The London Welshman

Notes of the Week. Conference and Council—We are going to press just before the Conference convened by the Lord Mayor of Cardiff to discuss the con- stitution of the proposed Welsh National Council of Education meets, but we sincerely hope that it will be able to agree upon a scheme. Otherwise there will be no possibility to deal with the question in the forthcoming Education Bill of the Government. But if there be unanimity at the Conference, then it is more than probable that clauses will be inserted in that Biil authorising the formation of the Council, and providing how powers exercised at present by Whitehall may be transferred to it. It seems that some of the Liberals of Wales are under some misapprehension as to the matters to be discussed at the Council, though Mr. Lloyd-George made it perfectly clear in the speech he made at Cardiff on March 3rd that it would have nothing to do with questions of political controversy. That being under- stood, it was most desirable that the Conference should be as representative as possible, and that every shade of opinion should have a voice in it. We do not understand why anyone should object, under the circumstances, to the Welsh Bishops and the Conservative candidates at the late election being invited. They re- b y present a strong minority. But inasmuch as an objection was raised, especially to the Bishops, we are glad that Lord Mayor Hughes has in- vited also the Moderator of General Assembly of the Calvinistic Methodists, the Chairmen of the Congregational and Baptist Unions, and the President of the Wesleyan Synod. The Con- ference will not be allowed to mention the religious difficulty, it will simply have to decide the representation on the Council and the scope of that body's action. And if it can agree upon those points we may expect to see Welsh Education, from Elementary to University, organised according to Welsh and governed by Welsh ideals. Wales in Parliament. The Welsh Members in the House of Commons cannot be accused of apathy and carelessness. Most of them are snowing great activity, especially in asking questions. We believe that Mr. D. A. Thomas has asked a larger number of questions than any other Member. Mr. Ellis Griffith and Mr. S. T. Evans also have given Ministers some- thing to do. The Member for Mid-Glamorgan by arranging to introduce a Suspensory Bill has managed to draw from the Prime Minister a positive written declaration that it is the intention of the Government to take Welsh Disestablishment in hand at the earliest avail- able opportunity. That announcement has naturally given great satisfaction to Welsh Non- conformists, and has filled Welsh Churchmen with great concern. Two at least of the new Welsh Members, Mr. Llewelyn Williams and Mr. W. Brace, have already delivered their maiden speeches, and have made very good impression upon the House. Though Mr. Brace is a strong advocate of the claims of Labour, he is in no sense irreconcilable. It does not seem that Mr. Keir Hardie has been able to draw a single one of his Welsh colleagues into his net. All the representatives sent up by the miners of Glamorgan and Monmouth remain outside the section of which the junior Member for Merthyr is chief. The two most important events of last week were the dinner given by Sir Alfred Thomas to his colleagues, at which the Prime Minister was a guest, and the conference with the representativts of the National University and Colleges to discuss the question of addi- tional annual grants from the Treasury. What was said at the dinner is kept private, but arrangements are being made for a deputation of the Members to see Mr. Asquith at an early date to ask for increased grants. After all, it is not on the floor of the House, but by means of private interviews with those in authority, that the representatives of Wales are able to do the most valuable services to the nation. A Tribute to Wales.—In his introduction to the new edition of George Borrow's Wild Wales," in "Everyman's Library," NIr. Theodore Watts-Dunton, the author of Aylwin, pays, not for the first time, a very high tribute to Wales, the Welsh language, and the WeLh people. And the glowing eulogy is undoubtedly thoroughly sincere, the words have the true ring of genuine admiration. Mr. Watts-Dunton's position in the English world of letters is such that praise from him is worth having. If those who lived forty years ago and were accustomed to read the sneering remarks made by nearly all first class English writers whenever they had occasion to mention Wales and its people, could have been made acquainted with this eulogy they would think that the millenium had dawned upon earth. Just fancy how Ab Ithel, or Dewi o Ddyfed, or the Rev. Robert Jones, of Rotherhithe, would have been thrilled by such words as these :—" The land of Druidism—the land of that mysterious poetic religion which more than any other religion expresses the very voice of Nature, is the land painted in this delightful volume-Wild Wales. Compared with Druidism, all other religious systems have a sort of commonplace and modern ring, even those which preceded it by centuries. The scenic witchery of Wild Wales is great, no doubt, but it is enormously intensi- fied by the memory of the heroic struggle of the unconquerable remnant of the Ancient Britons with the brutal, physical power of Roman and Saxon. The history of Wales is an epic not to be surpassed for poetry and for romance When the student of Welsh history and the lover of Welsh scenery is brought into contact with the contemporary Welsh people, the charm of the land does not fade, it is not fingered away by personal contact, it is, indeed, aug- mented tenfold." Verily, our avenger for past insults heaped upon us has taken the field, and Die Shon Dafydd has no excuse for existing any longer.