The Cambrian

I TKLXGRAMS S 'Cambrian N«WH|)A;IER Swansea I TERMS OF SUBSCHI PT.ION • Delivered in Town la. 3d. per quartir Post Free (United Kingdom) Is. 9a. (Foreign) od. Payable iiiinvun.-t..

■^Lhc (llaiiiot'inn. FRIDAY, MARCH 20 ia(>3 NOTES ON MEN & THINGS.! Lord Grenfell received the Duke and Duchess of Connaught at Malta on Monday. M # Sir John Lleuelyn and Lady Llewelyn have gone to the South of England for a week or two. What will the Welsh Union Committee do with the £ 6,000 balance which now lies at their disposal in the bank? Will it be gold pendants or watches this time? Cromwell's ancestors, ;¡:y: Mr. John Mor- ley, were Welshmen, from Glamorganshire, bearing the name of Williams. One of the Protector's papers still extant bears the name Cromwell, "alias Williams Unfortunately, it would be a task harder tlian the proverbial one of finding a needle in a hayrick for any of the present day Williamses to trace their descent back to the same family The prisoner in the Neath jewel burglary has been displaying an amount of emotion which is capable of two interpretations- cynical and otherwise. The comparatively lenient sentence meted out to him suggests that Mr. Justice Phillimore, like the Neath magistrates, believes it a genuine expression of remorse, and not a skilful attempt to play upon the strings of sentimentality. By the death of Dr Paddon one of the most sterling and picturesque personalities is lost to Swansea. He was an aggressively de- voted Tory, when Toryism meant sacrifice, and many disadvantages in the borough and the transformation wrought in his time was one of the doctor's most cherished memories, Swansea is distinctly poorer for the passing away of Dr. Paddon. Mr. Shepherd failed to put in an appearance at Saturday's International. Nevertheless he would, if he had been present have had no reason to be dissatisfied with the menu at the banquet Theophile Rodeur, Vintage 1892, is certainly a class apart from the beer or temperance drinks to which he would treat the "barbarian" Welsli players, who tire too brutal and uneducated to possess, in his es- timation, a palate sufficiently delicate to ap- ia o preciate "bouquet" and "body." On Wednesday morning the room where the meetings of the Swansea Hospital Manage- ment Committee are ordinarily held was packed to the doors. Rut not for long. As soon as the election of anaesthetist was over, Dr. Cameron obtaining a clear majority at the 1 first ballot, the irregulars fil^j out and thei 1 regulars were left in comfortable possession as usual. There is nothing like an appoint- ment for bringing members together. The action of the Miners' Federation in re- ferring back the South Wales agreement, which they cannot endorse, to the men who drew it up, leaves matters much as they were, and it remains to be seen whether common- sense, or a mistaken idea of loyalty will sway the decisions of the local federation. If a rup- ture in the coal trade was the result, public opinion in South Wales will be generally in- censed against what it will regard as an un- warranted piece of meddling and mischief- making. It is doubtful moreover, whether many, if any. of the Northern miners per- sonally care one rap about the matter. Critics who delight in the Welsh victory at Cardiff as evidence that a muddy ground is not necessarily antagonistic to a Welsh team's chances of success, may find some diffi- culty in explaining away the Inverleith down- fall, as there was mud enough on that oc- casion. A wet ground, however, is a. fixed element which can be calculated upon with reliability; a fhckle gale, which may be a hurricane one minute, and a gentle breeze the next, is quite another. The one was pre- sent and the other was absent on the two respective matches. nn(] ,(nd nofc t}[e mud underfoot, made all the difference. The Stress Committee' 0Ijy visible retum for all the money it expends is a plentiful harvest of nuid. One day crowds attending an International wear away the macadam, or arc said to do so on the next the laving of lines in connection with the municipal tele- phone system plays havoc with the ballasting in other and more numerous streets. Under these circumstances, disgust must be felt that only by a considerable addition to an ex- penditure. which is already much too high, can one tangible reform be effected. Several new street.s have moreover not been touched at all. One section in the Brvnmill district, though the houses bordering on it have been inhabited for neai j seven years, remains in its primeval condition of ruts and loose stones. "Economy" is alJ the rage nowadays. The ratepayer ,as a rule, knows little about the candidates who, by his apathy, are allowed to slip into the council, rather than are elected and lie cares less about their doings. But when the fruit of those "doings" appears in the prosaic form of an "extra shilling in the pound," there is a wonderful awakening of municipal interest and zeal! Most of the economics correspondents are suggesting, however, it will be too late to effect. One gentleman says the town could do for years without a new police station, if need be, and inferentially, would like to see that matter shelved. He overlooks the fact that the tender has been let, and the work must now be pushed on with at all costs. But with the rates at their present standard, serious and permanent harm will be indirectly done to the town by the driving away of potential new in- dustries, which resent such a heavy handicap. An interesting anniversary was celebrated on Monday, namely, the gokfen V/eddii;g of Mr. and Mrs. "YillÚm Penrose, Walter-road, «ho were married at St. Mary's Parish Church by the vicar, the Rev. W. Hewson, [, D.D., 60 years ago. Mr. Penrose veins aro camo from Cornwall, and practised as an assayer for many years in the town, bein" an acknowledged authority on everything per- ta.ir.ing to the ore and metal trades. ° For some time he was connected with the Diliwvn and Company Spelter Works, where he occu- pied the position of manager. fje 3-t.tfi&d some years ago from active business. His wife, Mrs. Penrose, vras the youn^t Ann -h° ter of the late «Mr. Kichavl iUcha^X tect and Guilder n the tow?. jjc.r bruiiu-rs now dead, were Mr. :li'MJr<i Richards West Cross; Mr. Edwin Mat hew Rich'irl^' MP for Cardiganshire; and Mr. William Rich- ard's. architect. Mrs. Pen-wo is the L'rand mother of Miss Hackney, Sir Henry L vii;u> leading lady, and the aunt of ?>lr. WT. F Richards, J.P., Mr. L. 'M. Richards, bn'rris- ter-at-law, Mr. Laurence Richards. Swansea borough pr >sccuting solicitor, and Mr. A. J. Richards. Marriage is at a discount in Cardiff, for 1 there are no applications yet for the dowry. The last day is the 31st March. Dr. Griffith Griffiths, of Pontardawe, Dr. Latimer, and Dr. J. A. Rawlings are all old punils of the late Dr. Paddon. Will the Council prove more fortunate, financially, when it steps into the shoes of the School Board, than it has been in its other undertakings? j At best the work of the overseers is a thankless one ,and it is significant that whilst J there was an abundance of adverse criticism no one wanted to find a place among the ap- pointed four. It There is room for economy in one direction. The proposed Workmen's Institute at Cray, which is still in the paper world of plans and estimates ,could be dropped by the Cor- poration without anyone in Swansea feeling much the worse for it. A novel Franco-German industrial alliance is much in evidence in connection with the Swansea, tramways. The owners bear names which are decidedly German; the local elec- trical engineer is of the same nationality, and one of the systems is French to the back- bone. The payment of rates to the extent of be^ tween £1,200 and £1,500 a year is habitu- ally excused at Swansea, whereas in Cardiff the total is about £ 80 a year, and in Newport even less. No wonder the Town Clerk at Newport remarks in a letter, which the Borough Accountant produced on Wednes- day, only at the second time of asking, that Swansea, enjoys a reputation for its gener- osity in this iegard— generosity at the ex- pense of those who pay their rates. Once more, and for the last time-as the Standing Orders preclude a point twice de- cided the same year to be reopened—it has been decided that the facing of the dam at the Crey Water Works shall be of brick and not stone, which would cost anything from J38,500 to JB15,000 more. The discussion was due to a member having extracted a letter from Mr. Hill, the consulting engineer The incident arising from the unnecessary expense to which Colonel and' Capt. Morgan were put by the failure to insert in the first instance a protective clause, as agreed upon in the Omnibus Bill, was closed on Wed- dnesday, when Councillor Moy Evans moved and the Council unanimously adopted, the recommendation of the committee which de- cided that the costs should be defrayed by the London agents and the Town Clerk, and' that an expression of regret should be sent to the Messrs. Morgan. This year's St. Patrick's Day procession at Swansea suffered appreciably from the heavy rain. The object of a. processionist is to "procesh," as Artemus Ward would put it, and to make that fact obvious; but when he is huddling under an umbrella sod- den with rain, that object does not attain its due prominence. There were few Irishmen, fewer onlookers, and—but who could work up enthusiasm on such a miserable day as Tuesday? Thit* &1"C iMmrcv Swansea's Council committees, after Tues- day's confabulations', only succeeded in re- ducing their estimates by an amount tanta- mount to a third of a penny rate. The Watch Committee could only economise ê t the expense of the Fire Brigade—that is, at the risk of loss of life and damage to pro- perty. Aid. Spring's department was, How- ever. let down heavily. We will, not !• t>e much by this; but the general impression left nevertheless, was an uncomfortable -,ne. The tide is clearly not y." anywhere near high water mark. It is highly unfortunate that Swansea s patent fuel industry reaps no benefit frcm the Admiralty's policy of replacing coal with briquettes, for storage abroad. A change for the better is only to be looked forward to when the extensive use of the combusible discloses one or two weaknesses which might be remedied by local works. British war- ships, by the way, though we have infinitely far more coaling-stations than all the other Powers combined, have far more bunker ac- commodation than foreign boats. As all warships, through the exigencies of their con- struction, have to be coaled by hand, patent fuel, with its convenient blocks, possesses in this respect a marked advantage over or- dinary steam coal. .y,- The increase in the rates at Swansea is to be 9d. in the £ for the whole year, and not one shilling in the £ The excessive spending was done last year; £3,000 went as special I interest for investors in the Corporation loan, and £1.800 as additional interest and sinking fund in respect of the ordinary debt of the borough. These outlays were unavoidable; the avoidable increased expenditure of the various committees amounted to about £4,000. It is distinctly comforting to know that nei- ther the poor rate nor the School Board rate shows an increase; a sum of JB1,500 received by Swansea, as a "necessitous district" from the Imperial Exchequer helped the latter body over the difficulty created by the advances made in the salaries of the teachers. The effect which may reasonably be ex- pected from the proposed conference of Swan- sea Corporation representatives with the Tramway Company, is the clearing away of the impression which it seems has been pro- duced upon the directors of the latter that in the correspondence over the surface con- tact system they have been treated with scant courtesy. People accustomed to the expeditious responses of companies, firms, and individuals are apt to forget that allow- ances must be made for the circuitous me- thods almost inseparable from public bodies. It is understood that at. the conference the Tramway Company will be represented by Mr. Legidmeyer, the chairman of the Swan- sea concern, and not by Mr. Garcke. The resolution carried by 18 votes to 12 at the meeting of the Council on Wednesday deprecating an outlay of the current revenue of £800 upon polled work on the exterior of the new school buildings at Hafod, was described' by the opposition as equivalent to a vote of censure on the Board. It will only mean that if the latter persists1 in defying the Education Board and the Corporation by per- sisting with this avoida.ble and unnecessary work during a year when the burden of the rates lies unusually heavy on the shoulders of the burgesses. As a body existing solely upon suffrance, and in a sense irresponsible the School Board would be well advised not to celebrate its own extinction by this wanton defiance of public and expert opinion as re- presented by the departmental authorities. Mr. Ambrose Hoskin's defence of himself, 1 whether judged forensically, or by the ulti- mate result, must be considered highly suc- cessful. The keen contest for the position of ansethe- tist at the Swansea Hospital, would suggest an appointment with a substantial salary at- tached. In point of fact it carries not a penny directly, but the indirect gain must be considerable judging by the efforts: to secure the post. Mr. W. S Caine, M.P., whose death took place on Monday, was for many years one of the most prominent of the "middlemen" in Liverpool acting as intermediaries between the Welsh tinplate manufacturers and the American consumer. The McKinley tariff cut deep into the business of Liverpool brokerage. Sir John Llewelyn who, with Lady Llew- elyn, is recuperating in the South of Eng- land, will have his holiday embittered by one reflection; he will see neither the Devon- port Albion nor the Newport matches at St. Helen's. Only those who know how keenly he relishes football can appreciate the acuteness of his disappointment. The most marked characteristic of the Cardiff Assizes so far has been the leniency of the sentences, which in some cases has been carried to what is regarded as excessive lengths. riia is due to the fact that Justice Phillimore has a merited reputation for being, if not. the most lenient of his Majesty's justices, at least one of the most pre-eminent in that respect. C"rley, thu Irish captain, was walking to his hotel shortly after the match, when a -maH boy, unaware of his identity, went up to him and exclaimed. "Buy a memorial card, sir/ Death of poor rJd Ireland." The Irsh skipper v\as greatly tickled at the humour of tne situation, and .smilingly shook Iris head us he replied, "No, thanks. I'm obliged, but I dun't require oiu I've been to the funeral." The suggested conference of educationalists on the lines laid down at the Llandnndod Confeience, has not met favour rn the eyes of the bishops. Inclusive of the Bishop of Hereford, four of their lordships liave writ- ten declining the invitation of the Mayor of Swansea; the Bishop of Bangor maintains reticence to the extent of not writing at all—up to date. By the resolution adopted at the last meet- ing. the Swansea Tramways Committee com- mitted itself to a preference for the Dolt-r as compared with other surface contact sys- terns, and to the principle of bringing all the parties concerned together so as to ascertain whether and how the objection of the Swansea Tramways Committee to the introduction of the system can be overcome. A Swansea alderman remembers calling upon the late Dr. Paddon to pass an examina- tion for insurance. "You're too cold," re- marked the Doctor; "have a run up Mount Phasant and then come back." The alder- man as he is now, thereupon proceeded to the Albert Hall, where. a dance was going on, and after indulging in a couple of waltzes, re- turned almost, breathless. "That's right," said the Doctor, now I can tell your condi- tion." The alderman passed. The Swansea School Board is taking full advantage of its position of greater freedom and lets responsibility. As the Education Board refuses to sanction the spending of £800 in using polled instead of rubbled work on the exterior of the Hafod School, the majority of the members, with a complacency and courage to be admired in the circum- stances, piopose to spend the sum on the outside appearance of the schools, and to make it part of the expenditure which the ratepayers will liave to meet this year. The big jump of 9d. in the £ for the year, or 4^d. in the £ for the half-year, in the rates at Swansea, is due to a small degree only to anticipated outlay on the ordinary adminis- tration during the current year. A part of the increased rates belongs rightly to last year, and should have been debited to it, but the chief cause of the startling rise is the fact that payment, of interest and working on account of the Cray and other works has to be provided for. The flotation of the last Corporation loan involved an exceptional ex- penditure of several thousands of pounds, which in equity should be treated as part of the loan itself. # A comparison of the results achieved by the various Corporation Committees in cut- ting down their estimates of expenditure during the coming year, yields curious find- ings. The Parks Committee reduced the total by £500, and left to future meetings the task of finding how the difference should be adjusted; the Streets Committee aban- doned a number of improvements which are desirable if not urgently necessary; whilst the Works and Sanitary Committee did not reduce the estimate at all, but discovered an omission which increased the total by about £125. To the Watch Committee, re- duction was made easy by the "find" of £800 which should be charged to the capital cost of the New Central Police Station-and therefore to be treated as part of the general loan repayable over a number of years—do- bited to current expenses. This meant a big slice off the estimate without the sacrifice The Borough Electrical Engineer's report on the rival systems of traction available for the extensions to the existing tramways, is hable to give rise to many misapprehensions. Mr. russman has throughout shown a marked preference for the trolley or overhead system. Like all electrical engineers, he has a conservative distrust of the new. From suiface contact he anticipates possible trou- bles, without being able to give any evidence whatever in justification of his fears. With regard to the Dolter and Schuckart. systems his opinion is based entirely upon the state- ments made by the representatives of the two companies, who were consulted a few weeks ago—statements which lie accepts in good faith as being literally correct in every detail. By this arrangement he exclu<?es the influence of the fact that he has seen and tested the Dolter system under working day conditions, and has merely theory to rely upon in the case of the Schuckart. If the cost of both were equal, he would, on this basis, give preference to the Schuckart, principally because the studs are grouped, and access obtained' to them by means of re- ceptacles placed at intervals on the side of the track, whereas on the Dolter system each stud has its separate box. As there is a. difference of, roughly, £3,000 per mile in the capital cost in favour of the Dolter, lie declares for it, adding that if the Corpora- tion were inclined to pay the higher price tfoi* the Schuckart., hei would recommend £2,000 more per mile to be spent upon a l conduit system—admittedly the best of all, but too expensive for Swansea, to be prac- ticable. Ben D&vies, whose visit to Swansea demonstrated again his ability to draw a packed house, will shortly start on a tour in America for ten weeks or so. Principal Salmon says that a knowledge of the French language opens up a larger body of literature than does a knowledge of Welsh. A larger, I do not say a. mocie beautiful," cautiously added the professor. The small-pox cases at Cardiff are running a. course curiously alike to that experienced in Swansea lo»st< year. They were few in February and March, but burst out on an extensive scale in midsummer. There were those who believe that when they became members ox a church they were never to hugh, were to walk differently to other persons, and were to be constantly peep- ing into their coffins. That was an outrage upon religion." Rev. J. Gimblett, Morrus- ton The trade antagonism, which is probably one of the chief causes of the labour split in the question of Swansea District labour re- presentation is capable of extending to the more restricted sphere of Council elections. Vide our Briton Ferry correspondent's re- marks on the local differences of opinion in this week's issue. It was intimated at a meeting on Monday that there was every prospect the accounts for the current year of the Swansea electric installation would show that the revenue was equal to meet all the outlay, including interest upon capital, with possibly a little towards to the sinking fund, which it will be necessary to establish. The large number of postal officials charged with theft at the Assizes is a feature of ses- sions in the Metropolis. The Post Office has admitted that it has Judge Phillimore's re- marks at Cardiff "under notice," and postal employes in London are unanimous in de- claring that the above regrettable fact is not subject for wonder when the exceedingly small wages are considered. The depart- ment. in fact, economises at the expense of honesty. Saturday next will witness the sternest, struggle of the season at St. Helen's. The fixtures of Devonport Albion. w hic-h provided for the leading Welsh teams being first played at Devonport, has given the English team a not wholly deserved pre-eminence. Their only win in Wales was that against. Cardiff a. week ago, when the Carditnans, without Nicholls, Winfield, and Biggs ran them to within a couple of points. The tussle with Swansea will apply a practical test to the quality of the Albions. A former resident in Penmaen, the late Miss Bostock, founded a scholarship in con- nection with the London University, of the annual value of JS60, candidates having to read for the University's medical degree at the London School of Medicine for Women, The scholarship is about to be offered by the Reed trustees; candidates should send in their names to the Academic Registrar. Uni- versity of London, South Kensington, at least a month before the examination, which will be held on September 15th. Substantial progress is being made with the Municipal Telephone Exchange, and it is only a matter of weeks for the service to be ava'l.-ible to subscribers. In considering the propo'al fJ>ut there should be n formal open. i^g ot tli. Exchange. the lommit.tee-- and this; count to them for righteousness-— firmly resisted the temptation to afford an excuse for junketting at the public expense. With the district rate at 4s. 3d. in th. JC. the total elimination of the Corporation lun- cheon must seem highly desirable. # Costly municipal undertakings of the mag- nitude of the Cray Works, are hardly likely in future to be attempted by the prentice hand of the municipality. A firm of the standing of Aird or Weetman Pearson might make some profit, but would guarantee the work being done with efficiency and stability. A breakdown in some part of the works would be a serious and direct blow to their reputa- tion whereas, in the future, in the event of such occurring at the Cray. it will prove rather hard to bring home the responsibility. J The honour conferred upon Canon Smith recalls the story of a deputation waiting upon a distinguished clergyman, who explained, "We have many ministers who gave satisfac- tion in the pulpit, but somehow the church debt has not been reduced." "Ah!" replied th" divine, whose name we do not remember, "I quite understand. You are looking for a business manager under another name." "I'm glad we've got to something interesting at last; it's quite a treat," remarked Rev. Watkins Edwards, chairman of the Swansea Schools' Building and Site Committee. The above interest was due to the appointment of a caretaker for Plasnrarl School, the pre- sent one having resigned. The tension was great, while each member sat down, and from a long list of applications selected six, and wrote their names on clean sheets of paper. After a long while, the committee brought the applications down to three, who will have to appear before Uie Board. Mr. Wm. Booth Joseph Pryce Cameron, who died on the 4th February Ia.st..1, t-54, Claverton-street, London, S.W., and whose death was announced recently, was the se- cond son of the late Lieut.-Colonel Nathaniel Cameron, 79th Foot, of Danygraig, Swansea, and Letitia Pryce, his wife. sole heiress of her maternal grandfather, Joseph Pryce, of Courtycarne. His grandfather, Lieut.-Gen. Sir Alan Cameron, K.C.B., of Erracht, County Inverness, was the gallant and dis- tinguished officer who, in 1793. by his great personal influence, and at his sole expense, raised the 79th Regiment of Foot, now the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. Mr W. B. J. P. Cameron owned' The Beacon and ad- joining lands at St. Agnes, Cornwall, and succeeded his brother in the family estates in Glamorganshire in 1897, since which time he had taken much interest in their further development, and remained quite active to within a few days of his deith. The follow- ing is an extract from "Jameson's Historical Record." Cameron Highlanders :—It may be interesting to note that Mr. Cameron's uncle, Lieut.-Colonel Phillips Cameron, another son of Sir Alan, was in command of the 79th, 71st and 24th Regiments ,and several light com- panies in support opposed to Massena.. who was in great force with the whole 6th French Corps and army, and whose grand object was to carry the village of Fuentes D'Onore. A hand-to-hand combat was maintained with the French Grenadiers—part of the corps d'elite of Napoleon Bonaparte—-the High- landers clubbing their muskets so deadly, and close was the strife. At this moment a French soldier was observed to step into a doorway and take deliberate aim at Col. Cam- eron, who fell from his horse mortally wounded. With a cry of rage and grief, the Highlanders witnessed the fall of their chief, and a charge being ordered by Brigadier- General Mackinnon, the enemy were driven but with great slaughter, -¡¡, L 1— 'r' 'ate I>eucl;1wdd, proposes to *nte a book, grvrng his experience in endea- Yourmg to introduce reforms into the cockle industry at Penclawdd. Mr. Brynmor Jones, M.P., sp.nt Tuesday evening in addressing meetings at Mayfield In support of Mr. Hutchinson, the Liberal candidate for the Rye Drvision d Sussex. he rise in the Swansea district rate t<r in the £ brings the n-at^ to the lav- L eaehed m 1893. One, fact not to be over- looked is that the principal factor in making his necessary is the dead weight, of the in- terest on and sinking funds of the Corporation debt. The floating of the new Corporation loan merged the expenditure last, year by fio.000. this being the half-year* interest ofieied as an additional inducement to inves- tors when the money lent had been less than a third of that time in the hands of the Cor- poration. I The treatment of the salaries of public ser- vants is one of the most difficult tasks that fall to public men. A private employer re- wards the deserving and makes the reasonable advances in the remuneration of men render- ing satisfactory service, and nothing more is said in the matter. But with public bodies it is vastly different To many people it seems monstrous to increase salaries when rates are high and getting higher, as if the public, as an employer, were relieved from the obligations to be just. By a. parity of reasoning, salaries should rise with a drop in the rates, but no one suggests that, Now that the danger of a. strike in the v\ elsh coalfield is virtually over, there is no harm in stating that amoug the tradesmen in the colliery districts a strike was considered so likely that commercial travellers ex- perienced constderable difficulty in securing orders except to satisfy the immediate require- ments. This pessimism was the more re- maiKable as it has been an open secret throughout that amongst the leaders of the men there was an earnest determination to effect a peaceful settlement. To Cardiff which has hardly yet recovered from the ef- fects of the last strike, the result of another struggle would have been absolutely ruinous, so dependent is it upon the coal trade. [n the two South Wales Oioceses the Bishops have set their faces against the pro- posed truce suggested at the Llandrindod Conference. So far as can be: gathered from his published statements, the Bishop of St. Asapn is not disinclined to attend the pro- posed round-table conference, and the Bishop of Bangor maintains a reserve that yields no indication of his opinion. Time will tell whether the truest wisdom dictated the de- cision to decline the invitation to discuss terms of compromise with the Liberal party. Of one thing we may be certain—the chief burden of the consequences of strife will fall upon the children. At Swansea it is not un- likely that the experiment rejected of the Bishops of St. David s and Lhwlaff may have a trial. x- When the Corporation undertook to collect all the rates in the borough, it was claimed that the amalgamation would secure an enor- mous saving in the cost of collection. But although two years have gone by since the change was effected, the only saving up to date is due, not to the amalgamation, but to the action resulting in the then collector of the poor rate being called upon to resign without the superannuation allowance of £72(; a V'l.ir, which otherwise would have accrued to him. The Borough Accountant. as the As- sistant Overseer now promises that the econ- omies promised will become effective about September next. When the. new arrangement is in working order an analysis of the results in the light of Mr. HoptonV report in 1900 will be highly interesting. If Swansea is to have a surface contact. system, it will be the Dolter, which costs be £30,00 less, the cost of maintenance in the judging by practical results, as g.od if not. better than the best of the others. This was the verdict. of an overwhelming majority of the Council—two members only voting otherwise—on Wednesday. A conference is to ascertain whether the objections of the Tramways Company cannot be overcome. The suggestion that if the cast of construction be £3,000, the cost of maintenance in the case of the Dolter may be so much more as to equalise matters, is effectively disposed of by the fact that the cost of the mainten- ance is the same with both the Dolter and the Schuckart systems, and that the differ- ence between either and the trolley or over- head system in this respect is represented by £43 a year on a six-mile track with a five minute service. No less a sum than £2,223 10s. 8d.—by the way that 8d. is a mystery, having regard to the fact that the prices charged had 6d. as a unit—represented the takings at the Wales v. Ireland match. This establishes a. fresh record, and incidentally strengthens the claims of Cardiff from the gate-money stand- point. From every other those claims are feeble, since no ground could have been in a worse condition than the Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday, and the means of exit were trying in the extreme. The two factors—bad ground and good receipts—are probably re- sponsible for the cool suggestion that the Welsh Union should devote its bank balance of £6.000 to buying a ground a.t Cardir? specially for international matches. The example of the Scotch Union is put forward in support of the idea. But the cases are not at all parallel. The Cardiff Club could hardly be persuaded to give up its present highly ad- vantageous position for another remote from the centre of the town. and the proposition that a ground should be acquired and ex- pensively equipped solely for three matches in two years, is too preposterous to merit serious consideration. Even the Welsh Union might be expected to give a thought to the probable effect upon Welsh football if the West were entirely deprived of international contests. Mr. R. E. Jones, of the Mackworth Hotel, who, with. Mrs. Jor.es, has been spending a few weeks on the French Riviera, saw Paul Krugcr at Mentone, where the ex-President of the Transvaal and his entourage occupy two medium-sized villas, standing in tne.r own grounds, and surrounded by orange, lemon, and palm trees. In an oiange grove Kruger enjoys his long pips whilst the newspapers are read to him, and at noon nearly every day enters one of the villas for lunch. "It was a particularly warm day," .\1,r. Jones remarked to a "Post" man, "that I saw him, when outside the front f;tto entrance. He was accompanied by two "en- tlemen of his household, and when he ca ne in line with the two or three curious people out- side he directly faced us and raised his hat. He has been so faithfully reproduced) in the port-nuts so freely givui of him in recent years that, looking upon that familiar figure. I felt as if I had. known him for years. Still.' fl, portrait does not give the colour and }i\-jnt; expression of a person. He seemed of more than average height, and his head and face so massive as to induce a sense of the abnormaL They appeared unnaturally big. His gait was shaky and uncertain, indications that age is telling upon him, and he leaned heavily on the arms of his companions."