The Cambrian

FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 1905, -¡- NOTES ON MEN & THINGS Visitors to the Fusiliers' Monument at Carmarthen observed that the lettering of the names of the dead com nemorated 6adly needed a lick of paint, as at present they are practically illegible. Unlile Mr. Justice Bray, who used to often walk down from the Brooklands to the Swansea Assize Courts, Mr. Justice Channell and Mr. Justice Phillimore have ridden down every morning Mr. Justice Channell has evinced no baste wth the cauoe list at the Assizes. The Long Vacation does not begin till the,, 12th, and, as his Londsbip has already re- marked, the business is well in hand. The possibilities of delay in connection with the law are enormous. Take a local case in point. In November of 1903, the sub- scribers to tiOO Swansea Municipal Telephone service were promised in good faith inter- communication with the National Telephone subscribers by January of 1904. The law relative to the point eeemed most simple and ckar- As froon as the Corporation subscri- bers reached a certain number intercom- munication could be demanded. The neces- sary number had been secured by December. 1903; and notice was served upon the Com- pany, demanding intercommunication in ac- cordance with the terms of the license. And now we e in August, 1905, or nearly two years from the date upon which the Mune- cipal Station was opened and intercom muni- cation is n-:t yet, effected, although work to that end is in hand. The delay is not due to inaction >n the part of the Telephone Com mittee, but to the wide scope which Eng- lish law gives a litigant for deferring some- thing which he does not want. It will pro- bably be months more before the advantages 01 intercommunication arc enjoyed loo. And ;f this delay is possible m a matter ad- mitting of little legal doubt, what is not pos-1 sible in a ca?o where the meaning of the law ] sible in a case where the meaning of the law ] is obscure, ;ir)d the lea.ding facts disputed? Swansea- Council might well take a leaf out of Cardigan's book. They have en- gaged the Gwaun-cae-gurwen silver band to give sacred concerts on Sundays. A large number of visitors poured into Swansea on Monday, but as the great ma- jority went to the Mumbles and Gower, the town did not benefit- to the extent suggested by the statistics supplied by the railway companies. Tradesmen complain that trade was not so good as in former years. The registration of a company to take over among other properties the Grand Theatre, Swansea, does not signify any practical difference in the existing manage- ment. The present lessees of the Grand Theatre are in possession of the building for a period of three years. The lessors, Messrs. David Allen and Sons, are evidently the principal parties in the new company. Rev. Dr. Tudor Jones is to be congratu upon his notable sucoeta in obtaining the degree of Ph.D., at tho German Univer- sity of Jena—with which the memory and rame of Ernest Haeekel will for ever be aicociated, and which is one of the most- prominemit of the twciraty-two universities scattered over the lemgth and breadth of the German Empire. In the thcologica.1 domain Jena is indeed easily the. most prominen:- Hey. Dr. Jones had concluded a third penol of annual (Study at the Urav-orsity, under the Hibbert scholarship, a-nd despite the difficulties presented by an alien tongue, obtained the degree with a disquisition upon Influence of Personality upon. religious English Thinkers of the Present Day." The most superficial acquaintance with the char acter of Germain universities, and the .strin- gent and exacting nature of their exannna- tions, eoa-blos one to recognise the accom- plishment at its true value. On thevù of the National Eisteddfod there was little to suggest that Swansea, and district would be prominently represented in the competitions; but the prize list, as disclosed day by day, indicates that a very fair proportion of the prizes are coming to the west. Brynamman Choir carried off the chief choral prize in the juvenile choir competition: the first and second prizes were taken by choirs from this neighbour- hood and the Clydach fe Bard won the first prize in the band competition. The chaired bard is a Swansea Valley man, and quite a number of prizes for solo singing, ets., have been won by competitors resident in Swansea and neighbourhood. One may reasonably conclude from this that when the National Eisteddfod of 1907 is held at Swansea there will be no lack of contest- ants from the immediate locality for the prizes offered. The cricket event of the week has been the visit of the Australians' team to Car- diff, when a South Wales eleven drawn ex- clusively from Glamorganshire and Mon- mouthshire was opposed. The financial re- suits were excellent, and will appreciably strengthen the position of the- County Club. The arrangement made with the visitors en- titled the latter to half the gross receipts, After paying ail the expense*, the county organisation is likely to be left with some hundreds of pounds in hand. The Welsh- j men won the toss and batted first, but were dismissed with the moderate score of 132- When their time came the Australians had a total of 361. At the second essay the homesters made 80 for 0 wickets; but the match had to be abandoned on Wednesday in consequence of a heavy downpour of rain. On the whole the Welsh team made I a fairly creditable show against the Aus- tralians. The two Swansea, 3:ecrssentatL«;e did xelli- Bmicrou, with 25 and Pj, was about the most consistent batsman on the home side and Creber, besides taking more wickets than any other bowler, put in a. r.Teftil 23 runs snd carried out his bat. It j is possible that when the next Australian team comes over one of the Test matches may be allotted to Cardiff. Some disturbing figures quoted at a ministerial confere-n^o at Porth last wee* rpon the statistics of the religious revival of 1859. They showed thit whilst the churches at the outset mustered ninety thousand com rnunicanbs, which number fwcDed to over a. hundred thousand at the fc-ver heat period of the movement, within four or five years, this muster roll had shrunk back to its original aggregate! There mum In sonxsthmg wrong wibh'thef-e figures; which is less probable and ijnneod hardly credible, this great upheaval, with its fer- \<ur of emotion and intensity of commotion, left no permanent impression upon the e-, ligious character of Wales. There ample ¡ evidence to the contrary, so far as the latter pr()fvesition ie concerned. But certainly this tends to justify in their belief the few wlJ("1 maintain that the resultant harvest of the I iate revival will be diminutive, as com.pa.rod I with the stir it. created. And when far: allowance is made for the backsliding ele- I n-.ent, it is probable that the harvest will be (■isappointing1. This js, too, an evanescent j and ephctrrcir.il age, compared with that of m.rly sixties of last. century- Evan j Roberts is credited with fclie- intention of j attempting to revi'Sg the revival in the autumn. A study of the history of the recent movement gives ground for saKpic;-xt tlvjt., failing a recrudescence of the fire which he guided, but did not exactly inspire, his task will be a heavy one. I It is pointed out in a local contemporary I that complaints arising from the treatment ot patients at the Swansea Hospital end in- variably in the same way, viz. the offioa;s are found blameless. In many instances no doubt this verdict is in harmony with the facts, because among the thousands of people treated as indoor or outdoor patients a- cer- tain proportion is bound by the law of aver- ages to be fault-finding. Nevertheless, the sameness of the result in every case suggests a possibility by no means agreeable to con- template. The committees of the Hospita' aiv in a large measure composed of members of the medical profession, and in virtue of th. services they gratuitously render they naturally command considerable influence. The spirit of camaraderie which prevails among medical men is admirable on the whole, but occasionally it is found capablp. of being carried to lengths prejudicial to the interests of the public. To what extent the impression, is justified by the facts it is diffi- cult to say, but unquestionably among the oat side public the view is very prevalen: that in all questions affecting the medical profession, the doctors on the Hospital com- mittees are pre-dfcsposed to stand by their brethren through thick and thin. Hence the belief, which is detrimental to the con- fidence which the Hospital administration ought to inspire, that complaints have a very poor chance of being considered impartially Considering that the Hospital depends to a large extent upon the fro will offerings of t-h* classes and the masses, this disbelief in the fairness of the Hospital management committees when exercising judicial func- tions, is a factor bound to operate disadvan- tageously to the Institution. If the Hospi- tal Management Committee have faith in th«ir own decision as baied solely upon the merits 01 the evidence brought- before them, they should abandon the present system of private inquiries, by throwing the latter open to the Press, so as to place the public in pos- session of all the relevant fact,. The working man of to-day, said Mr. Ivor Gwynne at Aberavon, trusted in Provid-^ce too much, as though he would 0 xure reforms and emancipation from that source. They were like an old Pembrokeshire woman who trusted to have a bed of leeks without sow- ing the seeds. She thought Providence would bring leeks without sowing for them. In pursuance of the policy directed against the Voluntary Schools, the Glamorganshire I Education Committee purpuees to erect a number of competing schools in districts now served by Voluntary Schools. The I effect of this is, that public monej will be wastefully spent, not in the interests of the childnan or of education, but solely tor the purpose of a political vendetta. Already ratepayers, who are both Liberal and Non- conformist, are pu-bhcly protesting against such expensive folly, and their number is certain to be appreciably augmented when the rate collectors produce ttatir demand I' notes containing a. greatly inflated education rate. Mr. D. Ffrangcon-Davies, M.A., Oxford, I one of t-ne most cultured of our public singers, has published a book—f»r which Sir ¡ Ed. Elgar has furmslvd an introduction— upon "The Singing of the Future." The object of it is primarily to assist vocalists in their artistic studies^ ami enable them to understand and appreciate the influence of the brain upon vocal interpretation. The book also appeals strongly to the general public—to all who are interested in vocal utterance in song or speech. As a recog- nised authority upon the voice and finished vocalist, Mr. Da.vies is eminently qualified for the work which he has undertaken, and the Singing of the Future," we doubt not, will have many readers, especially in Wales. There has been a curious coincidence in connection with a batch of local incidents within the last week. At LlangyfeJach a man lay down under some railway trucks when intoxicated. The trucks ureic shunt- ed, and he sustained .such injuries, as to ne- c'jssitate the amputation of both lags. An- oilier man from the same neighbourhood a'so had a nap in a Swansea lane. He was presently awakened in rather a painful man- ner by a cart which, passing' ovel one of [ his hands and a fing^r. There also very marly a tragedy to complete the trio of strange accidents, a tripper lyirg down i on the metals of the Mumbles Railwav I whilst drunk. Fortunately, in his case he was detected by the engine-driver in time to avert his certain death The difficulties erpe+i^j^^ in maintaining the existence of the Glamorganshire Rine Association do not to wanant san- guine anticipationr, regarding the çte of the Welsh National Rifle ^sociation, .he first. first competitive meeting of which has been fixed at Tenby for August. 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. However, a etart is being rmde under the most favourable auspices, a flct chiefly due to the energy with which Capt. O. St. L. Davics, of Castleton, Lancashire, Las ap- j plied himse'f to the matt<;T. He has circu- larised Wales to such purpose, that the pre- sident, vice-presidents, aml committee in-1 elude every well-known nobleman and gentle- man in the Principality, and also the officers who, in various capacity, have endeavoured to popularise the U'5oe of the rifle in Wakg A splendid prize list has prepared, and dotIbtle.36, if success attends the fimt meet- ing, the Welsh Na-tkmal Rifle Association will develop yeqr by year into a position of .^iSiftcr-usefa'jjfiss. The Glamorgan County Council has found itself in a truly ridiculous plight in the pur- suance of its e<lucation policy at Parkmill. Here, as elsewhere, it seeks to construct new schools and freeze the voluntary establish- ments out by that process, regardless of the huge waste of public nwney which such a crassly stupid procoecung signifies. But it finds that at Parkmill the enemy literally holds the field. The existing Voluntary School is an especially efficient institution, thanks principally fostering care of Sir Algernon aivi Lady Lyons. But apart altogether from this, it, now Uaks out that the gallant Admiral is virtually the land- lord of the entire parish so if they seek a site for the confer plated new building they will be rather hard piJt- to it; How they propo.se to get over this difficulty, if the project is seriously ^tended, wmilin6 to be seen At Waur.arlwydd, wl«Ie a like fate is thr.-3tened^ to another Voluntary School, there aiso beec loud protests against action. At the time of writing, more- than half the sum necessary toO th Mountain Ash ckteddfod pay its way had 00011 l- ised, and that with too assistance of only j oiic- day's receipts. It is initeresting to note that th-e committee Is pnymq t rotsnd sum of £ 1,000 as rental for the building in which tho present meetings are bihtg held. When we include the exjxjmjjt,:1re on ssa.fcing, con venienc: lighting, ebc., a sum approximot- ir: to tho cost of A tomporary structure reached, but tho gain is nevertheloes too considerable to leave the respective merits of n, perniVLTient a temporriry abiding place ia. any dioubi. But 000 fihing must be borne in tnuid. At present the gatherinrAS owe much of their financial suocesis to the ocretant visits pa.id to diffcranlt spots, nind the yearly breaking of fresh ground. Abolish this and substitute a'constant place of abode, and several substantial advantages are lost-, j For one thing there Ts destroyed that of rivalry whih causgg each plaae visited to strive to surpass the results attained by the last town, and. which is to the financial benefit- of the eisteddfod. It may not in corx-eivably be d'scovered when the. final, a.nd what seeins the i nei-j tabic decision is made, that this mop-t dangerous contingemc}- has been wholly insufficiently disicounted. Mr. B- G. Kn-o-wics, the well-known comedian, has thrown up the halls as a pro- j fession, 'n disgust, as b states, with the prevalent tone. ivlr. Oswald Stoll has made a repartee to his assertions in which, on behalf of the great njusic hall interests which he embodies, he makes a counter- charge of similar character against Mr. Knowles- Patrons of the halls locally, however, will he rather disinclined to as- eent to Mr. Knowles' statements. It is foolish and incorrect to assert that there is never anything, in song or gag. which could ) offend the tenderest susceptibility. Such is hy no means the c^, for whilst some alleged witticisms that obtain currency are not to flagrantly offensive, they are at. least sufficiently "broad" as to be distasteful to not a few patrons, lenient though the aver- age critic at the halls is in these matters. But the prevailing atmosphere renders the lapses of rare ornanv-M)c<^ and slight knowledge of Ir. Stoll's highly-cultured and erudite character suffices to convince everybody that they are never knowingly 1 tolerated, always sternly repressed. Mr. Stoll is indeed the pioneer of the new spirit of the halls, and his most recent experiment —that of introducing short selections from classical operas in the programme—is only one evidence amongst many instances of the refining and elevating influence which he has always exercised. Stall more, the popu- larity of the innovation is almost as credit- able to the public as to its introducer. I A nrty of Welsh gentleuie^ from Car- I nsrvoa have been ha tug great fun a.t th* expense of the French -.hopkeepers at Bou- logne iv n#re the Esperanto conterance is bein; held. They entered a shop and com- dk" cd talking Welsh in a body, whereupon the bewildered shopkeeper exclaimed with a shrug of the shoulders and outstretched hands that he Had only a rudimentary knowledge of the new language. Rev. W. Tudor Jones, who reached Lon- don on Wednesday fresh from his Jena j triumph, where he secured that most covet- ed of Continental distinctions, a "D.Ph," degree at the famous University there, had to undergo the whole of his examination in German, before four professors of the philo- sophical faculty. The dissertation, which wa.s marked "Excellent," was on "The Idea of Personality in the English Thinkers of the Present," and it will be promptly published in book-form. 1 iio highest spring tide ox, tnc month happened to synchronise last week with a. s-fi Sou'-westerly gale, and visitors at Swar.sea, Mumblea and the Gower peninsula were, in consequence, able to witaiess some most speictaciles., Oonsiderabl-j danv,).v wag done to the pier, which the e<mti actors are construct nig to protect the new dock, and thero were many cases of house-flooding in the low-lymg districts of thj town. For visitors from inland towns to whom the experience was a new one, tn > sight of the rolling in at Langla id and Caswell was one not easily forgotten. Mr. 11. A. Whaatl-cy has made mimy frieDds in Swansea since lie was appointed ac-isistant solicitor to the Corporatiurr, &.J>mc four years ago. He now leaves for another appointment, worth nearly double, and he luu, been the recipient of many sincere con- gratulatioius. Advantage, we think, 6ho.tl1 bo taken of his departure, to abolish ;1111 ofTce, the solo reason for the creation cf which was the fact that until last year Mr. D. C. Johns), deputy town clerk, was not a fuilv qualified solicitor. This deficiency has no v been made good, so that there is n.) further justification for employing a third soLeitor. The salary list of the Corporation is steadily swelling year by year; the mem- bers of the Council have now a chantoe of efecting an economy which will hurt no WW. One of the most distinctive signs of the times is the importance which the classes and the masses alike .attach to holidays, una pleasure-seeking generally. By some this is regarded as evidence ef deterioration, but is that the sound view to take? Lif; is nm intended to be all hustle and toil. Ho'v it impresses an outsider, accustomed to 11 vevy different state of things, may IC gathered from the remark of an American gentleman, wlio, contemplating the Swansej- Sands in the playful occupation of thousands of men, women a.nd cliildnen, srud:—"This is vvhor-3 you British are ahead of A n.ericans; you take life more plea- sarrtly. In the States the hunt- for monev is ej pea-sistent that our people/have f-carceiv tinn for pleasure, even of the most rat-iomal and necessary kind." The passing of the secondary schools un- der the democratic control of the County aid Borough Councils is unlikely to make for the comfort and happiness of the teaçh- I ers omployed. Indeed, by no olaes are u pri\iiegc.s of the scholastic profcataoii mor1 jealously regarded than by tre workingmen. The'spokesmen for the are beginning ¡ to c-hallcugo the expedieacy of allowing pro- fessional a r; -wiiiy for five days—holidays, v. ch in sonje cdsas anxotint to A quarter of t he-yea r. At one time schoolma sters and scr ool-mistressee had to train and teach thei:- teachers, but now with the establish- ment of pupil teacher, centres-, they liiive relieved of that work, aaid in point of time, at all events, they are about the m<Ht favoured class Ln the community. How ioag this system will last is a. natter for coi- jtioau'e. An arraogemiioafc, by which t'fue cluldren a.re withdi-a wn from the school for long periods, during which they forge* r.<^rlv all they have been taught, is not )ne that 'commends itself to common Swansea is raising efficiently bitter oo:n- plaints upon the standstill in the commerce of the port, but relatively to Cardiff, nei D(teit:on is a happy one. Du/rmg the ii'diths which terminated on iiUiy olst, I'afTsido port shipped a total of 8,303,969 tomb. But the a.ggreg.tte for the samo of 1904 was 9,021,094 tarns, which i'n- c'Vates a decrease of a little over hm dr-ed thou,sii,nd tx;ns. Patent fuel {*how.s a similar deci^ease, from 318,210 to 2o0,ol5 tens but the flourishiug condition of th^ iro.i and steel industry is reflected in the increase of shipments from 28,284 to. 47,4^0 ton- Newport, in thiB particular, shows an ilmost uhetyom^nd. increase; the tonnage shipped riÓng from 19,105 Wns in 1904 to 4.) 388 in 1905. Swansea, likewise, has an h-ctease of six thoucraud tans in this •ie- pfirtnvesat. But Swansea coal exports, never- theless, tell a different story, as the toUife indicate a rise froLl 968,529 tons to 1,023,05.: tors, although th-Te is a decrease of ceven thensaod in coastwise slilproont.s. Thar3 hewever. an offset to this in patent fufti. Tno totals from January to July, 1904 were 332.557 tons; but for tho same period of 1805 a decrease of 28,000 tons is to be re nariocd. The nefct incroase all round, js clearly disappointing. A slight forward ten- dency is evident, but it is at a wail's paoe. The returns of the seven months' trade for the vear of Sw.'unSea, Port Talbot nd Llaneily, enable us to form a just apprccia- tici off the character and volume of the eppoflitiw wliidh æignbùuring poiit.s ar<j oaring to Swa.nsca. The period is surfi Cientlv comprehcnsiTO and lengthy. Taking cail as a criterion, sinoo it may fairly be 1 ean.Hide<r.«d the cCii'jf oomtribnitor to local <cniinerce, we find that Llanelly and Port Talbot, between them. shipped 555,000 tons of ccxii abr«id, roughly, and 234,000 tons cchstwi&J. Swaineea exported 1,023,000 ffins abroad, and 172,000 co;istwise. The nggTegates iwre 789,000 versus 1,195,000, or in other words Llanelly rwid Port Talbot Shl.) very nearly 75 per cent, as h as Sv.a-iii5«ia. The oooiier the Harbour Trust reoliseis the existence of these two "open seres," draining a.way our strength, to adopt the lioseberyiaJi metaphor, and the fact that wv- have almost at our doors ports doing such a largo percentage of our own track b-'ter. Now for the rapidity (fWlrl ct-iierwise). with which these totals have swollen. Port Talbot in 1905 seait- abroad 381,000 tons, and coastwise 150,003; ^■\v<w'«a's exports totalled 986,000 unri 179.000. So Swansea had then consider- ably more tiian double the total of its rivals oli trade. But come to 1905, and wnat d) we findSwaoisea'w tigiurts rase 10 d C¡;¿ üOUtoDS home, aijd 172,000 tons abroad7; a,nd Port to 434,000 and I So the nett Swansea. increase o, 119 is in round figures less than fifty thou- IsiiJid. whilst Port Talbot's is eighty,three- thousand odd. Neither must Neath be left | vdtoliy out of account. It has sent abroii and coastwise nearly 180,000 totne. There is much food for redaction in these figures, the ugh a study cf the detailed statistics a-vaik ble shows that the increase at Lla i- e-1 iv has been so small as to practically ex- clude it from calculations. No less than five .'lew permanent halls are about to be elected in connection with the Calvinistic Methodist Forward Movement in South Wales, viz., at Newport, Port Tennant (Swansea), the Heath (Cardiff), Six Bells (Abertillery), and Nantyffyllon (Maes- teg). The combined estimated cost will be about £15,300. The large measure of support given to the Sports at Swansea on Monday was particu- larly encouraging, indicating, as it did, how easily a town like this with its large popula- tion and natural advantages could regain its position as one of the chief athletic centres of the Principality. This result, however, can never be attained until a strong local com- mittee is formed," to work with the Football Club, for choice, and fortified with an ade- quate reserve fund. And this would have to proceed on the assumption that the main end in view was the material interest of Swansea. At Carmarthen, such a commit- tee made a great success of athletic meet- ings, but dissension crept in and eventually the committee was disbanded, and the pro-' motion of athletic meetings was passed over tc a limited liability company, from which the rental of one hundred and twenty pounds a, year was required for the use of the park and bicycle track. The experiment has proved unfortunate for the promoters. The two first meetings held were spoilt by the Tain, and it is an open secret now that the proceeds of last Monday's financially success- ful event, were meant to help the company in winding up their organisation witnout making too heavy a demand upon the share- holders. This failure of Carmarthen to maintain its earlier sucoesses should nave the effect of encouraging Swajisea to replace it as chief athletic centre for West Wales. Carmarthen suffered from being on the outer edges of the populous valleys, and its remote- ness from the latter with Swansea's magni- ficent train services from all directions, it would be easy to command many times more support than Carmarthen could' he for. There is a disposition in some circles to consider the criticism offered respecting the apathy of the Swansea Harbour Trustees in dealing with the competition of rival ports in the same district as a.n expression chieflj of opposition to the New Dock Scheme. Whether this view be warranted in the case of some of the critics or not, it by no means fairly represents 1 ur petition. It is precisely because we believe that the New Dock is essen- tial to the future prosperity of Swansea, that wo desire to'see the-Harbour authorities using every possible means to attract ship- ments to the port, so that when the new undertaking has been carried out there will be a surplus of trade ready to act as a nucleus fo" it. When. under consideration, the New Dock scheme had the expressed or implied support of the overwhelming mass of the ratepayers, and opposition came only from a small section, the numbers of which could j have been counted on the fingers of one hand. Since then, nothing has happened to change public opinion, except that by providing modern docks our neighbours to left and right have apparently attracted shipping which in other days came as a matter of course to Swansea. The moral of this seems to be that unless Swansea put iiseif in line with the other great ports of the Channel by offering traders the advantages of an up-to- date dock, we should be compelled to resign ourselves to t.he inevitable drifting away of much of the trade that is still being done at Swansea. The increasingly formidable character of the rivalry offered by Port Tal- bot is- reason for pushing on as hard as pos- sible with the nevv <tock Tr-ttan for aban- doning it. On the eve of the National Eisteddfod meeting we had the customary grievance ventilated of the employment of paid artistes to improve the singing of competing choirs. This is by no means a new thing in choral competition, but it is one not so easy to pre- vent. as some people seem to imagine. Train- ed vocalists who are customarily paid for singing may be residents of the district from which the choir is recruited. It would hardly do to exclude them from the choir, and short of this no preventative measure is likely to prove effective, since only by in- quisitorial methods would it be possible to ascertain whether their services are given gratuitously or for payment. The koenness of the competitive spirit is responsible for a mere or less wanton violation of the eistedd- fcdic spirit. What contributes to its con- tinuance is a circumstance not generally taken into iccount by the public. Certain districts are otrong in a particular class of voices, and weak in others. For example —The best contraltos are to be found in the sea. coast towns of Swansea, Llanelly, and Carmarthen while the best basses are in the Mcrthyr districts, and the best tenors in the coal valleys of the Rhondda and C'yminer. This distribution of suitable voices places the average conductor in a quandary. It. is necessary to success to have the parts well balanced and equally good, in point of tone, but unless he strengthens the weaker parts by means of imported voices he cannot hops t > win. In one particular instance, vocalists (not trained artistes) were actually brought from Huddersfield to South Wales for the purpose of assisting in a choral competition. The National Eisteddfod Association might well take up this matter, but in any event there are difficulties in the way which should not be minimised. 1. a paper road a.t Mountain Ash on 1on- day, a Cardiff gentleman voiced the appre- hension that the bitterness of the fight for the National Museum site would react upon the collections and donations whie.i will be available when the building is finally oon- strutted. Here a danger lurks which may qui.e conceivably entirely destroy the re p:<tentative character of tho institcttiotn Az Swansea, for example, the Royal Institu- tion has prior claims upon local donors and relics; and indeed, upon donors throughout South West Walca Elsewhere Aberystwyth ha3 powerful patrans, who would never in ¡ any eventuality cheerfully assent to enrioi- itig a. Ga.rdriff collection. The circumstamo that the Museum is nominally the "National" one, is likely to be wholly in the d 1st raised by controversy of this descri-v tion. However, we shall presontly have j i'i ) opportunity of correctly /Tuagin^r the 1 importance of this menace to the Museum's ,L1 u:). A suggestion has be-an mace that, tailing the originals, duplicate casts at least ungrudgingly be contributed. Bl1 I a, second-hand museum of duplicates would be a sorry makeshift business altogotheiv It is easy to talk of subordinating all con federations to that of loyal obeuienoe to tho Commissioners award, but the lack of M generally accepted Metropolis for Wales a. most sotious handicap to the success of I such an institution. In truth Wales I never liad a capital at all. The Welshmen of independent Wales gave towns a wide berth, and the historical interest associate-1 wi vi Carnarvon in this connection, wreathe > itself around the Castle building alone Welshmen have never centred their affec- tions upon a particular town at any period in their history, and it is useless to expeer tiial, a genuine attachmont to a, certain Ù- ject, which never existed, ever be revived. The tribal divisions of the left their mark even upon the Welsh- man of the twentieth oaotury. There is a photograph of a Swansea tram- car in the current "Electrical Engineer." The sly dogs picked the best-looking car in the town for the occasion. At present, (observes a London journal) the finest blackberries grow wild in Wales, a-nd natives there assert that they come almost to the size of a gooseberry! Pontardawe's grand old man is Mr. Her- bert Lloyd. He has for over 30 years been a member of the Council and Guardians, and his interest in Pontardawe's welfare is un- bounded. "My memory is great and better than yours,' said Mr. Justice Channel to a wit- ness at the Assizes. His Lordship had on severa' occasions displayed evidence of a very retentive memory. It is said that at a Tirdonkin farm, still in existence, religions services in connection with the Independent denomination were held for about two hundred years. The communion cup, plate, a,nd table are pre- served. Swansea Jews took a keen interest in the Zionist movement, and not- a few are dis- appointed over the recent decision to "de- | chne with thanks" the off of the British Government. Some, on tlie other hand, ft vow themselves unfoignedly glad. Thus the current- "London Welshman": — or haps the most contemptible kind of e.shman is the one who, on returning to is native village in Cambria after residing some twelve months in a town in England, pretends that he has 'forgotten' his WeJh." I pwards of 1,100 cn-ormous upright baulks were driven into the &Ild when the Swan- Sf" WJS built. All tho wood used m t1' -ons'tmction of the Pier was creosot-ed ami the piles spiked with iron, and driven into the ground by the impact of heavy slide hammers. The name Penllergaer, the ancient, resid- ues of Sir J. T. D. Llewelyn, is said to lie a corruption of "Pen-lle-y-caer," indicating a Roman encampment- beside, the vi-t Julia, v. )ich must have passed this way, if from diuin to Leucarum (Neath to Loughov, iv preserved the usual straight line of tbo! J.cman road. « There appears in Friday's "Morning eacer a reproduction from a photograph sent by Mr. David Harries, Bankveelwvdd, | Tahey, near Llandilo, of Miss Charlotte Thomas, who has been post^woman at Tallev for 20 years. A remarkable fact concerning her is that, although she. can neither read nor write, she has never made the mistake of delivering a letter to the wrong address. _+- Mr. Evan Roberts and his lady helpers spent Thursday at Oxwich and dined at Host Clarke's. When the party left it was I noticed that one of them had marked the snow white wall of the tea-room near the seat occupied by Evan Roberts with a large cross and the words, "Evan Roberts din by here." Someone suggested the space shoald be railed off and pointed out to posterity as one of the many sights of I Gower. The funniest incident in Mr. Justice Chan- nell's court on Friday was when a promissory note, that it was alleged had been forged, was mislaid. It was an important docu- ment and it was amusing to see judge, counsel, solicitors and associate all eagerly turning over their papers. "To whom did j you. give it?" the witness wM ssW. He wasn t &aie. At length Mr. Parsons Un- earthed it from underneath his brief and the court breathed again. The elementary principle in hydrostatics that water must find a level seemed in dan- | ger of bemg upset in the Cardiff Docks asc. for the court was almost asked to brieve that a body cf salt water in the Roath Ba- sm would sustain a body of fresh water in the open lock four inches higher for a per- iod of about 24 hours, when the two would mix and become of equal density. One might have been pardoned for thinking that the four inches of fresh water would imme- diately overflow the salt. But there! Momston ÍIS, as it's D'3.me sufficiently im- plies, the town of Morris. It was one of th's family who built, on the Landore IfJU j tLv» oo-w crumbling battlement cd edifice stone slag, known as Casfcel-Craig, and often, by visitors, mistaken for a feudal OTtneps. This was an experiment to o V/ k°ther the work-people would go to tho summit of a high hill, and live in "fk,s m a large structure, when there was plenty of space for little cottages in the sheltered rcoeftses below. Thev would not, and so the mock castle fell into decay! Reference to the A her property in the Ogmore Yailey reminds a correspondent of a. contemporary of the literary traditions of that interesting place. Among the older residents of the parish of Llandyfodwg the poems of "Bardd yr Aber" are still trea- sured, and the same remarks applies to his I neighbour's works, "Bardd Rhiwglyn." "I j have not seen any of thsir verses in "print." writes the correspondent, "although I have been told some of their works have been published." "Bardd Rhiwglyn" sympath- ised with the French Revolution, and got into trouble by it. Are his Republican writings known now? Some idea. of the shipping trade of Swa. sei 575 years back, may be gathered from a charter of the Lord Marcher de Brcosa, of Oystromuere (Oystermout-h), which gra I cicusly gave "permission" to make out of I the woods around "four great ships or fewer, together and successively." But it provided the burgesses might build many boats as they will, able to carry 20 casks of wine or less, paying us 01 heirs for every new built ship or boat 12<1." The Lord Marchers of that far-away da. e were not less keen on their denarius thai the "ground landlord" is of his rent to-djy It is impossible for a man to announce his birth or death, but it is possible for him to declare his marriage. When the Rev. Alban Davies, B.A., now vicar of Talley, married Miss Catherine Matthews he was curate-in-charge of Luke's, CwmbwrJa, Swansea, and published his banns of mar- riage there. One of his confreres, the Rev. Thomas Michael, curate-in-charge of St. Barnabas', Waunarlwyad, has not had equal courage. His banns were published last Sunday by another clergyman at St. Peter's, Cock-ett, and Mr. Michael's many friends are twitting him about his lack of "albanium daviesio" pluck. The great military causeway, Via Juia, in its course from Caerleon, the Roman headquarters on the east to Carmarthen on the west, traversed the county of Glamor- gan, and stations or settlements were made at Bovertoa (Bovium), Neath (Nidum), and Loughor (Lencarum). The site of Swansea woula thus be, even in those far-away times, off ths main line of communication. But tradition has it that a good road of workmanship crossed the Tawe by a ford near the centre of the present town. Thfe discovery of numberless coins and other memorials lends colour to the belief that the I power and civilisation of ancient Rome were felt, even in Swansea.

THE PROPOSED PAVILION Fm SWANSEA. A pavilion m Victoria Pad: or an filsc in the borough is not, likely to be ered od so long as the Swans*«i Council is constituted as it is and is dominated by the same people. And the advocates of the pa- vilion scheme might as well save their breath to cool their porridge for any practical good they can do under the existing conditions- The only thing that has happened since the proposal to put up a. pavilion was rejected by an overwhelming majority is a source of discouragement rather than of renewed hope. Colonel and Captain Morgan, who are legally entitled to half of the rent ac- cruing from any building placed in Victoria. Prh have given a clear and emphatic in- timation that they will not waive their rights or even entertain any suggestion to do so until the Corporation has made good the £200 which was spent by them in law costs—which had been wholly unnecessary and avoidable, but for the failure of the municipal legal advisers to give timely cf-, feet an undertaking which the Parlia- mentary Ccmmittve readily conceded was just and reasonable. Under the agreement whereby Victoria Park beca.me available as an open space for the public, Messrs. Mor- gan were assured of fifty per cent. of what- evev profit was made by building on the land. The Omnibus Bill of 1903, if adopted in its original form way capable of invali- dating the agreement and consequently the Messrs. Morgan a-sked the Parliamentary Committee to insert a clause which specifically placed the agreement outside the powers sought in the Bill. But the lat- ter reached the Houte of Lord Committea without the protective clause promised, and the Messrs. Morgan felt constrained there- fore to put in an eleventh hour opposition to the measure with the result that after paying Parliamentary fees, briefing counsel and incurring other legal expenses they got the clause asked for and the reasonableness of which had never been challenged. If only for the- reason that the Corporation is asked to pay the thus needlessly spent and incidentally to admit that a serious blinder was committed if not an actual breach of faith, the pavilion scheme is doomed to fail. The condition precedent laid down by the aggrieved landowners is for more than one reason unpalatable. And no pavilion has the re: ctest chance of justifying itself in a commercial sense un- less the Messrs. Morgan can be induced to forego their unquestionable right to half the not receipts. This ultimatum had not been disclosed when last the scheme was before the Chamber; on the contrary, th expectation was then confidently entertained that the Messrs. Morgan would place no difficulties m the way. This is the only new factor introduced into the situation since short shrift was given more than a year ago to a pavilion schema. It was at that time known that the National Eisteddfod Association, acting through a local com- mittee, could be depended upon to pay £J ,000 or £1,200 for a week's use of a suit- able structure, and latterly when the same matter was revived the circumstance that I the 3td G.V.R. were prepared to pay £200 a year as rent, if granted its use for the purposes of a drill-hall, was not allowed to exercise any appreciable influence upon the I voting. The Volunteers were even prepared to find the necessary capital, and be con- I tent with 3 per cent, interest providing a reasonable rent was attached to the site. j But the leception of every proposal sub- mitted ..yras the >ame it was rejected by a majority .rgi'idcrc-tl liter- ally ignominious. And now the public must be warned not to infer that because the Coun- cil at a special meeting unaiiimoosiy n; proved in principle of a pavilion that the latter may presently be seen rising in Vic- I toria Park. It ia when tho stage is reached for applying the principle in a concrete form that the opposition will be developed. The special meeting was left almost ex- clusiveiy to the members in favour of the pavniou alter much trouble and not a little expense nave be on expended on the scheme we shall have the opposition arrayed in ir- resistible force against it. One element I alone is capable ot wrecking even the best- I conceived scheme though the risk of 1065 were reduce- to the minimum point the tact that it originates outside the small circle in control of Swansea municipatiy is absolutely fatal.

MR. F. R. BENSON'S SHAKESPEAREAN COMPANY. It is with pleasure we beg to announce the visit of Mr. F. R. Benson's noted Shakes- pearean Company to the Gwvn Hal', Neath, \)01 Thursday, Iriday, and "Saturday next, the. 17th, 18th, and 19th linst. when "The laming of the Shrew," "Romeo and Juliet," and the. Merchant of Vemoe" respectively will be presented The company will visit, under the direction of Mr. C. W. Poole, whose efforts in bringing such an excellent attraction before us. will be rewarded, we trust, with crowded houses each evening. Among the various castes are included some of those who assisted Mr. and Mrs. F. R. I Benson in their successful productions at the London Adelphi Theatre only last month, during which season Her Majesty the Queen attended one evening. Princess" Louise was also present on another occasion. Mr. Henrv Herbert, who will be seen in Neath as "Petruchis" and "Shylock," made a de cided "hit" at the Adelphi Theatre in the role of "Antipholus," being highly praised and much admired for his fine acting powers. He has been associated vith Mr. Benson's companies for many years, and is a warm favourite throughout the kingdom. "Romeo" will be impersonated by Mr. Bernard Lim- pus, a Shakespearean actor of the first rank. So successful has he been that he was dele- gated by Mr. Benson to play t.he leading parts in the West Indian Company, which met- with such great success in Jamaica. Miss Dorothy Groeu is always a favourite I with her audiences, and she should be seen to advantage as "Katharina," the Shrew, "Juliet," and "Portia," the wise and learn- ed Counsellor in "The Merchant of Venice." She has also played lead to Mr. Limpus in the West Indian Company, of which Miss May De Launev and Miss Kate Turner are also noted members. Mr. Esme Percy, whose name appears in ths strong company, recently made a most successful "Romeo" at. the New Queen's Theatre, London. Alto- gether, there are about thirty members in the company Box office is now open at Mr. W. Whit- tington's, 49, WTind-street, when plan can h* seen and scats booked. The visit should hr an undoubted success.

G. W.R.'s Half-Yearly Meeting*, Mr. Alfred Baldwin, in proposing adop- tion of directors report, recommending dividend of 31 per cent., and carrying for- wa.rd £28,584 at half-yearly meeting of Great Western Railway Company, held on Thurs- day afternoon, made some sympathetic refer- ences to the resignation of Earl Cawdor, and said the directors desired to place on record their Fense of the sound judgment and marked ability which his Lordship displayed in guiding the policy of the Board. With regard to Lougho-r collision, all the claims settled had so far been paid out of revenue. He anticipated that the FishgtMjd-Roetsdare route* to Ireland would be in actual use a. year hence. Good progress was being made with, amor>g other works, the Line from Garnant to Gwaun-cae-gurwen, of the Lan- dore loop. Mr. J. S. Tregoning, formerly of Llanelly, was appointed member of the audit com- mittee. The company paid during the year £300,000 in rates, the large increase œm« due, not to increased assessments, bat ad- vance in the poundage.