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Read WIRELESS WHISPERS ON PAGE 4. A Column which will Interest you.

My Weekly Budget. By J. Keir Hardie, M.P. [God said, I am tired of kings; I suffer them no more." ] Royalty. I am told from various quarters, is very popular with the wor- king people, and the proof offered is the reception given to the King and Queen when they go on tour. The statement may be true, but I challenge the credibility of the "proof." If Jack Johnson. Bombardier Wells. Freddy WeJsh and Carpentier were boomed to visit any big town or min- ing centre in Great Britain, they would get as big a crowd to see them. and a much more enthusnastio reception than would any four Monarchs of the Royal Family. A RoyaJ visit is handled in exactly the same way as is the coming of a circus. It is advertised in the Press for weeks in advance. Tawdry decorations, which, by the way, are of- ten made to do duty in one place after another, are erected. Innocent school children have their nerves set on edge in learning to sing God Save the King" civic functionaries get excited over the prospect of being introduced to their Majesties, and even Labour leaders have been known, recently, to invest in top hats and frock coats to be properly begarbed before the head of the State. Soldiers and bands of music complete the influences at work to hypnotise the crowd. And even with all this the enthusiasm is never great, nor ever general. Strip royalty of its trappings and extrane- ous aids to popularity, arid what is left? The farce is nearly played out. 8' The political situation does not tend to improve or the outlook to become more settled. From the day on which the Prime Minister put forward his exclusion of parts ot lTlster sugges- tion-that is. early in March L-Wt — things have been worsening for the Government. Many felt,' and some said at the time that the offer was a tactical blunder. The Government had put its Home Rule proposals in its original Bill, and thow w)i(-) objected to them should have been left to suggest, the changes which they desired to see made. Instead of this lieing done, the Cabinet rushed forward with its propo- sal to exclude a portion of Ulster and a hint that the concessions need not end there. The Ulsterites. I am sure, smiled at the proposal, and sat down grimly to wait for more. More came in the form of the Buckingham Palace Conference, which, as is now generally conceded, was planned by the Cabinet. This, too, came to naught, the I lster- itea sitting tight, and refusing to give way one inch. Probably they knew they had good friends in the Cabinet who will see that in the end they get their way. • • Now comes the Dublin affair. Whilst the Belfast rebels were allowed to land their arms without opposition from the authorities, those of the Nationalist re- bels were confiscated. On Saturday last the Ulster rebels were allowed to parade the main streets of Belfast, fully armed, and with machine guns in their train, whilst the Dub- lin rebels were being shot down and bayonetted in the streets. Were these things not being done in broad dayEght, and under our cyee, they would be unbelievable. The explanation is said to be dissensions in the Cabinet. The name of Mr. Win- to Ch Ie na.n1('. of )11" "m- ston Churchill is given fwe]v ? that of the ling-leader, backed, it is J of the ring-leader bwked, i t, Iis H by Lord Murray (ex-Lib?al Whip) and .luoera ,t 11]> an Lord Rosebery. The name of Sir Ed- ward Grey is also mentioned in this connection. The Whig monied ele- ment in the party is, as is well known. very restless over the Budget proposals and their sympathies would be on the side of the revolters; whilst a state- ment apparently well grounded, is go- ing the round that Churchill and >F. E. Sriiith. with Austin Chamberlain added, if an accommodation can be reached over Tariff Reform, are con- sidering the formation of a new party made up of disgruntled Whis and the more enlightened Tories. All this is mere rumour for the mo- ment, but such things have happened before. I write this on Monday, when it ia announced that the Home Rule bending Bill has again been post- poned. As the Ulsterites have refused the Bill, and nobody else wants it, the Government would be well advised to drop it. Its introduction was a blun- der, and to persist with it now will i not only be a waste of time, but will be almost certain to lead to further compl ications, all of which will play in- to the hands of the enemy. The elec- torate is already suspicious, and if the Government does not show more firm- ness and less inclinatron to pander to its enemies, the result may be disas- trous to the party, and the throwing of the Home Rule Bill into the cauld- I ron afresh. Should that happen then, indeed, the Irish question would as- sume a form which wowld dworf any- thing else. Hitherto the Irish party have been adamant against all sugges- tions of further concessions, even when put forward by members of the Cabi- net, whilst a certain lady of title with influence at Court and in society is playing the busy-body with much irri- tating and some disintegrating effect. I have received a telegraphic mess- age to attend a special meeting of the International Bureau at Brussels on Wednesday. I expect we are being called to consider whether the Congress convened for August 23 is to be post- poned or shifted to some other place than Vienna, which has been put un- der martial law. London and Berne, Switzerland, have each been suggested. I regret this exceedingly, as the Vi- enna gathering promised to be the most imposing and impressive gathering ever held, and any change of either date or place must to some extent spoil its effect.

Glamorgan Assizes. LOCAL CASES. j TROEDYRHIW BURGLAR SEN- I TENCED. The Glamorgan Summer AssivA,4 were resumed at the Town Hall, Swansea, on Wednesday. I- 1. An Old Offender. I John W. Munro, 61. was indicted for burglary at the house of the Rev. Peter Williams, an stealing £ 7. opera g lasses, a fountain pen. keys, and other articles btLWt'(\JI May 2.5 and 26 at Trood-vi-blw. Mr. Loyat-Fraser (instructed hv-fr, T. M. Elias. junior) prosecuted. The articles were found in the pri- soner's possession, and had been stolen from Troedvrhiw Vicarage. The Vicar, in the box, identified some of the articles, and he was chal- lenged by the prisoner as to the opera glasses, which he said, the Vica.r de- clared were marked by the name of a film. The Vicar said he knew they were made by that firm because they were won by his son as a prize at Llan"- tlovery, and aU the articles were sup- plied by that firm. Prisoner said ho bought the things from a man who wanted money to pay his railway faFe to Leicester. The jury found him guilty. A very long record of convictions was proved against him, and he was sent back to penal servitude for four years. Six Months' Hard. George Henry Edington, 21, labour- er, was charged with a felonious of- fence against a colliery boy at Merthyr Vale, on May 28. He wa.s found guilty of attempting only, and was sentenced to six months' hard labour.

NO HONEY THER E. They were newly married. They stop- ped at a sky-scraper hotel. The bride- groom felt a little indisposed, and the bride said she would slip out and do some shopping. 1k1 due time she re- turned, and tripped blithely up to her room, a trifle awed by the number of doors that looked all alike. But she was sure of her own, and topped gent- ly on the panel. "I'm back, Honey; let me in," she called again, rapping louder. Still noi answer. Ir H<MEY, honey! it's I, your Queo- nip I Do let me in 1" There was silence for several min- utes. Then a man's voice, cold end. full of dignity, came from the other aide of the door: Madame, this is a bathroom not a beehire t"

¡ Death of Mr. B. Francis- Williams, K.C. The death occurred, on Tuesday, of Mr. Benjamin Francis-Williams, K.C., Recorder of Cardiff and lender of the Bar, at his residence. Craven Hill Gardens, Kensington. Death was caused by heart failure, caused by chronic indigestion. The following biographical sketch was published by the "Western Mail of Wednesday. A Merthyr Boy. I Mr. Benjomin Francis- W iliiams was the son of the late Rev. Enoch Wil- liams, a venerable and esteemed Bap- tist minister of Merthyr ,in which town he first saw the light in February, 1845. He was educated at Swansea Grammar School, and afterwards at Shrewsbury School, and graduated at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1865. In deciding upon a profession, Mr. Williams chose the practice of the law, and in 1867 he was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple. He joined the South Wales Circuit, and in the con- duct of the first ease with which he was entrusted-an opening for which, un- like many of his brethren, he had not long to wait—he exhibited an ability that marked him out as a man of con- siderable promise. From the earliest days his services were eagerly sought after, and as his practice increased he furnished cumulative indications of the possession of great foreenic skill, and the leaders of the circuit—notably Lord Halsbury, who was inspired with very high regard for him-were delighted to have the advantage of his assistance as junior counsel. In the early eighties scarcely any case of importance was tried in which he was not briefod on one side or the other, and in conjunc- tion with the late Mr. Abel Thomas, K.C., M.P., the late Mr. Bowen Row- lands, K.C., M.P., and the late Mr. Arthur Lewis, who were his contempo- raries and chief legol opponents, he achieved a very high reputation, aud became virtually the leader of the ju- nior Bar. At this period the South Wales Circuit consisted only of about 35 members, and was practically the same as a regimental mess. Every- body knew each other and as a rule called each other by his Christian name —and this familiarity has on intny oc- casions been the subject of comment, more especially amongst litigants, who were evidently of the opinion that their counsel should have the same strained relations with each other as the liti- gants themselves had. Recorder of Cardiff. I It A-as an open secret that Mr. Francis-Williams could have taken silk some years before he applied for the distinction, but he had established for himself not only a very large circuit practice, but a lucrative Ivondon con- nection before he deemed it politic te accept the honour. This he did in November, 1885, and two years later he was appointed recorder for Carmar- then in succession to Mr. B. T. Wil- liams, Q.C.. which position he retained until he was appointed the first recor- der of Cardiff, on the 21st of March, 1890. In the latter capacity he earn- ed for himself the reputation of being a patient, capable, courteous, and len- ient judge, but there were times when a certain class of hardened criminals have been made to wince under the lash of his tongue. There were occa- sionb when his words cut like whip- cord, especially when dealing with of- fences against women and children, but in other cases where a young man or woman on the threshold of life had been led astray and were facing a ca- rreer of crime and moral ruin, he was kindness itself, and mony a prisoner It as had occasion to look back with thankfulness on the helpful advice and solemn warning which he gave to them at the time. I As a Barrister. -1 As a barrister e had an infinite fund of humour which he could blend with the pa,thetie quite as effectively as the celebrated Sergeant who appeared for the plaintiff in the ca.se of Bardell v. Pickwick, and it is not going beyond the range of fact to tusert that there were comparatively few members of the Bar would could more successfully sway the sympathies and win the ver- dict of juries than he. In 1891 he was elected a bencher of Middle Tem- ple, and on several occasions acted as commissioner of assize. Throughout his whole career he was a diligent student of political ristory, although he was never successful in winning and representing a constituen- cy. He made two attempts to cap- ture Welsh Radical strongholds for the Unionist party, but on both occasions was defeated by an overwhelming ma- jority. In the general election of 1885 he contested West Monmouthshire ag- ainst Mr. C. M. Warmington, when the latter was elected by 6,730 votes to 1,341 polled for Mr. ^Francis-Williams. Some years later Mr. Warmington, who was also a Queen's Counsel, resigned this we seat, in order to make room for the late Sir William Harcourt. Contested Merthyr Boroughs. The second venture of Mr. Francis- Williams in the political arena was in his native constituency of Merthyr which was a two-membered borough. The Radical eondidates on that occa- mon-1892 were Mr. D. A. Thomas and Mr W. Pritchard Morgan, each of whom polled over 11,000 votes against A304 recorded for the amservative no- minee. During both contests Mr. Williams made a great number of friends, and delivered many speeches of considerable eloquence in support of Constitutional and Unionist principles, and in the course of his campaign he discovered that he possessed a very im- portant desideratum m seeking the support of the electors in the fact that he had a knowledge of the Welsh lan- guage. Mr. Francis-Williams was twice mar- ried. In 1869 he married Miss Wil- liameta Hughes, daughter of the Rev. J. Hughes, Vicar of Ebbw Vale, and she having died some years later he married a London lady. His son, Mr. St. John Francis-Williams, iå a" well- known and respected member of the South Wales GSrcmit and enjoys a large practioe in criminal cases, in which his late father was so distinguished an advocate.

Re-Education. liet us begin to talk freely of hopes and aims and ideals, and failings also, and how they may be met. Let us begin our own re-education of ourselves by mutual aid. It is not enough to talk and think only of the immediate thing, the things just under our noses, the difficulty to be met here and now. We need to face our lives and our difficultis in ad- 1 vance, to learn the general laws and the guiding principles in the light of which we shall deal readily with each difficulty as it arises. It is not to cri- ticism of a personal kind that we should give ourselves, but to healthy criticism as a way to save time and health and worrv. If I want to say a thing it is not for I the sake of criticism, but construct- ively and because T believe I see a way by which changes can be made (if only we will wish them), steadily, quietly, and to the great gain of us all. It is good to encourage one another to talk and to open out our hearts and minds. The only way I know to encourage is to be willing to listen quietly to other points of view than our own. Then utterance begins to oome quietly and freely, and it is possible to take awy and consider what has ben said quietly and freely. If the seed is good it will grow. If not, it will not grow. Let it be open to us to give illustrations of all we mean frankly and freely and without offence. The more free we feel oursLses the less need we have to use our freedom. We begin to under- stand one another without words. Elsa, Oyler's father, who can scarcely speak English, said that he felt that he and J understood one another without words. That Is what we should aim at. But it can only come when there b. growing freedom. If we do not feel free, we get no l outlet except when long pent up thoughts burst out. Explosions of this kind are seldom useful and they are a terrible waste of vital energy; yet the force behind them, if welcomed and employd along lines mutually ag- reed upon, would accomplish much with scarcely an loss of nervous energy rather with a strong and bracing help- fulness. Do not let us think of these things in terms of ourselves. They are equal- ly true in terms of others. To break down the barriers between humans is one of our greatest works for human progress. I C. H. G. I

THE COMPLEMENT OF A TEXT- BOOK. A playing field is the complement of a text-book, and quite apart from the value of play in itself as an education- a! iristrument-which, 38 I say, is en- ormour-plkv reacts on the text-book, and greatly appreciates its value. Rennie Smith, in the "Co-operative News."

Mr. Keir Hardie, M.P., and Senghenydd Prosecutions HOME SECRETARY QUESTIONED. Mr. Keir Hardie asked the Home Secretary w hether he had seen the re- sult of the proceedings against the Senghenydd Colliery Manager in oon-j nection with the recent disaster there: and whether, as a result of the evid- ence given and the findings of the Court. it was prepared to withdraw the manager's certificated Mr. McKenna: I have had the report of the proceedings before me with a view to considering whether there, should be an appeal against the deci- sion of the magistrates in dismissing some of the charges; but I have not yet had time to consider the question of whether the evidence shows such gross misconduct on the manager's part as to constitute a "prima facie" case for the cancellation of his certifi- cate. I have myself no power to withdraw the certificate. All I can do is to set up a special tribunal un- der Section 11 of the Act to inquire into the position, and I cannot do this unless I am satisfied that there is a strong prima facie caae. This matter is now under consideration. Mr. Keir Hardie: May I ask if the Home Secretary has taken into account the fact that eleven years ago an ex- plosion occurred in this particular col- liery. and whether the fact of two ex- plosiona having occurred with disas- trous resulta is not sufficient to war- rant the setting up of a special tribu- nal to inquire into the matter? Mr. McKenna That would certainly be a matter that would have to be taken into account.

Treharris Boy Drowned Barry Island. A 16-year-old boy, named Brindley Griffiths, of Bargoed Terrace, Trehar- ria, who, together with his mother and several companions, was on a visit to Barry Island on Wednesday afternoon, went for a bathe. The tide was right out the time, and the lad soon got into difficulties. One of his chums shouted for help, but, although several people were stan- ding on the sands near by, they did not attempt to rescue him. Two young men who heard the shouting plunged, fully dressed, into the sea and swam to his assistance, but failed to reach him before he sank for the last time. The names of the would-be rescuers were found to be Thomas Thomas and David Roberts, both of Treharris.

DEER FORESTS AND OVER- CROWDED TOWNS. We have no objection to sport as such. We think it a good thing that the whole of life should nof.be given over to work, but that there should be wide margins in lives for pleasures, and wide margins of field and forest where pleasure may be indulged. But in tiie land system as we see it in Scotland there is too much space devo- ted to sport, and the opportunities for enjoying those spaces are confined to far too few people. Over- crowding in Scottish towns is in part due to the very existence of Scottish deer forests. Men born in the country flock to the towns when they perceive that they cannot earn a living in the country. They cannot earn a living there if they are denied access to the soil; so that the giving over to deer of vast tracts of country is a direct cause of men be- ing herded together in overcrowded towns.—" Co-operative News.

I THE CHARM OF THE SEA. If any man loves his country. he must enjoy a sail which enables him to see so much of the coast of his na- tive land. I think that every man and woman ought to be taken around the British Isles in this way, once, at least, in a life-time. They would then be able to tell their children, with greater assurance, how beautiful are the islands in which the British and Irish races are born; they would begin to understand how it is that so much has been written by poets and song- sters about the sea and the hills that enclose our extending towns, where the charm of life is too much blurred by smoke and strenuousneas of indus- trial labour.-Special Commissioner, in The Co-operative News."

Another Public Inquiry. LATEST DEVELOPMENT of DOWLAIS SCHOOL DISPLTE. We understand that the Board of Education have decided that a public inquiry into the Dowlais R.C. School Managers' charges against Miss Kier- nan will be held at the Town Hall, Merthyr, some time during the middle of September, probably Saturday, the loth. The original charges refer to matters o" registration of scholars. and ware stated by Cauon Lucan in the charges which were read at the Merthyr Edu- cation Committee meeting of January 12. 1914. as follows:- 1.—That during the two years prece- ding October, 1912, Miss Kiernan re- peatedly instructed her assistant teach- ers, when calling the registers, to leave blank spaces opposite the names of cer- tain absent children, instead of mark- ing them absent m the usual way with a cypher. That is a serious violation of the roles for registration. 2.-That during the same period Miss Kiernan, or the assistants under her di- rection, repeatedly entered false figures for the number of children on the rolls. treating those against whose name then was a blank space, as if taeir ntPW had been removed from the regi- ster. 3.-That the percentage obtained by working with the above figures was also entered upon the registers, and was of asooorty a falsa reocrd. 4.-T.Dat in the month of December, 1913, after Miss Kiernan's careful cus- tody of the Registers had been called into o?teetMN at a meeting of the Man- £ &gem, J&a Kiemeu pmonaded eMM of ?at her a&s1&AIt@ ? ?akf erMures .?ad .t- )<??? temtiom amongst the false ?gures -es tioned in Charges 2 and 3. The argu- ment used to persuade them was that the act was not diahonest, as it did not defraud the Government. 5.-That Miss Kiernan has destroyed or concealed, or cau&ed to be destroyed or concealed, a whole original summary register, which ought still to be the one in current use. In place of this mining document she has substituted another, which, for the years 1911 and 1912. is only a copy—made after the al- terations and erasures had been made in the Attendance Regisers, and re- cording not the original false figures. but the altered ones. Thus, while the original summary would show altera- tions corresponding to those in the Attendance Registers, the substituted copy shows none. This spurious re- gister is, of course, unauthorised. It has no title page, no signatures of the Correspondent, no date "to show whn it, was entrusted to the teacher, no pnnted extracts from the Oode, Ul1 no name or addren of the printers. It further differe from the original in saw., shape and ai-rangement. There ie aleo this additional and can- clusive evidence of the imposture. In the substituted copy the entries and fi- gures are all in Miss Kiernan's hand- writing. In the original there are two sets of entries in the handwriting ef Miss M. A. Farrissey, who. on two oc- casions when Miss Kiernan was absent from school through illness took charge and wrote up the summary at the end of the week. The respective dates of these two occasions are the weeks end- ing June 16. 1911. and January 5, 1912. It will be remembered that when the charges were submitted to the Local Authority that Ald. R. P. Rees and Coun. 1), Davies, the two representa- t've managers, denied all responsibil- ity for tlve formulation of the charges, Coun. Davies remarking. I know no- thing about these charges." and Aid. Rees, in reply to a question. "I have only seen these to-night, of courw." The Committee dismissed the char- ges. it being stated that the charges were trivial.

Mountain Ash Assaults. At Aberoynon. on Thursday. FFaa Evans was summoned for assaulting Michael Cunningham at OoftPO=Arl Mountain Ash, on July 20. Prosecutor appeared in the witness- box with two black eyes. Defendant was fined 40/- and ooøtø. Charles Hussey was ordered to pay a similar fine for assaulting Mrs. Emily M. Perkins at Mountain Ash.