demand for the abolition of the English State Church in Wales Dissenters and Nonconformists are seeking to uproot or abolish anything that existed in the Principality at the period when St. DAVID flourished or during the early ages of Christianity in Wales 1 If so, his own state- ments disprove his own assumption. His contention is that the four Welsh Dicceses are an integral part of the English State Church, are four Dioceses in the Ecclesiastical Province of Canterbury. But when were they made a part of the English State Church ? Was it in the time of St. DAVID or in the early ages of Christianity in the Principality ? In his historic conscience the Archbishop knows that it was not then. It was the English conquest of Wales in the latter part of the thirteenth century which forced the Welsh Church to become subject to the Archiepiscopal See of Canter- bury or take the Bishop's own statement of the union, it was not before the middle of the twelfth century. Then it was, as the late Dean EDWARDS said, no mean authority on such a question as this, as the Archbishop will no doubt be amongst the first to admit that The Church of Wales became the Church in Wales." This submission of the Welsh Church to the See of Canterbury, this union of the Welsh Church with the English State Church was not effected until the close of the thirteenth century, or, accepting the Archbishop's date of union, not until the middle of the twelfth. It is this State connection, this union of the Welsh Church with the State that Welsh Dissenters and Nonconformists are earnestly seeking to dissolve. What really can be the intention, then, of the Archbishop in discussing the Church in St. DAVID'S time — the Saint flourished six hundred years before this union was formed or for what purpose does he dilate upon Christianity in Wales during the early centuries ? As an intelligent man the Archbishop must know that Welsh Dissenters and Noncon- formists profess an anxious desire to restore Christianity in the Principality to the condition in which it existed during the early centuries and in the time of St. DAVID. The question is not whether they are right or wrong in seeking to do this whether they are right or wrong in seeking to abolish the union of the Welsh Church with the State which occurred six hundred years after St. DAVID'S death but the question is what is the Dissenting and Nonconformist contention ? Surely the Archbishop must know what their contention is he must know that they seek to abolish the State Union with the Welsh Church. Only that. Why, then, does the Archbishop in his defence go back to the age of St. DAvID and the early centuries of the Church in Wales, as if Dissenters wished to abolish the Welsh Church and not the State con- nection ? This is something worse than confusing the issue. That might be a logical defect merely. But the Arch- bishop's method of argument is not far removed from misrepresentation, which would be an offence against morality and truth. In a subsequent part of his speech the Archbishop sad that the real work of the Church in Wales was teaching the people the real facts about the method of the payment of the Church's ministers, and the origin and payment of the tithes." This might be the real work of the functionaries of a State system of ecclesiasticism but it is surely not the real work of the ministers of the Christian Church, of the successors and interpreters of that Great Teacher who preached the Sermon on the Mount. We sincerely regrrefc to learn from the Archbishop of CANTER- BURY, the ecclesiastical head of the State Church, that the work of the Church in Wales is to teach the people the facts about Church property and the origin and pay. ment of tithe, because it justifies the worst indictment ever preferred against a State Church. We will tell the people of Wales something about Church property and the origin and payment of tithes, drawn from more reliable sources than are the Church Defence ad- vocates. Dr. HATCH, a Church authority to whose witnessing even an Archbishop must bow, states in his Growth of Church Institutions," page 102 Tithes are one of the results of the great Carlovingian reformation. (In the eighth century.) They are not strictly ecclesiastical in their origin, but came to the Church from the State." As to their distribution, Dr. HATCH says, page 109, that the command was All first fruits of the produce of the wine press and threshing floor, of oxen and sheep thou sha]t give to the priests all tithes thou shall give to the orphan and widow, to the poor and the stranger." We shall be ready during the discussions on the Welsh Bill to assist the Church in what the Archbishop calls her work" in "teaching the people" of Wales what are 44 the real facts" as to Church property and the origin and payment of tithes.

THOUGH there have been no further develop- ments in the situation, it is now acknow- ledged all round that the position of affairs is certainly not so threatening as it appeared a few days ago. The action of the miners' representatives on Saturday in issuing a manifesto convening a general conference of miners' delegates for Monday next has had a most reassuring effect, for it is considered that so long as efforts are in progress to bring about a settlement, there need be no abandonment of hope. What produced the consternation of last week was the unexpected collapse of the negotiations, followed by the fear that a conflict was inevitable—a fear to which colour was given by the startling declaration of tho employers with reference to the notices terminating contracts. How those notices camo to be issued 'have now been explained by the employers, and it is accordingly recognised that the action was little more than y, formality. The fact that the employers deemed it prudent to issue such an explanation is, not unnaturally, regarded as a pronouncement that, so far as they are concerned, negotiations may yet be resumed. Interest is now centred around the forthcoming conference of the miners' delegates at Cardiff, at which it is hoped the workmen's representatives will be vested with plenary powers to bring about a settle- ment. It will be observed also with satis- faction that the conference of hauliers and wagemen at Pontypridd on Monday, so far from manifesting a bitter hostility towards the scale, resolved by a large majority to support the continuance of the scale principle, provided only that a seat on the Sliding-scale Joint Committee shall be allocated to a hauliers' representative.

LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTION. MODERATES TIE WITH THE PROGRESSIVES. An the returns have now been declared. Both parties are represented by 59 members—a tie. The Moderates have gained 24 seats and lost onp, being a. net gain of 23. The two Progressives have been returned for Fulham, but by greatly decreased majorities. There is no change in the representation. Two Moderates have been returned for Wands- worth, being a. gain of one seat. Allowing for the City returning, all before, four Moderates, parties exactly balance. Each aide would then have secured 59 seats. Two Moderates have again been returned for the S'raud Divition, the agregate of their votes being more than double those of the Progressives. In Wandsworth the Moderates gained a seat, Lord Dnnraven being elected by nearly a thousand over Mr Dickenson, deputy.chairman of the council. The re-count for Central Finsbury shows that two Progressive members have been elected, there being no change in the representation. Four Moderates have been elected for the City, as at the last election. PROGRESSIVES CAN MAKE A MAJORITY. The Press Association understands that in view of the equality of parties resulting from Satur- day's elections, the Progressives in the London County Council are likely to offer the Moderates the opportunity of electing four aldermen, reserving to themselves the other five vacancies on the aldermanic bench. It is stated that two of the Moderates elected to the board are abroad, and cannot return to London in time for the first meeting, a week hence, of the new council. Mr Longstaafe is said to be at Madeira, and Mr Corbett still further away. The Progressives, on tho oth-ir hand, declare that all their elected candidates will be able to attend, and that an out- sider may be elected as provisional chairman, in case that be necessary, to preserve Sir John Hutton'a free vote as an ordinary member on tbe question of electing aldermen.

COMMITTEE ON THE UNEMPLOYED. INTERIM REPORT. The House of Commons Unemployed Com- mittee resumed its sittings on Monday, when Mr Benn, one of the members of the com- mittee, was examined. He suggested that so far as London was concerned the unemployed problem might be solved by allowing local authorities to put in hand suitablo works, and obtain the money through the guardians from tha common poor fund. The fund was at present levied evenly on all parts of the Metropolis for purposes common to all. The committee separated thia afternoon after deliberation in private. It has been decided that the chairman shall draft an interim report, which will be received by the members of the committee on Wednesday and disoussed on Friday.

IMPORTANT LEGAL REFORM. PUBLIC TRUSTEE. The Lord Chancblloron Monday, before a House of Commons Seleot Committee, recommended the appointment of a public trustee. It might be. be said, that one-tenth of the property of this country was held in trust, and difficulties were sometimes encountered in getting trustees owing to each being jointly and severally liable for any breach of trust. The readings with which a public trustee could bo resorted to led him (the Lord Chancillor) to favour this appointment, and there would bo cases in which private trustees could be joined with him, leaving the public trustee as it were a security.

CONVICTION OF A LABOUR ORGANIZER. SIX MONTHS FOR EMBEZZLEMENT. At the Thames Police-court on Monday Stephen Sims (43), stevedore, was charged with eln- bezzling £28, the money belonging to the Amal- gamated Stevedores' Labour Protection League, of which he was the secretary. The society paid the prisoner £2 10s per week for his services, and ib was stated that the £28 was given him to pay a certain account which he neglected to do. The accused was sentenced to six months' hard labour.

MAKE OF STEEL IN AMERICA. INCREASE IN INGOTS, BUT A DECREASE IN RAILS. On Sunday returns were received from h. American Iron and Steel Association giving the make of steul for the past year. The production of Bessemer ingots was 3,579,000 gross tons, and rails 1,014,000 gross tons. These figures compare with 3,215,000 tons of ingots in 1893, and 1,129,000 tons of rails. Thus there is an increase of 363,000 tons iu ingots, but a decrease of 115,000 tons in rails. —————

DEATH OF LORD WALTER SCOTT. A Press Association Northampton correspon- dent telegraphs Lord Walter Scott died on Sunday morning at his residence. Broughton House, Kettering. The deceased was third son of the late Duke of Buccleuch and brother of the present duke. He was born in 1834. For severa years past he had been practically a cripple owing to a fall in the rw'

REPLY TO MR D. MORGAN. COAL-CUTTING PRICES. A COMPARISON. [BY A MINING CORRESPONDENT.] Being the correspondent whose report of the proceedings on the joint committee of the Sliding-scale previous to tho rupture between the employers' and the men's representatives on the scale, which appeared on Tuesday last, has raised the ire of Mr D. Morgan, of Aberdare, I must ask to be permitted to reply. It is something, at least, to be proud of, that the statements made in that report should be accepted as true statements of fact by Mr Morgan, and that he has not in the slightest degree attempted to deny but one single state- ment made therein, however much he may differ with the position taken in that report. The insinuation of Mr Morgan that Mr W. Thomas, Brynawel, was at your correspondent's elbow whon he wrote the statement, is not one which is complimentary to myself, and is untrue, and I shall not follow Mr Morgan at all in the personal dispute which he has with that gentleman. It is certainly refreshing to learn that Mr Morgan considers that tho claim of 12 per cpnt. advance for every shilling advance on the selling price of coal is an uureasonablo one, and I am quite prepared to admit that it was not Mr Morgan, but, as stated in your issue for Monday last, Mr D. Beynou, who put forward this—according to Mr Morgan--unjust claim. But will Mr Morgan venture to tell your readers that he did not support that contention or that he said one word to object thereto at the meeting in question ? To follow Mr Morgan into his various con- tentions will necessarily take some spaoe, but it must be done, or he will again mistake assertions for proofs. It is true that the cutting price of coal in the Aberdare Valley in 1869, which is the date Mr Morgan now fixes on, was Is 5d per long ton of 2,640 lbs., or, reduced to the imperial ton of 2,240 lbs., Is 2Y:Jd per ton, and not Is 3-64d as stated by him but as to tho price of coal f.o.b. at Cardiff in 1869, instead of being 7s 6d to 83 per ton, as stated by Mr Morgan, it was then sold at from 9i 61 to 10, a difference, as our readers will perceive, of 17 per cent., and this, of course, vitiates the whole of Mr Morgan's argument, and is but one of the numerous facts to show how unreliable ho is in his statements. However, if he wishes to compare the wages then paid with those paid at present, the following figures, taken from an actual colliery pay-book, may interest him, and will, I am sure, interest the younger colliers in South Wales. Colliers' wages for daywoilc were then 3" 2d per day hauliers, 3s 4d dooiboys, Is Id surface men, 23 4d to 2s 8d underground labourers, 2s 8d. Lrot the workmen of South Wales who are aware what the prices at present paid are compare these with what they are now earning for similar work, and then say whether Mr Morgan's allegations are true or not. It may, however, be interesting to the younger generation of colliers to add the following figures, showing the advance in wage rates paid at a medium-sized colliery in the Rhondda Valley in January, 1866, and February, 1895, being figures taken in each case from the actual pay-books at the colliery :— Colliers' daywork between these dates advanced 27 per cent. roadmen do., 12 per cent.; hauliers, 10 to 15 per cent. repairers, 33 labourers, 19 doorboys, 79; enginemen, 22 stokers, 47; banksmen, 19; tippers, 13 to 26; carpenters, 25; smiths and strikers, 15 to 28. If Mr Morgan, however, is anxious to investigate ancient history, it might be advisable to TAKK HIM BACK TO 1852, when the price paid for cutting the upper four feet was Is 3d per long ton, or equivalent to Is Od on tho imperial ton. At that time the day wages %ere 3s hauliers, 2s 6d to 2i 8d door boys, 6d to 8d surface labour, 2s 4d under- ground labour, 2s to 2s 4d. Are these the happy times to which Mr Morgan would wish to lead the miners of South Wales ? Apart from these considerations when the first sliding-scale of 1875 was arranged after a discus- sion extending for over four months, and after going into the whole of the facts and figures relating to the variety of collieries proposed to be embraced in the scale, the men's representa- tives agreed that the cost of production con- sequent upon the passing of the Mines Regulation had increased 9<.1 per ton, while the employers contended that the increased cost was Is per ton. Since that date additional legislation has been enacted, further increasing the cost of production, and this entirely for the benefit of the workmen; resulting in tb" reduction of fatal accidents to a third of what they were 30 years ago. Mr Morgan also knows, or at 1 east ought to know, that the prices than paid for coal "cutting" included practically the whole of the earnings of the colliers and ths whole cose of coal gettiug at the face, while now extra payments of various kinds are made for all sorts uf services until the colliers' pay note, so well-known as papur bach" (tittle p:iper),,h.i3 assumed in some collieries the dimensions of a shoet of letter paper, contain- ing, as the on3 now before me dor;, from 15 to 18 different items of extra payments. It is therefore manifestly unfair to attempt to test the position of ^affairs by the single item of cutting prices, when the employers' cost-sheets, which Mr Morgan has been repeatedly asked to examine, show in some cases an increase of frem 160 to 170 per cent, compared with the puces paid when coal was selling at the same price in the past. As this is a crucial point it will bear being somewhat laboured. For one moment the attention of the mining community should be directed to the fact that, taking the standard of 1879 ias basis, the icutting price for coal selling at 9s 9J, the price realised f.o.b. in 1869, shoulà be Is 3r1. which would be a penny per ton above what it was paid for then, irrespec- tive of the increased cost and tho increased extra payments now made, as already explained, and at this point I may again refer to a statement which appealed in, your issue of Wednesday last, to theeffeeb that during the past six years (1889 to 1874), the average advances granted to the mon of South Wales, under, THE MUCH MALIGNED SLIDING SCALE, has been 32% par cent. above the standard, or an equivalent on the Is ld of 4%d, making the average cutting price Is 6d, against Is 2%d in 1869, This increased price to tho colhsr for merely "cutting" the coal is, however, but small, in comparison with the other items of labour, making up the total actual labour cost of getting and putting it into tho trucks to wit. Many extra payments are now made for labour, which were included in the cutting price 30 years ago. In many instances the payments for ripping top, and cutting bottom, for timbering, the higher rates paid for colliers' day work, the enormous inorease in tbe payments made to I repairers, who 30 years ngo earned some or, ab the furthest; 4s a day, and there were but very, very few repairers in the Aberdare Valley at that time who made 5s a day, whereas more experienced repairers In the various valleys of the district are seldom satisfied unles?, after paying their assistants, they earn 10s a, day, and frpquently their earnings arl" a great dr-al more fur every day they work. These are the iteIns which sum up the cost. The same will apply to rippers and hard-ground men, who, 30 years ago, were paid from 3"1 3d to 3, 6d a day, whereas now their earnings per day workad, after paying their assistants, are nearly double that. Colliery property in the Rhondda Valley and elsewhere has been so largely and so rapidly developed of late years that a very large number of inexperienced men have had to be employed, the result being that owners cannot get anything like the work frcin such mon as they should, though a much larger wage is being paid thm, and a oonsiderably greater number of men have to be employed per 1,000 tons of coal raised than was the casa formerly, or is the case now, mother districts which South Wales has to compete with. In reference to Mr Morgan's allegation as to the dead rent charged during sinking operations at new collieries his assertions on this subject are wild and groundless, as the general pvantica on colliery leases is that no dead rent is paid during sinking operations, and even in the excep- tional caaos where such dead icnb is payable, the colliery owner, or lessee, is allowed to repay him- self in coal after tlnj colliery is opened, under the practice generally known as recovering short workings. In the conclusions h therefore draws he is entirely wrong and misleading, and although ho has been repeatedly offered to inspect the iigUMS and books, he prefers to baso his asser- tions as to capital, as well jig cost, on his own imagination, and has, therefore, no foundation for his statement, whereas the statements of the owners are from aotual experience, and ths books and accounts, which are duly audited by public auditors. It iilo therefore, very lamentable and deeply to be regretted that Mr Morgan should set himself forward and placo his own opinions I and his ipse dixit above all criticism, a.nd thus mislead, or at all events endeavour to mislead, thousands of men who will naturally believe that he must have some authority for his stat^irionta. Dealing with another point in Mr Morgan's letter that th6- time taken for sinking has now been reduced to a couple of yt<ars. As a matter of fact one of the most recent stoam coal ocllieries sunk in tbe Rhymney V;dtay with ths best and mostfiuodernjappliances took five years to sink, while the Dowlais Company have been sinking for over the at Aberdara Junction, and are not in the coal. This being so MR MOBGAN'CJ HYPOTHESIS AS TO PROFITS cannot be supported by recont sinkings more than other assertions which he endeavours to pass for facts. His allusion to the Royalty Commission has no bearing whatever upon LhHpoint that colliery proprietors are entitled to fair interests on their capital, and the redemption of that capital before tho end of tho leases. It may be. however, pointed out that, ntftwithsbahdiiig the fact than Mr Morgan describes this present system of leases as iniquitous, such excellent Radicals and Labour members as Mabon, Burt, Chis- holm, Robertson, and others unanimously agreed to sign the report of tho Royalty I Commission after an enquiry extending over three years. recommending that there should be no interference with the present arrangement of royalties, it having been conclusively proved in evidence that we were botter off in this respect than other countries. In dealing with the increase in the coal ship- ments, Mr Morgan entirely ignores th- extremely low freights which prevails, and which enable coal to be delivered at the most distant stations at more advantageous prices than it could possibly be done with ordinary freights. On this subjecb Mr Morgan's attention may be advantageously directed to an article which appeared in these columns a few weeks ago, dealing exhaustively with this subjeot. It is hardly fair, I venture to urge, for one of the men's leaders to make it a subject of complaint against the coalowners of South Wales that avail themselves of the exceptionally low freights to enable them to keep the pit more regularly going for the benefit of the workmen than the collieries of any other dis- trict in the kingdom. As to the allegation that some of the South Wales coal pits are on the surface, it is needless to deal with it, for ths miners of South Wales are perfectly competent to judge such an assertion and to value it for what it is worth, but when Mr Morgan claims that the cost of sinking is only 15 per cent. more than it was 30 years ago he is very far out, although he has certainly come far nearer the truth than he was when he asserted that collieries could be sunk cheaper now than at that time. I have just inspected two contracts made with the same coHiery, one in 1877 and the other in 1892, for sinking two pits which are in every respect identical. The cost per yard in the first case was £13, and in the second instance JB19 10s, an advance in 15 years of 50 per cent., and not of 15. as Mr Morgan says. I am also credibly informed that at the present day as much as £24 per yard is paid for sinking a col- liery. I am not sure whether Mr Morgan still con- tends that tho present depression is a sham one, manufactured by the employers, but if he does so I would earnestly commend to his attention the evidence ivm by Mr Keir Hardie before the commission on the unemployed, from which it transpires threre are to-day no less than a million and a quarter of unemployed, and to urge upon him and the men of South Wales whether it is advisable to select tha present time for the purpose of damaging the sliding-scale, under which the output of South Wales has increased from 17,000,000 to over 34,000,000 in 20 years, or in other words, from less than of the whole output of Grsat Britain to ovar 1,6th thereof, and to precipitate a strike whereby another 120,000 will be added to tho enormous army of unemployed.

HOW TO SECURE A SETTLEMENT. MR D. MORGAN'S PROPOSAL FOR ARBITRATION. In an address issued by Mr D. Morgan to the electors of No. 1 Ward, on Monday morning, he makes the following offer to his opponent, Mr W. Thomas, Brynawel, one of the owners' representatives on the joint committee. It is now for the employers to say what they think of this :— Now then, electors, I will here take Mr Thomas at his word, and I hore suggest a certain and positive way out of the difficulty, which you (the reader) will admit to be fair, and if Mr Thomas will accept my suggestion, I vouch that I not a single day's stoppage will take place. Without entering into the details of the dispute that exists between she workmen (whom I have the honour to represent) and the em- ployers (whom Mr Thoovs has to repre- sent), it is sufficient tomato a. dangerous dispute does exist, and that we sannot a.gree. In the face of this, I ask the reader, what can I propose more reasonable to Mr Thomas than that a just man should hear both sides, and so settle the dispute between us. I also propose to Mr Thomas that we call in Lord Rosebery. or Lord Shand, or Mr Justice Stephen, or Judge Owen. or that the present Speaker of the House of Commons should select a middleman for us. If Mr Thomas will accept this reasonable proposi- tion, there's an end to the controversy." MASS MEETING AT ABERTILLERY. SPEECH BY MR P. D. REES. On Monday forenoon a crowded meeting of colliery workmen was held at the Salvation Army Hall, Abertillery, under the presidency of Mr G. C. Dancey. who intimated the receipt of a wire that Mr John Williams, Ynysybwl, was unable to attend owing to indisposition. Mr W. C. COWDERY moved— That this mass meeting of the miners of the Aber- tillery district rejoices in the fact that the leaders and workmen of Monmouthshire and South Wales have put their differences on one side in order to establish a thorough organisation on Union lines in th9 Principality, and pledges itself to join one of the several colliery lodges established in our midst, and to advocate the principles of the Amalgamated Society of Colliery Workers of Monmouthshire and South Wales. Mr BEN EVANS seconded, and Mr W. R. HAYLINGS, printer, having supported, Mr P. D. REZS addressed the meeting. He congratulated the workmen of Abertillery on their organisation, and said that if the miners of Wales had been organised during the past four years the same as they had been he did not believe the employers' representatives on the Sliding-scale Committee would have dared to offer to reduce the standard from 8% to 7% per cent. They might depend upon it that when the people of Wales were organised and had learned the principle of combination they would surely see that it would be better for them to have one gigantic organisation, which would be able to protect them against the tyranny of the employers and enable them to secure further rights. He was glad the wrangles had now come to an end, and all would agreo this had not come about a minute too soon. Instead of organising they had I up till now been disorganising; instead of bettering their condition they had been playing into tho hands of the employers, with the result that they I were asking the workmen to take 7% instead of 8%. More than that, instead of being in a position to demand a living wago like other people, they had to be dependent upon Sir W. T. Lewis and his colleagues to give back a few pounds for soup to keep their wives and children from starving. (Hear, hear.) Did they not think it was high time the leaders and men of Wales— especially the leadírs-shonld come together and do away with these wranglings, and build up an organisation which would botter the condition of the people who kept them so rcspoetable ? It was time for overy leader to do that, and if there was ono among them who kept aloof because of a personal squabble as between himself aud some other leader, he ought to resign. It had been the curse of thQ Welsh people that thousands should suffer because the dignity of one had been assailed, oven if he was an M.P. with his wages kept back in the colliery office. As to a livin wage, he did not go against the siiding-scale because he did nob believe in an automatic machine to guide their wages, but rather because they could nob get a scale to give the miners of Wales fairplay to live. (Applause.) If they could have a scale that i would allow the Welsh miner a voice on the selliu price, ona with a bottom to it, and ODe that would give t'oem a living wage, he was pre, pared to go back. In all departments they ha.d a living wage, but they grumbled to pay the miner 6s a day for producing that which afforded them this privilege. If the workmen were to get it, they would have to organise, and common sense said they ought to have it. As the people who produced the wealth to pay .all, they ought to have the firsb slice of the Joaf to keep up their strength to fit them for their task. When the workers put down pick, shovel, and 8p:\de the country would come to an end. Therefore they ought to organise so that in future they would not be as in the past, slavos to capital. (Applause.) Foreign competition had been the bogeyman in Wales for the past 40 years. Until recently he had believed in it, but he was now of opinion that this was nothmg but dust to throw into the eyes of the workmen, and nobody was silly enough to believe it was right but Welshmen. (Applause.) Foreigners did not buy Welsh coal because they loved Welshmen, or wished them to get better wages, but because of its quality, and it paid them to do it. At the Berlin Congress the German delegates declared that the owners of Wales and England brought coal to their markets cheaper than they could do which proved that instead of the foreigners cutting u, we cuI; tbe foreigners. The danger to them as work- men was cut-throat competition amongst thefnselves through lack of organisation I for, as Mr John Burns stated, the greatest enemies Welshman had were to \;0 found under their own hats." Welshmen were, of all I workmen in the world, entitled to got a living wage, havinsr, as they had, the best coal, which, as Sir W. T. Lw Í." ad mi tted, could bring 2s a ton in every market in the world more than other coal. If that was so, then why should they rwt demand the same amount of wages ? (Hear, hear.) It was a faliaoy that the cost of producing Welsh coal was so greab that they could not have profits; but a company not far from Abertillery had recently declared a dividend of 10 per cent. As to the present crisis he had not much to say but from experience it would bo impossible to get audits on the scale until they wer& organised to demand them. They were coming out of it worso every time. Although the amendments they weru asking for werø not nearly what they ought to get, he was not prepared to ask them if they did not get them to coma out, for with nothing bthmd them it would only be madness. AlthQllh he was not prepared to recom- mend them to strik", and if tha employers meant to induce them to 7%, then he would say, death first. Between high rents and low wages death wùuld be a relief to thousands of miners in Wales, and would only b, a curtailing of a miserable existunoe. They wera asking for nothirjg but what was granted all the world over. A living wage and an umpire were facts throughout tho country. He did not believe that if they had a scale to-morrow allowing 15 per cent. and tho same cut-throat competition they would be any better off all they wanted was a bottom. If the employers forced this 7% per cenb. upon them, if they wished to get rid of thousands of their slaves by starving and locking them out, he was afraid that before the battle ended there would be more than one dead rich man, too. Although Welshmen to-day were said to be the biggest fools in this country, they would not allow their children to starve before their eyes without having revenge upon the men who murdered them. (Applause.) The resolution was carried unanimously, and the usual votes of thanks terminated tho pro- ceedings.

EBBW VAL" COLLIERS DISCUSS THE SITUATION. The Ebbw Vale and Sirhowy colliers met at tha Salvation Army Hall on Monday morning, which was crowded. Mr W. Vyco wag elected to the chair. He said those who were in the habit of reading the daily papers would see that th f workmen's representatives bad issued amauifesto, in which it asked them to select delegates to' attend a conference at Cardiff on Monday next).. The speaker was of the opinion, and always had been, that a sliding-scale was the best method for the regulation of wages, providing it was made upon an honoursbla basis. He was bound to admit that the men stood in a very unsatisfactory condition as regards Unionism. If they were more united and backed up by a large fund, they would be able to fight the battle more successfully. —Mr Thomas Richards, miners' agent, and a member of the sliding-scale com- mittee, proceeded to address the meeting. He said it was his custom at the monthly meeting to present his monthly report, but in face of the vast importance of the question of the hour, he would not deal with any local matter. They had arrived at the same place as they had upon several previous occasions, and it put him in mind of a body of soldiers who marched in a. clrcle- coming to a pojnt where the attack ought to be made, they found that the forces were too weak, and consequently they continued, and not profit- ing by past experiences, they continued the journey until they reached the same snob again with the same result. This has been going on for the last 10 years, and the same thing had occurred at leasb half a dozen times during that period. He did nob intend to express any definite opinion upon the situation, and he hoped the meeting would refrain from expressing an opinion upon the method to adopt in order to face this grave crisis until the conference, which would take p'ace at Cardiff on Monday next. (Hear, hear.) He would, however, explain to them the proceedings of the sliding-scale representatives up to the present juncture. Three amendments had been proposed by the representatives of the men, viz, the raising of the percentage in the £ from 8% per cent. to 10 per cent., the appointment of a referee in cases of dispute, and the adoption of a new principle by the establishment of a living wage rate, or. in other words, a minimum rate of wages. Three conferences had been held by the sliding-scale committee. The first was adjourned in consequence of tho absence of Sir W. T. Lewis, who was in Palestine. (Laughter.) At; the nexb meeting the champion of the coalowners arrived, and although he came from what is termed the Holy Land," he certainly did not bring back much of its "holy influences." (Loud laughter.) Knowing that they were in the possession of power, Sir W. T. Lewis, on behalf of his colleagues, gave an emphatIc" No to all the demands of the men, and said it as offeusivelyas it was possible for one man to speak to another. Unfortunately, Mr Abraham, M.P., was absent, he being the recognised leader of the men. They determined to adjourn to a future conference. As they were all aware, Mr Abraham was taken ill, and consequently unable to attend. However, the remainder of tho men's representatives did the best under tho circumstances. At this meeting again the answer of the employers was the same. Nothing further will be done until Monday, when the delegates at the conference would be given all details. (Applause.)—The meeting then proceeded to appoint delegates.