Prestatyn Weekly

THE SCHOOL INQUIRY. (Continued from page 3). John Owen, farmer, of Bryn Llystyn, County Council manager of the Gwespyr temporary school, an elder and treasurer of the chapel in which the school was held, said he farmed 79 acres, for which he paid JSlOO rent. He, to, had received notice to quit, and upon receipt of it h3 went to see Mr Daw- son, the agent, to ask for an explanation. Mr Dawson said the reason was nothing personal, but was the bother about the school and the Land Bill (laughter). Replying to Mr A. A. Thomas, the witness said he was quite satisfied with the Talacre Roman Catholic School when Miss Lombard was the head teacher, and when there was a lay teaching staff. At present the teachers were nuns. At the request of Mr A. T. Davies, the witness reluctantly produced the following letter received by him on November 30tli, the date on which the notice to quit was given :—"Dear Mr Owen,—As you say, all your children have been educated at Talacre. I did also the best I could for your good and respected wife, and have been very deeply pained at the course you have taken against me. You have had a chance to let your feelings be known, which have not been loyal. No one regrets more than I do to be at the necessity to give you notice. It is a great pain to us all.—Yours faithfully, PYERS W. MOSTYN. This letter, the witness proceeded, was in reply to one he wrote to Sir Pyers upon receiving notice to quit. He absolutely denied having being disloyal to Sir Pyers. John Blythyn, of Axton, near Gwespyr, a small farmer and shoemaker, stated that he had been in his present holding sixteen years; his great grand- father reclaimed some of the land from tne mountain and his grandfather was born on it, as well as his father and his uncle, and he succeeded his uncle as tenant sixteen years ago. He had voted for the erection of the Gwespyr new school, and had received notice to quit. This witness, as well as the preceding one, stated emphatically that he had ixaver given the landlord any trouble in regard to the rent. T. G. Jones, clerk to Llanasa Parish Council' gave evidence that a properly convened parish meeting at Efynnongroew passed a resolution in support of the school by 135 votes to 12. J. B. Thomas, head master of the temporary .school, produced a schedule of the scholars on the register, 48 of whom, he said, resided within a quarter of a mile of the school. The Rev D. Meurig Jones, one of the managers of the temporary school, and chairman of the Free Church Council, stated that Nonconformists were in a great majority in the village, but a state of terrorism, in his opinion, existed, the notices to quit tending to make a good many of the inhabitants afraid to openly express their views. Pressed in cross-examination as to why the villagers should not accept the free, private, recognised Talacre shool as adequate, the witness said he objected to that school because it was entirely controlled by Roman Catholics, who were pledged to do their best to increase the membership of their own Church in Wales. Moses Davies, Dolphin, stated he had lived in his present house for 48 years had always paid his rent, and had received no complaints from his landlord. He was one of the deacons of the Chapel where the temporary school was conducted, and the head master of that school lodged in his house. He had received notice to quit, and knew of no reason for it exept that he was an officer of the chapel in which the school met, and that he had the head master as a lodger. Formerly he was a work- man on the estate, and his son succeeded him in that capacity, but at the beginning of the past summer his son was discharged and a stranger—a Roman Catholic—was imported to take the vacant place. Sir Pyers had been friendly with the witness for many years. William Griffiths, another manager of the temporary school, having given evidence advocating, as the preceding witnesses had done, a school for 150 in the village, the case for the supporters of the school was closed. The Opposition. Mr F. J. Gamlin called Mr Bulcock, J.P., who stated that as a result of a meeting in the parish he wrote to Sir Pyers Mostyn asking him to restore T alacre school to its former status as a non-piovided school. This Sir Pyers agreed to do, and in con- sequence the opponents of the new school deemed it unnecessary to attend the parish meeting. This accounted for the large majority in support of the school secured at that meeting. Charles J. Batters, colliery proprietor, who em- ployed, he said, nearly 600 people, contended with some warmth that the schools at Trelogan and Gronant would suffice for the needs of the people, and that to build another school at Gwespyr would be an extravagant waste of the ratepayers' money. Mr Amphlett, on behalf of Sir Pyers Mostyn, addressed the Commissioner, and deplored the fact that such a pitiful state of affairs should have arisen. The reason for it did not rest with Sir Pyers Mostyn. It had been suggested that notices to quit were given because unfortunate differences had occured between the Mostyn family and the former teacher of the school. Mr A. A. Thomas said that the lady referred to, Miss Lombard, had issued a writ against Lady Mostyn, to clear herself before the courts, and it would not be proper for Mr Amphlett to prejudice that action by entering into the cause of the dispute. Mr Amphlett said he had no intention of doing anything of the kind, but what he did wish to asser