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PORTHCAWL REGATTA.

BARRY RAILWAY— TRAFFIC \RECEIPTS.

BARRY DOCK REGATTA.

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the present time to press too agressively the claims of Wales. We are willing to leave the time and the manner to the discretion of the Welsh members But they must remember that it will be by their works that they will be judged. Wales is getting tired and suspicious of the value of the promissory notes of the Liberal party. For a quarter of a century Wales has been loyal to the cause of freedom -and progress, with but little benefits to itself she it now expecting her reward by the removal of religious inequality, and of the only barrier: that remains to national ftnity. THE PRINCIPALSHIP OF LAMPETER. DURING the past year several of the most important educational appointments in the Principality have fallen vacant, and, on the whole, we think Wales may be congratulated on the men who have been elected to fill the vacancies. Though by his removal to Bala Dr. T. C. Edwards gave to a denomination the talents and the experience that were meant for his country, he has succeeded thereby in enlarg- ing the scope and aim of the college, and has taken a forward step in making it a truly national theological seminary. A successor to Principal Lewis, of Bangor, has not yet been appointed, but we have no doubt, now that Dr. Herber Evans has decided to withdraw, that a competent Welshman, fitted for the post bv high character and scholarly attainments, will easily be found. The appointment of Mr. T. F. Roberts to the Principalship has proved to be an unqualified success. The minor vacancies at Aberystwith, to which we referred a short time ago, have been filled more -worthily than might have been expected from the meagre salaries offered. Now again a very important—perhaps the most important educa- tional post in Wales has become vacant. Arch- deacon Edmunds has resigned the Principalship of Lampeter, and his successor has not yet been formally appointed. It is an open secret that should Dean Owen care to accept the appoint- ment it would be offered to him. Dean Owen, it is said, is hesitating and it is very natural that the Bishop of St. Asaph should be anxious to retain at his side such an able ccmtroversial- ist, such an able writer and original thinker, and .such a loyatMhriend as Dean Owen. We sincerely trust that the Dean will, for his own sake as well as for the sake of St. David's College, Lampeter, and Wales, follow his own inclina- tions in the matter and exchange the thorny position of a Church controversialist for the more congenial and more dignified, as well as infinitely more important, position of Principal of Lampeter. Though Dean Owen has won for himself a great reputation as a Church Defender, we feel that his proper mission is not to be in keen and constant antagonism to the majority of his countrymen. In some degree, John Owen is wasted at St. Asaph, for he has both the will and the power to do infinite service to his countrymen at a critical period in their history but his present position as the aggressive leader of a section of the nation prevents him doing justice to himself. At Lampeter his oppor- tunities for good would be much greater. St. .David's College, it cannot be denied, has done great work, when it is considered how very recent is its foundation, and that it has received but very little aid from any but voluntary sources. It is already rich in its association with great names with Harold Browne, Row- land Williams, Perowne, and Jayne and their influence has by this time been felt in almost every parish in Wales. But if Lampeter is to occupy in the future its present proud position in educational Wales, its Principal must be something more than a scholar and a gentleman. The Principal must be a Welshman who is thoroughly acquainted with the history and educational requirements of the Principality. We know of few who understand so well the character and the wants; of our countrymen as Dean Owen, and of no one in whose keeping the future of St. David's College would be safer. When he was yet the Warden of Llandovery College, the Dean said at a celebrated meeting of the Cymmrodorion Society that education in Wales should be of a distinct, national, and Welsh character and he is the one man whom the Established Church possesses who fully understands what a dis- tinct, national, and Welsh" system of educa- tion means. By accepting the Principalship, Dean Owen would be conferring on the Church of England a greater benefit than by attempting the impossible at St. Asaph. A Government is already in power which is pledged to Welsh Disestablishment. It would be a far more giacious and worthy task to teach young aspirants to the Church ministry how to con- form to their new circumstances than to con- duct a hopeless fight against the inevitable. After Disestablishment, Welsh clergymen will .have a golden opportunity of making their neace with the nation after a century's estrangement. In order to do this, they must be taught to cease to be mere agents for Anglicising Wales and to take a broader and juster view of Welsh nationality. Dean Owen is the only Churchman of high academical status who seems to us to be capable of doing this. Lampeter, also, is entering upon a critical period in its history. The establish- ment of a Welsh University is, we trust, a thinw of the near future, and the relation cf St. David's College to the new University will depend greatly on the spirit of the Principal. It would be a serious matter to Welsh educa- tion if Lampeter was not in complete accord with the University of Wales and here again Dean Owen's conciliatory influence would be invaluable. We can only again express a hope that for all our sakes Dean Owen will see his way to accept the Principalship of the ..College with which he was so long identified.