The London Welshman

THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE AT DOLGELLEY. A Plea for Welsh Unity. On Tuesday the President of the Board of Trade and Mrs. Lloyd-Gearge motored from Anglesea to Dolgelley, where they halted at Dr. Williams' Endowed School. The famous school, which is now incorporated in the secondary system of Merionethshire, has so prospered as to demand a considerable expan- sion of premises. A new wing has just been added, comprising what may be termed the administrative quarters. Another wing adding to the number of classrooms, dormitories, and sitting-rooms is to be added at once. The architect is Mr. Howard Jones. Mrs. Lloyd-George is an old pupil of the school, and for that reason was invited formally to open the new block, with a golden key pre- sented by Mrs. Burton, of Bala, the lady presi- dent of the School Governors. Mrs. Lloyd- George performed the cercmony in the presence of the pupils, over a hundred in number, and of the Governors. Afterwards there were speeches in the school hall, preceded by a pre- sentation of a bouquet to Mrs. Lloyd-George by Miss Peggy Morgan. The chair was occupied by Mr. Edward Griffith, vice-chairman of the Governors. Miss Diana Thomas, the head mistress, welcomed Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd-George on behalf of the staff. They felt proud that the wife of the first Welsh Cabinet Minister came from Dr. Williams' school. It was impossible for anyone acquainted with the school to look at its continued progress and not to feel justifi- able pride. Built thirty years ago, it continued to hold its own even in these days when there were few Welsh towns which did not possess a secondary school. One great cause of the success of the school was the faith in its destiny which the Governors had always had. Schools were like people, especially Welsh people. Let them be believed in, and they would do great things. It would have been hard for any school not to flourish in such an atmosphere of sym- pathetic appreciation as surrounded that school. Dante had a special place in Purgatory reserved for people who never dared to do anything. She was quite sure that the Governors of that school were far from that reproach. They dared greatly in building that school at a time when many people did not believe in the higher education of women, and it was only their faith in the school which enabled them to overcome the difficulties which attended its beginning, at spirit which was still shared by the Governors of the present day, and was seen in the pride with which every fresh development of the use- fulness of the school was regarded. The Chairman referred to the high scholastic attainments of the school, and pointed out that it was the foremost in Wales in the attention paid to Welsh. Mrs. Burton proposed a vote of thanks to Mrs. Lloyd-George, which the Hon. C. H. Wynn, of Rug, seconded, remarking that the school, while it gave a sound religious education, was completely undenominational. The Governors differed widely in views, but once they entered their boardroom all sectarian differences were buried. The Chairman remarked that that was the day of Mrs. Lloyd-George, whom they had assembled to honour. He recollected the time when she came to the school, and he had some influence with her parents at Criccieth in inducing them to send their only daughter there. Mrs. Lloyd-George acknowledged the vote of thanks, and wished every success to the school, which she entered in 1878. Mr. Lloyd-George followed with a character- istic address. He was reminded, he said, that it was his wife's day out, and that he was simply there to look after her and to have the pleasure of being present at his wife's old school. His first recollection of Dolgelley was when he went there to quarter sessions as an articled clerk, and heard a speech by Mr. Wynn, of Rug. No country in the world, with the possible exception of Japan, had done more than Wales had done in a given time to increase its facilities for higher and secondary education, and he had some hopes that the country would make greater strides in elementary education than it had done in the past when the strife was over. He had heard with very great satisfaction the remark of Mr. Wynn that there were no sectarian differences in that school, and also that they had religious instruction in the school. That showed that it was possible for the same religious instruction to be given in a school where men of all creeds, sects, and parties combined for that purpose. Education was a dangerous topic to touch upon at the present moment. It was full of the elements of contention and bitter strife. But he thought this was merely a phase, and that it would pass away soon. He was sorry it should be necessary to fight over the schools of the land, which were just the places where there should be peace, co-operation, and brotherly goodwill; but the fight had to be engaged in, and there was no use ignoring it. There were things to be settled one way or the other before we could get along. Who was right and who was wrong time would show, but these things would be settled with that happy knack which Britishers had got, and which came from centuries of training in self-government, and the people would accept the decision which the nation finally gave. They would act upon it, and would treat the whole controversy in a few years as pure history and nothing else. That was his opinion, but in the meantime these things had to be settled, and the sooner that was done the better for the people. The secondary system of Wales, which everybody had accepted, showed what could be done the moment the germs of warfare and contention were extracted out of education and how im- portant it was to put an end, if possible, to this angry quarrel about primary education. One out of thirty in the population of Wales received secondary instruction, though the proportion of children in the intermediate schools of Merionethshire was the largest of any com- munity save Prussia. He wanted Wales to wake up to the needs of the country in primary education as they did fifteen years ago in regard to secondary education and thirty years ago in regard to higher education. Let them have schools that would train the minds of the children whose parents could not afford secondary education and that would make Wales a great country in the future. Alluding to the scheme for the Welsh National Council, Mr. Lloyd-George pointed out the difficulties in the way of a common agreement, such as the varying size of the counties and the communities, all needing representation and all claiming their share of influence. He rejoiced to say that in spite of these difficulties the recent Conference was able to come to an agreement and a great step towards the future well-being of Wales was taken.