The London Welshman

WELSH EDUCATIONAL MATTERS. A Letter from George Meredith. Mr. George Meredith, the eminent author and writer, has sent the following letter to Mr. Hugh Lewis, J.P., of Newtown, the chairman of the local Liberal Association Box Hill, Dorking, October 8th. Dear Sir,-My present state of health must be my excuse to you for not writing fully on this urgent question of the Education Act as applied to Wales. For many centuries the Principality has suffered under the oppression of the Anglican Church, and we remember a date when Welsh ministers were condemned to preach to their flocks in the English tongue on pain of eject- ment from their office if they insisted on making themselves understood by their hearers. As a consequence they drove the bulk of Welshmen into the ranks of the Nonconformists. The same kind of fatal tyranny prevails in this day, and will meet with a like catastrophe to the senseless wielders of authority. To protest and be constant in resistance, following the traditions of his forefathers, is the Welshman's duty to his children. Pardon my brevity. Yours faithfully, GEORGE MEREDITH. Mr. Bryn Roberts, M.P., on the Situation in Montgomeryshire. Mr. Bryn Roberts, M.P., writes to the Baner ac Amserau Cymru reviewing an article published in that journal last week on the education situa- tion in Montgomeryshire. He controverts the contention of the Baner that the Board of Education will henceforth be responsible for maintaining the Council schools in the county, the Board of Education having no power nor being under any obligation to maintain the schools. Mr. Bryn Roberts asks the public to judge whether it is the Board of Education or the Council that will be blamed by impartial men for closing the schools and allowing children to grow up uneducated. He ventures to suggest that the Defaulting Authorities Act empowers the Board to appoint their own nominees-say Tory members of the Council or the parson and his friends -to control the schools and refund expenses incurred by them, which may lead to all schools being managed by Conservatives and at the public expense. It will also be open for the Board to seize considerable sums other than school grants paid by the Treasury to Councils, which in their turn must levy additional rates to meet ordinary expenditure. The hon member has come to the conclusion that the Montgomery- shire scheme has been rushed through without adequate consideration. Indeed," he adds, "the boastful language with which the news- papers published one and then another plan, suggesting that Sir William Anson trembles at the very sight of plans, is to my mind an indication that there is not much confidence in the strength of the scheme. It is the weak man who generally shouts boastfully when donning his armour; the strong is content to wait until he has conquered, and then everyone is ready to sing his praises without his condescending to such degrading work himself." The Situation at Barry. On Friday a new phase of the Welsh Education revolt developed at Barry, near Cardiff, when, following on a long-sustained controversy as to the staffing of St. Helen's Roman Catholic School, the Board of Education sent down an official, who attended at the school with Mr. Legard, His Majesty's inspector of schools, and the school managers, and proceeded to make appointments to the staff. The dispute had been regarding two standards of the staff which had been before the authorities and with refer- ence to which the Board had altered an earlier decision by which they added ^300 to the cost, with the result that the maintenance of the school would have been impossible without resorting to rate aid. The local authority, it is expected, will repudiate the appointments, and a direct conflict with the Department on the lines of the revolt in Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire may follow.

WELSH EDUCATION BOARD. Carmarthenshire's Attitude. At the Carmarthenshire Education Committee this week the scheme for a Welsh National Educational Council was further discussed. The delegates who had been sent to the Shrewsbury Conference to protest against the insufficient representation granted to Carmar- thenshire reported that the National Executive had refused to give them an opportunity of placing the whole case of the county before the Conference. The Rev. Towyn Jones, one of the delegates, said the scheme was anti-national and dealt very unfairly with the agricultural areas. At the Conference, he said, Mr. Lloyd- George had spoken in favour of the right of entry to Council schools and also of the teach- ing of the Bible in them, but if they believed in Nonconformity it was wrong to bring the Bible into the elementary schools, ard Mr. Lloyd- George was going against the principles of Liberalism and Nonconformity. He (Mr. Jones) would stick to principles but not to any leader, and when Mr. Lloyd-George ceased to be true to Nonconformist principles he left him. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded the delegates for the stand they had made at the Conference. Mr. John Lloyd (Abergwili) moved that the County Councils of Cardiganshire and Pem- brokeshire be invited to attend and join the Conference for the purpose of discussing the scheme and of deciding upon some independent action amongst the three counties.-Professor Jones (Carmarthen) seconded the resolution, which was carried unanimously.