Welsh Newspapers
Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles
17 articles on this Page
welsfT¥usicb
welsfT¥usicb The Music of the Sanctuary. BY DR, JOSEPH PARRY, Lecturer on Music, University College, Cardiff. The music of the sanctuary, as well as the musjp of tho concert-room in all countries, is, we repeat, a reflex of the musical status of the people. A comparison of our music in these two great centres in Wales and those of other countries will, therefore, be a fair and faithful picture of our respective artistic conditions. The first point which arises in the mind is that the whole of the sanctuary music in Wales is amateur- istic, whereas with our Saxon neighbours and most other musical nations it is carried on by both the amateur and professional powers. Powers certainly both are, and each is dependent to a great extent upon the other. Yet justice and common sense will at once see that the professionals who devote their whole lives, and who are under the unbroken influence of music, and are therefore more fuUy developed, must be the art pioneers. That there are noble and gifted exceptions of men and women who have never left the amateur ranks we personally know of, and who are more qualified than some who may be of no dignity in the ranks of the professional. Yet, however musically gifted any may be, and however great they may shine in the sphere of the amateur, their lives are largely ill-spent, and are of far less service to their art and country during their life- time if they are not wholly devoted to their art, both in theory and practice. ITS OHIKF FACTORS. What are the chief factors in the sphere of sanctuary music? They are :— I.—Choirs. II.—Organists. III.—Conductors. IV .—Composers. What is the character of sanctuary music in our country among the Nonconformist bodies! The answer is a sad ouc to all lovers of sacred and devotional music of a high order, and to those who have a sincere desire to see the same activity, progress, and culture within our Welsh places of worship as there is without, though wa are far from accepting the present status of secular music as the desired standard for the sacred. The scope of our Suuday sanctuary Welsh music is about at as low an ebb as it can be, apart from the byma tune. The industry, through our Cymanvaoedd, to raise the tone of the hymn tune is nothing more than what should be, and our complaint is that there is not similar activity t< likewise elevate and widen SANCTUARY ANTHBM SINGING IN WALKS. It is truly a discredit upon our national choirs that they well-nigh universally neglect anthem- singincr on the Lord's Driy. and this is one of the points we wish to draw our Welsh singers' attention to. That anthem-singing in Wales is so sadly neglected is only too evident. In the first place, our young choristers are deprived of the charm of and acquaintance with anthems as one of the finest departments of our art, and they are in consequence but very one-aided in their experiences as choristers. Further, as we believe we, as a nation, are as religious as we are reputed to be, we may then claim that our anthem compositions are not the worst of our Welsh musical creations, and we then infuse this our sacred musical iu. stinct into this popular choral form of sacred music, so as to create such a demand for Welsh sanctuary anthems that all our Welsh composers will be drawn out and contribute to our anthem repsrtoire* so that at no very remote period we shall have developed and formed a purely WKLSH NATIONAL ANTHEM SCHOOL OF MUSIC. It is truly a sad state of sacred music in onr little musical country that our rich and abundant choral singers are thus idle and indolent •. most of our Welsh chapels. We are as firm as ever in our opinions and convictions that one of, if not the greatest and most effective impetus for a grand change in this direction would be the holding of district anthem festivals. The world ha3 ever been slow to move, and is so still, and Wales 'not tnefastest of the slow ones. Still we shall ever continue to knoclf at this subject repeatedly, as we also do upon other subjects; and 4let us ever V Continue-to work and wait boefull1. I.
WELSH GLEANINGS. I
WELSH GLEANINGS. I By LlofTwr. An Edinburgh correspondent has sent me the following communication, which will, I am sure, prove of interest to a large number of the readers of this column DEAR LLOFFWR, You will, I am sura, be pleased to understand that the Welsh language is to be taught at this university. A Celtic chair there has been for years, but hitherto there have been no classes or lectures in Welsh. This evening, however, a Welsh Tutorial Class was inaugurated in connection with the Celtic chair. There were present on the occasion Professor Mackinnon (Celtic), Professor Masson, LL.D. (English literature), Enaeritu- Professor Blackie. Dr Alfred Darnell (Advocate), Dr Alfred Hughes, F.R.S.E., Dr Rhys Davies, and others. The professor of Celtic delivered the inaugural address, and was followed by the ever-young and ever-welcome Professor Blackie, who indulged in his usual sly dig at John Bull, and exhorted the Welsh students present to hold firmly to their own nationality, and maintain their national characteristics. Then stood up Professor Massou, a massiva agglomeration of genius, learning, and eloquence. He told us how he had striven, before ever Matthew Arnold discoursed on Celtic genius, to understand and study by means of translations the ancient literature of Wales. He quoted and supported by his own weighty testimony a statement made by a high authority to the effect that in much of the best literature of Europe might be detected the influence of the British harp. He spoke of the pleasure it always gives him to be present at the Welsh gatherings in Edinburgh, and how he had often asked his colleague, Professor Mackinnon, why he did not get together the Gaelic students and make them sing as these Welsh did. Dr Daniell also spoke and explained that Professor Kirkpatrick, secretary to the senatus, was un- avoidably absent, but was in perfect sympathy with the new departure, and expressed the hope that it might prove very successful. I under- stand that the publications of the Welsh Utilisa- tion Society aud Rhys Lewis's book, as the pro- fessor of Celtic called it, are among the text-books to be taken up. On last Satnaday evening, at a meeting of the Welsh Students' Union, Mr Rhys Davies, M.B., C.M., ex-vice-president, was p:e. tented with a beautiful address and a valuable case of instruments as tokens of the esteem in which he is held here, and of the appreciation with which his patriotic services are regarded. Dr D<ivies leaves Edinburgh for Wales with the heartiest good wishes of all who know him. At this meeting of the union he read a paper on "The Eistedd vod as an Examining Board," while Miss Eleanor Rses treated her compatriots to a song, which was, you may be sure, highly appreciated and applauded in genuine Welsh fashion. Captain Jones, Carnarvon, and others also took p krt. Mr R. O. Morris, M.A., was elected to represent the union on the Students' Representative Council, a body that was called into existence by the exigencies of the ter-centenary celebration six years ago. It has already done excellent work, and has recently derivedtfiew importance from its recognition by Parliament.
WELSH REPORTING.
WELSH REPORTING. On this interesting suhject my correspondent "Celticus" again takes up his parable, and says: —Some person residing at Llauelly, whose ap- pellation, "Cymro am Byih," signified to me at once the nature of his contribution, tells us that Welsh shorthand is as natural and easy to the Welshman as English shorthand is to the Eng- lishman." When a man writes upon a subject of which he is absolutely ignorant there is no limit to the rigmarole or the absurdity that might flow from his imagination. I seriously hope for the sake of the readers of some Welsh papers that there are some subjects which this poor corres- pondent understands when be takes up his pen to write to the press. "As a Welsh phonographer and a lover of the Welsh language," remarks poor "Cymro am Byth," "I cheer Lloffwr's arguments to the echo." I say conscientiously indeed, "Poor fellow Now the great question is this, MrD, Jenkins, of Aberystwyth, has informed us that there is a rich field open for Welsh re- porters if they only prepare themselves properly" and I on the other, band maintain that for strictly Welsh reporters theie is hardly anything for them but a barren wilderness. It is obvious that there is a tremendous difference between the two assertions. Mr Jenkins's statement is simply an allegation he has not even attempted to prove it. In the course of this article I shall endeavour to show—I think I will clearly show-that a poor Cymro am Byth will find himself, after sojourning for years and years in Welsh phono- graphic or rather stenographic fields, thousands of miles away from the land flowing with milk and honey." Thsrefare, I say, it is useless for a young aspirant to look for Mr Jenkins's "prorqised land in that direction. I will tell something by and by that will stagger poor Cymro am Byth." He is mnocsnt. Yuuugphonographic students who occasyyially bear that old Welsh melody," Canwch bob peth yn Gymraeg; cysanwch ya Gymraeg," &c, and who enthusiastically join in the ex- clamations, are very easily led by the nose. My sincere object is to point out to such as these the futility of their proceeding on that desolate path —a path that can only lead them to utter dark- ness. I should not have taken the trouble to pen this article and the previous one upon the same subject did I not think that there were scores of young men at the present day in Wales bothering their brains about a matter that will eventually turn out of no earthly use to them. Before actually criticising "Lloffwr's" remarks, which, according to "Cymro am Byth'a" opinion, "scattered my statements like chaff before the wind," allow me to say or to show to the general reader how any sane person might occasionally know whether a certain individual calling himself a "shorthand writer" knows anything more than a mere smattering of the system. It is an infallible test, and it is by means of this test that I have been able to ascer- tain that poor Cymro am Bytb," and, indeed, "Lloffwr" as well, have practically speaking but a very imperfect knowledge of the art of short- hand writing. We are told that a large number of students or candidates have each been granted by the Rev R. H. Morgan, M.A., of Menai Bridge, a certificate of competency. I daresay "Cymro am Byth" has received one of theae "most valuable" documents. Mr I. Pitman, of Bath, issues or grants hundreds of such certifi. catea anuually, but what is the good of them? I look upon them as worthless pieces of paper, or at least something to stimulate boys. Most of them are framed and hung up in parlours among the portraits of celebrities, and are generally taken down and exhibited to visitors who miebt happen to frequent the premises ot the "successful students. The affair j. indeed, exceedingly humorous from my point of view but Cymro am Byth and Lloffwr consider the documents of infinite value, or as showing the very valuable acqui- sition possessed by the holders. Now, when I hear a person boasting, or observe him making a great show of his certificate, I invariably say to myself that he knows but very little of what he professes respecting the subject. This is how Lloffwr puts the matter A remarkable proof of the comparative ease with which Welsh phonography may be acquired has recently been afforded. The editor of the Welsh family maga- zine, Cyvaill yr Aelwyd,' in the last volume de- voted a page or two monthly during the year to lessons in Welsh shorthand. Theetudeots had in'the great majority of instances absolutely no assistance other than that of these lemoneand the -Walch bonograpbic xt fQ A. Then we are told that a large number of certificate* of competency were granted by the author of "Phonographia." I don't know what definition U Lloffwr" attaches to the word competency." Walker's dictionary informs me that the meaning is such a quantity of anything as is sufficient." Therefore, may I not reasonably assume that the large number of students of Phonographia who have been granted certificates are able to report a Welsh speech of an ordinary public speaker verbatim? "Cymro am Byth" is a Welsh phonographer (so he himself tells us), and as I presume that he is one of the two or three in Llaneliy who have obtained certificates of proficiency." he ought to be open to accept of a challenge respecting his abilities or his shorthand acquirements. But I shall not deal severely with him no, I would rather take the champion of Welsh shorthand— the authorof "Phonographia" himself. rwillEpeak upon the matter further on. This is what "Lloffwr" says:—"The charge against Welsh ehortband is certainly nnfoundad! Then, further, we are told that one great advan- tage to the student of "Phonographic" is the fact that the Welsh language is phonetic, and that consequently words are spelt the same in short- hand as in longhand in Welsh." Now, just pay attention for a moment or two to what the author Phonographia himself says upon the question of learning Welsh shorthand. I sboald have naturally thought that no Welsh phonographer would scribble even a few folios to the press without first of all making himself acquainted with what every Welsh phonographershould know. I quote from the author's own words in page32of "-Phonographia "Yr anhawsder mawr wrtb ddilyn siaradwvr cyhoeddus yn Gymraeg yff fod yr iaith lafaredig yn Had wabanol i'r iaith ysgrifenedig, terfyniadan priodol y geiriau yn newid neu yn diflaou yn gwlJI. a'r naill air yn toddi yn ami i'c 111\11. Mewn amgyl- cbiad o'r fatb, mae dwy ffordd o fl yr ysgri- fenydd; un ai ei hysgrifenu Yft y dull y Ueferir hi, neu ei hysgrifenu wedi ei chywiro yn y meddwl, fel y buasid yn ei hargraffu, gan droi maen nhw, yn maent hwy," etc. Then in page 5 of the same work we are informed that the Welsh language is" 8nystwytb ac ansatbredi," But wait a minute there is a good deal more to be said upon this point. In addition to the great difficulty pointed out by the author of "Phono- graphia," there is the other great difficulty, and the one is almost as insurtaouatabie as the other. Lloffwr tells us that the mutation of the initial I consonants would not present any difficulty to the Welsh shorthand writer. This means that one might write in following a rapid speaker, dy tadcu, fy brawd, dy mam," and so on, with equal facility as an Englishman would in English, according to the sound or phonetically. I am certain that Lloffwr has rot tried the experiment, or else be. would not have said a thing so absurd. Take for instance one word in order to show how a. writer when follow- in a rapid speaker proceeds with or performs his duty. Say that the speaker utters the worr) "claims," the combination "k I" would instantly strike the writer's mind, and instantaneously he would recall that character to represent the com- bined consonants. He has no time to think what are the original initial letters, as a Welshman would have to do. The process would be too cumbersome—it would not do. The speaker would not wait for him. Time is exceedingly valuable; there is no time to lose in following a 1hen public speaker. To cut a long story "hort" let me ask—Are there any real Welsh phonograpbers in Wales ? Is there in Wales any person ready to come forward and accept a challenge that he can write 120 words per minute for 20 minutes, the conditions to bo as follows "Adfyfyr' will select a few pages of printed Welsh matter, and band them over to "Lloffwr" at the appointed time, for the latter to read out to the competitor who may accept of the challenge. The contestant shall 01; must transcribe his notes I shall allow him the privilege to do so immediately after the dictation is over—and if be perform the work satisfactorily, or if Adfyfyr and another stenographer declare that the writing and the transcript have been done as accurately as one might naturally expect any proficient steno- grapher to do, I will hand two guineas to the Cardiff Infirmary on the SaJNI day. This is a fair challenge. I say it is fair because I see in the preface to "Phonographia" that a student might acquire in about six or eight months sufficient practical knowledge of the system of Welsh shorthand to enable him to report a speaker verbatim. Now, as there are, judging at all events by the "large number of certificates of proficiency that have been granted from time during the past few years, a number of qualified Welsh stenographers in Wales, let some ot them come forward and prove themselves worthy of the title they claim. I ask, Is there even one? If not, I am afraid that the fate of Welsh shorthand will be some- what similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah. I have a good deal more to say about the "rich field" we have heard of but, as this article is' getting very lengthy, I will conclude by remark- ing to the students of Welsh shorthand, remember the story of the Spider and the Fly," it cm-Tiooa. In order to do Celticus full justice, I have given bis somewhat prolix argument at length. If I felt inclined to follow his line of reasoning I might use hie own words and say, When a man writes upon a subject of which he is absolutely ignorant there is no limit to the rigmarole or the absurdity that might now from ins imagination." However, as my side of the question is too strong to make it necessary for me to attack my oppo- nent in order to bide the weakness of my argument I am content to leave him in 5 undisputed posses- sion of that portion of the field, and to satisfy myself with showing the weakness of his argu- meats rather than bis noles8 evident lack of knowledge. » » v" t> lie does Mr Jenkinsand myself a gross injustice in assuming that we have advocated strictly Welsh reporters," by which, according to his further explanation, Celticus "means those who devote themselves exclusively to Welsh short- hand. Mr Jenkins asked, Ought we not to have reporters thoroughly conversant with Welsh at all our eisteddvodau!" In my own comments I insisted upon reporters who attend meetings where the proceedings tire in whole or in part Welsh being able to give in their reports tho same prominence to a ■ speech delivered in Welsh as if it bad been uttered in English. In neither of these views is there any suggestion of exclusiveness. Mr Jenkins said that Welsh reporters have a rich field before them, and in this belief I unhesitat- ingly concur. I am by no means so foolish as to urge Welsh youths to learn nothing but Welsh, and to have nothing to do with English short- band. On the contrary, I orgo them to master both. • I state boldly that in Wales to-day, in three cases out of every four, a reporter proficient in other respects, and who in addition is able in his report to do justice to Welsh speech, is of more value to his employer, and of more service to the paper ho represents, than if he confined his attention to English. I will say more—that even under existing conditions a Welsh reporter, as described in the preceding sentence, has a better chance of being appointed to a vacancy on an English paper published in WaJes than a mono- glot Englishman has. 1 will go even further, and venture to say that the chauces for such an appointment being secured by capable Welsh reporters will increase in the future, while the chances of the monoglot English reporter will decrease in corresponding ratio. » That II Oelticus" should have tried to learn Welsh shorthand, and was obliged to give it up in disgust," is no proof that others must do the same—nor even that he himself might not yet master it, much to his own benefit. Charles Dickons had a similar experience with English shorthand—but, unlike "Celticus," the embryo reporter, undismayed by repeated failures, again and again attacked his task, with theresult that he became one of the moat brilliant and able journalists of bis day. > • Equally unfair aodindefensible is the argument he advances with regard to the certificates of competency in Welsh-shorthand. "-Celticus -is enough of a phonographer to-know, and J -trust honest enongb to concede, that speed in writing shorthand—whether Welsh or English—only comes, and can when once acquired only be wain- tained, < by 'f'oonstaut practice. It^Rronld *be as Unfair o .uPOQ 7* ^Welsh phonographer who has secured his "certifi- cate of competency" to take verbatim notes as it would be to ask an ordinary English phono- grapher who has gone through the" Manual only to do so. In both cases the certificate im- plies that the essential difficulties of the system of writing have been overcome, and that speed in note-taking will necessarily follow by practice and by the adoption of such further abbreviations as experience may direct. The certificates which have been granted fSord the proof required to show that Welsh shorthand presents no greater (jifficnlty to a Welshman than English shorthand docs to an Englishman, As to the quotation from Phonographia," it .is hardly necessary for me to say a word. Anyone who knows Phonography, and who is also perfectly conversant with Welsh and English, will understand that the difficulty mentioned by the author of the Welsh system is certainly no greater than the initial difficulty presented by the difference between the phonetic and the ordinary spelling of English words. Such a person too cannot fail to see that the difficulty Celticus "raises as to the mutation of initial consonants will present to a thorough Welshman no greater difficulty than are met with in English phonography where the same signs, written in the same manner, stand for totally different words. Surely such words as different and differ- ence," difficult" and difficulty," "real" and rule," and many other pairs or more of words which are represented by precisely the same out- line present quite as great a difficulty to an Eng- lish phonographer as tad, dad, &c., would to a competent Welsh reporter. They are difficulties, but they are difficulties which can be and have been overcome in each of the two languages alike, Inasmuch as both Celticus and myself have been somewhat lengthy in our remarks; I must hold over for another week the further considera- tion of his letter, as well as some letters on the subject now m hand, and conclude with the fol- lowing paragraph, which shows that the subject. started in this column, is attracting considerable attentlOu :— A correspondent of the Manchester Guardian says Considerable attention is being now given in Walsh Press circles to the development of Welsh shorthand. A good verbatim report in Welsh is a rare thing, and this is said to be due to the difficulty of taking shorthand notes in Welsh at a great pace. I understand that Principal Raichel has just completed the adaptation of the Oxford shorthand system to Welsh at which he has been working. Principal Reichel's adapta- tion of the Oxford system to Welsh is another proof of the attention which he and his professors are giving to the Welsh language.
------__---------FACTS FOR…
FACTS FOR FARMERS. Current Notes on Agriculture. By a Practical Farmer. Fires, and How They are Caused. "Poor fellow, it's a hard blow to him he will feel the loss for some years Such was the ccn- cluding remark of a neighbour to me some days ago. He had just been narrating a calamity which had befallen a youug farmer in the neigh- bourhood. It was a fire which had broken out on his premises, and this had been disastrous in its results, burning most of the corn and hay, besides destroying some valuable animals well, through the fire having gained a good hold before it was discovered. Oil inquiring how the fire originated. I found it was thought that the pipe was answerable for the deed. There was no other way to nccount for it but that one of the servant boys bad either carelessly thrown a match after lighting his pipe, or that be had knocked out the half-extinguished contents of his pipe amongst some inflammable material, and this had set fire to the whole. This pernicious habit of smokinp was indulged iu by two of the boys, and no doubt in this case with the result of half-ruiaing their master. Smoking by farm servants in the outhouses where straw and other inflammable goods are kep: cannot be too scrongiy condemned, and every farmer should make it a bard and fast rule that no one upon any consideration be allowed to have a lighted pipe in any of the out- houses or in or about the rickyard, and any transgressing this rule should be discharged at once. Many farm buildings and crops belonging to them have from time to time been burnt thiougu farmers not being so strict as they ought to be in this respect. If smoking at all is needed and allowed, it should be only in a place oi safety. There is another matter in connection with fires in which farmers in general are tamable. They have been, as a ruie, negligent in securing themselves pgaiust pecuniary loss. For the small premium de- manded every farmer should ensure his stock and crop. Howover careful farmers may be, still losses are sustained now and then througo fires. The wonder is that these are not more numerous, especially in the past, when we take into con. sideration how the old-fashioned byres and stables were constructed. Many of these are still in existence, and if they do not actually form the majority of the buildings provided, they are very near it. AU my readers wiil recognise those low byres with the hay-loft above. Not one out of every 20 of these lofts was boarded. It was simpiy laying a load of poles across from one beam to another, with some cuttings from hedges placed on top of them underneath the hay, or whatever was kept above. Whatever it was, some of it might be seen here and there dangling down as if to conduct the thme from the candle in your hand to the bulk above. Many a time I have seen the old folks getting down iu the night time to see if by some mischance fire in some shape or another had been left in any of the out-houses, although they had boen an hour or so before on a tour of inspection all ovsr the place, which was a usual practice by them, as well as hundreds besides, the last thing bsfire going to bed. It is a duty which every farmer ought to attend to to insure his goods oguust fire. A pound or thirty shillings laid out in this manner would be money well used; the satis- faction felt and the anxiety removed are worth the money demanded as premium even should the company where the insurance is effected never be called upon to make good any loss. Additional Notes. NCMBKIt OF LIVE STOCK IS GREAT BltlTAIN. Taking the various kinds of live stock in Britain for the year 1889, it is satisfactory to find that instead of a decrease there is, as compared with 1988, an increase in the total number of horses and of cattle, and that this advance is ac- companied by more noteworthy additions to the stock of sheep and lambs as well as of pigs. There is, it is true, a decrease of 8,879 in the number of unbroken horses and marea returned as kept solely for breeding, but the deficiency is this year, as above mentioned, made np by the increase of 9,918 in the number of agricultural horses. The reports here and there attribute the increased numbers of this last-mentioned description of stock to the improvement that has taken place in agricultural conditions owing to fewer farms being at present without tenants. The Weather and the Crops. The Mark lane Express of Monday eays:— Atter an early winter of unusual openness and mildness, the end of November comes with a lower temperature and rains. The latter has brought field work to a standstill. Cattle gene- rally are doing well, both in the stalls and iu the market, and mutton also is fetching good prices. The English wheat trade is more steady than large deliveries in mild weather might lead one to expect. The London average has fallen 5d, but the decline is resisted. The flour trade of the past week has been fairiy steady, but the imports are larger thau usual, and. the effect upon the exchanges is naturally to dis- courage improvement. The trade in foreign wheat has not suffared-fromexcesslve 1tuporta- tion, and the prices have been well maintained during the week. The spring corn trade has been firm, and Is per qr. advance has been frequently quoted on oats. The trade in beaus and peas has slightly favoured sellers. Malt is steady, and good malting barley continues to make firmer rates. In foreign feeding sorts, 6d advance has been quoted at London, Edinburgh, Hull, Wolver- hampton, Birmingham, and Wakefield. Maize 3d dearer for both flat and ronnd-corn.
[No title]
A high sense of honour sometimes impels a man to kill another, wheo it ia powerless to -make bun" piy bis debts. v
Advertising
ALSOP DRAWING-ROOM ALSOP FURNITCRE. ALSOP DINING-ROOM J ALSOP FURNITUREOi, ALSOP BEDROOM ALSOP FURNITURE. 57, 58, 59, BROADMEAD, BRISTOL, Manufactu rer of hi?h-ciass and medium-class Furni I ofYarious woods, oy .steam power, has now one dio i Largest Establishments in the Kingdom for the j^Piay of Drawing-room, Dining-room, Bedroom, «'>Oratyi Office, Parlour. Kitchen Furniture. A large ]&/?, 01 Bagatelle Boards, of all sizes price from 18s W. 13889
Advertising
< FURNISH THROUGHOUT. ra."1 OETZMANN&OO. 67, 69, 71, '13, 75, 77, <fc 79, HAMPSTEAD-UOAD, LONDON (Near Tottenham Court-road). BEDROOM FURNISHED COMPLETE for 25 6s. Illustration and Full Particulars Post Free. The WALTHAM" ASH BRDROOM SUITE, £5158. Illustration and Full Particulars Post Free. BEDROOM FURNISHED COMPLETE for £8 188 bd. Illustration and Fuil Particulars Post Free. The LYNTOX •• DRAWING-ROOM SUITE I (Settee and 2 Easy Chairs) for B5 lis 6d. ORDERS PER POST RECEIVE PROMPT ANt CAREFUL ATTENTION. 4100 ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE POST FREE.
; WORKMEN'S TOPICS.
WORKMEN'S TOPICS. II t BY W. ABRAHAM, M.P. (MABON). THE END OF THE OLD COMBI- NATION LAWS. ■A-8 I have already stated, the combination laws ;ere repealed in 1824. In that year a committee °f the House of Commons was appointej to COSJder the laws relating to workmen and a^ans, and they returned the following report reference to this part of the subject That it appears by the evidence before the that combinations of workmen have pl^ce in England, Scotland, and "eland, often to the extent to raise keep up their wages, to regulate hours of labour, and to impose rfstrictions on" their masters respecting appren- tllleS or others whom they might think proper to employ, and that at the time the evidence was kken combinations were in existence, attended *ith strikes or suspensions of work, and the laws av« not hitherto been effectual to prevent such Combinations. That aeriona breaches of the peace and acts of violence with strikes of workmen have taken Place in consequence and arising out of j^e combinations of workmen, and have attended with loss to both masteis and workmen, and with considerable in- convenience and injury to, the community. That employers have often combined to lower |he rates of wages, as well as to resist a demand or an inctease, and to regulate the hours of labour, and sometimes to discharge those work- man who would not consent to the conditions offered to them, which have been followed by ^pension of work, riotous proceedings, and aots ▼iolence. "That prosecutions have frequently been "frfried on under the statute and common law against the workmen, and many of them have "offered different periods of imprisoment '0r combining and conspiring to raise their w&ges, or to resist their reduction, and to regu- their hours of working. That several Stances have been stated to the committee of rrosecutions against masters for combining to tower wages, and- to regulate the hours of *°rkings but no instance has been adduced of any having been punished for that offence. ■>t the laws have not only not been efficient ^Prevent combinations either of employers or w°rkoien, but, on the contrary, have, in the t PIniOn of many of both parties, had a tendency Produce mutual irritation and distrust, That it is the opinion of this committee that masters and wOrkDlen should be freed from such restriction as teKards the rate of wages and hours of working, loft at liberty to make such agreements as may mutually thiuk proper. "That, therefore, the statute laws that interfere this particular should be repealed and also •he common law, under which a peaceable meet- of masters or workmen may be prosecuted as 0 conspiracy, should be altered; and seeing that practice of settling disputes by arbitration masters and workman has been attended WIth good effects, it is desirable that the laws wbich direct and regulate arbitration should be ^solidated, amended, and made applicable to all rades; and that it is absolutely necessary, when repealin the Combination Laws, to enoct such alaw,as may efficiently and by summary process finish either workmen or masters who by threat, Intimidation, or acts of violence should interfere J*>th the perfect freedom which ought to be al- lowed to each party of employing his labour or I Capital in the manner be may deem most ad- vantageous." The 5 Geo. IV., c. 25, is very important as lowing the policy of the statute which was sub- stituted for it in the following year, and which was stated to have frbn framed on the same principle. The preamble to that act was as follows:- "Whereas it is expedient that the law relative to the combination of workmen and to the fixing of the wages of labour should be repealed, and certain combinations of workmen should be exempted from punishment, and that the attempt deter workmen from work should be punished In a summary way, therefore," &c. By the first "ection all the statutes against combinations of Workmen are repealed. And by the second Action it was enacted—"That journeymen work- men and other persons who should enter into any Combination to obtain an advance in wages, or to fix the rates thereof, or to decrease the quantity of work, or to induce another to depart from his service of the time or term for which he was hired, or to quit or return his "'ork before the same sbouid be finished, or, not being hired, to refuse to enter into work or em- ployment, or to regulate the mode of carrying on any manufacture, trade, or business, or the Management thereof, should not therefore be sub- let or liable to any indictment or prosecution for conspiracy, or to any other criminal information Or PUnishment whatever under thestatutelajv. But aRain,tbe third section enacted that all the foregoing and much more became an offence against the punishable by imprisonment, and imprison- ment only, for any time not exceeding two aJeDdar months, where violence, threat, or intimidation was used to bring about any of the before-mentioned ohjecte. The language of this statute clearly showed its objects and policy. It was the intention of the Wislature to relieve workmen from all liability to Punishment for merely engaging in combina- tions or strike?, such liability having been con. sidered to be the cause of those outrages and iolent proceedings which workmen had so ofteu resorted to when disputes arose either between them and their employers or between them and their fellow-workmen. Accord- '"ffly, notwithstanding the statement in the ^feamble that it was the object of the statute to Prevent workmen deterriug other workmen from \\fork, they are yet expressly permitted, by the eecond section, to enter into combination to Induce others to depart from their service, or o refuse to enter into works. The object of the lUllertion of the clause must have been to allow Workmen to strike against other workmen rather 1 than that they should deter them from work by the employment of those means to prevent bich summary powers of punishment were given to the magistrates by the third section. How this well-meant relief operated in actual Notice I shall endeavour to show in my next article.
SOUND SHADOWS.
SOUND SHADOWS. In an interesting article on "Sensitive Fiamfis 'nj Sound Shadows," in tho November issue of the Popular Science Monthly, Mr W, Ls Conte Stevens gives an account of the experiments made in the Bay of San Ft-aucisco in 1874 by Professor John La Conte and bis sou, Mr Julian Le Conte. The source of sound was not "ueh as would give a definite pitch, like a bell, but the quick, violent, single impulse dUd to the explosion of dynamite employed in the blasting of rocks which obstructed the channels. The Intensity of the shock thus propagated was such all to be felt as a blow on the feetiof a person &-eatad" in a boat three hundred feat or more from the detonating cartridge, and to kill hundreds of fish, Several vertical posts or piles, each about a foot in diameter, projected from the ground out of J^e water in .the neighbourhood. A stout glass bottle (says Iron) was suspended in the water about a foot in the rear of one of these piles, L ,w'thin the geometric shadow determined by I 'ues supposed to be drawn from the I 40 feet boriz >ntaliy ^ay- The b°ttle was perfectly protected from the shock of *be explosion. It wss then put in iron,, of the I We. The first shock shivered it into hundreds of S fragments Other bottles, sorte hlled with air some "with water, were similarly exposed in yar:rt j. ••Mimd tfao and with the v«Hous directions arouna LUO *anae result destruction, except when within the unross the direction or paper, hor.z -ntal Y two ileH which ère alig-nf'ti wIth the oyna1l11te ca.rtridge. ,TheA gl- f apan, the nearer one being- 40 iust *om u>e carfcr'dRe; jig and included the intL fr 9ec,ml H « Middle part of each ntetnie(liate water, with the iniuui tl-be. After an explosion these protected P^8 »«? found to b< -a.wok. while the »d. »b,ob £ rojected on the two sides boy^° hnnndarv be- .v ere completely shattered The bounty be twefcu the regions of shadow and noise was i^4rP>y defiued cn the tubes, even at a feci behind the protecting pile.
[No title]
Syrroatbetic citizen: Is he fatally wounded, do ro, think, oificerl Policeman: Two av the is fatal, sor, but the third is not, an it we ean lave him zest quiet for a while, I d think DO "ud come around all right 1 i.
Portraits in Miniature. ...-
Portraits in Miniature. No. 1.- THOMAS CARLYLE. [By Silurian ] "The good man is ever a mystic creative centre of goodness." So wrote Carlyle, and bis own life is emblematic of the saying. Few writers of any time saw men and things with clearer, truer vision than the rugged Scotchman of Ecclefechan. Still fewer pNclaimed their convictions with an earnestness so intense, a courage so dauntless and unshaken. For these attributes, and the innate worth of his teaching, he occupies a proud pre- eminence in the literature of the nineteenth century. This is not the place for a critical estimate of Carlyle's writings. It is our intention but to glance, in however imperfect a manner, at some of the underlying principles of his life- work. It has been given to few men to exercise an influence at once so potent and wide in range. Men at opposite poles of sympathy, such as Froude and Emerson, of such widely-different temperaments as Thackeray and John Stuart Mill, acknowledged him as their inspirer aud guide. This fact is in itself a tribute to his inherent greatness. He was before all things an elemental man: his greatness transcended all sectional lines. And thus it is that while be bad reverent disciples and loyal troops of friends,none wears his ample mantle. But as Mr Russell Lowell has felicitiously observed, the manner of the first-class poet is incommunicable, and, there- fore, he can never found a school. Chatham, said Henry Grattan, stood alone in the degeneracy of the age. In a larger and wider sense is it true that Thomas Carlyle stood alone—a grand, heroic, elemental man, diffusing over mankind from the afluence of his own opulent nature the light and warmth of a holy, inspiring faith. EABLT EFFORTS. Cailyle commenced the toilsome, slow ascent" of authorship with no adventitious aids to assist him up the steep. He bad to depend entirely on the strength of bis own right arm and the courage of bis own manly heart. Ho suffered by reason of his very originality. His uniqueness of utterance —that strange style which, in his own hand, was so ductile and subtle au instrument, and from which he educed divinest music—was in these early days a stumbling block and a rock of offence. The literary guides of the great publishing bouses shrank from innovation; and an author who brought into literature a method absolutely foreign to it was sure to meet with a chilling reception. It was thus that "Sartor" was sent in vain from pub- lisher to publisher, and had ultimately to be given to the world through the pages of a magazine. His discouragements were many and grievous, but Carlyle's heart never faltered. He persevered in the course he had set before him, and no con- sideration of worldly advantage ever caused him to deviate from it by a single hair's breadth. Honour and fame came to him not because he sought them, but because they lay in the plain, severe path of duty. Carlyle was emphatically a man with a mission. In his earliest as in his latest works the same great primal truths are enforced. Not inaptly has he been called the modern John the Baptist. No writer has dealt the upas tree of conventionality such deadly blows. He stripped from society its miserable veneer of cant, and laid it bare in all the hideounBs of its hypocrisy. The Mammon-worship, the shams, the quackery, the "gig-respectability,"and the jnan millinery of the age he denounced with Hebraic fervour and earnestness. On the other hand, he pleaded eloquently for the pursuit of all things U lovely, pure, and of erood report." Carlyle has been charged with pessimism. That such a charge should be preferred against him shews bow a man's spirit may be conceived. Optimism, rather than pessimism, is the per- vading characteristic of his writings. He bad an unfalterable faith in the ultimate permanence of the good and the true. Davout Christians are filled with misgiving when they contemplate the scepticism ot our time; but they may re-assure themselves by the thought of the pregnant remark of Carlyle's, "Scepticism is the sour fruit of a most blessed inctease—that of knowledge, and a fruit, too, that will not always continue sour." Else- where he writes, "Bad is by its very nature negative,and can do noibing; whatsoever enables us to do anything is by its very nature good." The dominating note of the Carlylean teaching—which swells into a broad, melodious diapason—is duty. No one has done more to elevate and exalt the conception of duty. His- writings are saturated through and through with it. Out of that singular autobiographical fragment—" Sartor Resartus "— chaotic, and yet coherent, with its cynicism, its invective,and its grim,savage humour,emerged the belief that the one good thing in this world is work; "duty to be done without hope of reward or recognition, but for its own sake and because it is right to do it." The dignity of labour and the beauty of goodness were necessary corollaries to this teaching. Listen to his noble panegyric of work. "Consider" he writes, "what advantages those same uneducated working-classes have over the educated unworking classes in one particular— herein, namely, that they must work. To work what incalculable sources of cultivation lie in that process, in that attempt. How it lays hold of the whole man, not of a small, theoretical, calculating fraction of him, but of the whole practical, doing, daring, enduring man; thereby to awaken dormant faculties, root out old errors it every step Vaiij is it to sit scheming and p!ausibiy discussing. Up and be doing i Grapple with real nature; try thy theories there and see how they hold out. Truly,a boundless significance lies in work." Stimulating, ennobling words those Then the good man, tho heroic doer of and seeker after trutb,is held up to our admiration. Goodness to Carlyle was not an interchangeable term with namby-pamby ism. Sentimentality he held in the utmost abhorrence tt the most barren of all beings is the sentimen- talist I" The goadness in which he gloried was that of the courageous man bearing himself nobly in the conflicts of the world, rejoicing in his manhood, and trampling over ancf putting to rout all the forces of the devil. "Glorious, heroic, fruitful for his own time, and for all time and eternity, is the constant speaker and doer of truth." HIS HISTORICAL WRITINGS. A word now as to his historical writings. The conventional mode of writing history Carlyle had long held in disdain. Its court scandals and gossip were little to his liking. What was it to him that the man who occupied the woolsack was now a man who squinted; and now a man who did not squint! To the hungry and thirsty mind all this availed nothing. These man and these things, we indeed know, did swim by strength or specific levity as apples, or as horse.dung, ou the top of the current; but is it by painfully noting the courses, eddyings, and bobbiugs hither and thither of such drift articles that you will unfold to mo the nature of the current itself; of that mighty rolling and loud-roaring life-current; bottomless as the foundations of the universe, mysterious as its Author? The thing I want to sse is not Red- Book Lists and Court Calendars and Parliamen- tary registers, but the life of man in England; what men did, thought, suffered, and enjoyed." This, then, wasjhis idea of history, and be applied it in his historical writings with complete success. One signal service which he rendered to history was to rescue the name of Cromwell from unmerited obloquy, and to make the Lord Pro- tector stand before posterity in all bis heroic proportions. The most notable of the historical writings is "Tho French Revolution." This remarkable work is an epic poem >in prose. For vivid realism, brilliant portraiture, aud fidelity as a chronicle, it is unequalled and un- approachable. Mirab^au, Marat, Robespierre, La Fayette, Madame Roland, the wretobed Loui?, and the hapless Marie live again in these pages. But the book is something more than a chronicle, Carlyle goes down to the root of things. The tremendous upheaval of revolution is tho working out of a just, inevitable retribution. Nations no more than individuals can set the laws of right in defiance with impunity. The mills of God grind slowly, But they grind exceeding small Though with patience He stands waiting, With exactness grinds He all." The French people had been trampled under the iron heels of despoth for centuries. "U atanght, uncomforted, unfed, pining stagnantly in thick obscuration, in squalid destitution—this was the lot of the millions 1 Ye poor,naked wretches And this then is your inarticulate cry to Heaven as of a dumb, tortured animal crying from uttermost depths of pain and debasement? Do these azure skies, like a dead crystalline vault, only revorbe- ate the echo of it on you ? Nut BO -Not forever! Ye are heard m Heaven, and the answer, too, will come—in a horror of great darkness and shakings of the world and a cup of trembling which all the nations of the earth shall drink." This greatest event in history was illustrative of one of the dominating principles of the Carlylean teaching—general suffering the result of general misbehaviour; the ascendency of evil; its ultimate overthrow. HERO-WORSHIP. No sketch of Carlyle would be complete without reference to the doctrine of Hero-worship. Briefly put, this may be defined as the supremacy of the Acknowledged Strongest. The famous "Lectures on Heroes deal with great figures in history as widely removed by place and sympathy and time as Mahomet and Cromwell, Luther and Johnson. According to Carlyle, the underlying and funda- mental principle is the same in every great man, be he prophet or philosopher, warrior or poet. For instance, "the poet who could merely pit on a chair and compose stanzas wculd never make a stanza worth much. He could not sing the heroic warrior unless he himself were at least a heroic warrior also. I fancy there is in him the Politician; the Thinker; the Lagislator; the Philosopher. In one or the other degree he could have been,he is,all these. The grand,fundamental characteristic is that of Great Men—that the man be truly great." The wide comprehension and large-beartedness of Carlyle are admirable. How indignantly he repudiates the notion that Mahomet was a scheming impostor—a falsehood incarnate, and his religion a mere mass of quackery and fatuity. "It is time to dismiss all that. The word this man spoke has been the life- guidance now of 180 millions of people these 1200 years. These 180 millions ivero made by God as well as we. A greater number of God's creaturas believe in Mahomet's word at this moment than in any other word whatever. Are we to suppose that it was a miserable piece of spiritual legei-de- main, this which so many creatures of the Almighty have lived byanddiedby? I will believe most things sooner than that. One would be entirely at a loss what to think ot this world at all if quackery so grew and were sanctioned here." His theory of hero-worship has laid Carlyle open to the charge of fostering a spirit of despotism, even though it were the despotism of what was strong and good as opposed to mere weakness and viciousness. The theory as taught by his disciples has been made more vulnerable to attack; and Mr Gold win Smith has epitomised the objection to it in a brilliant epigram, "Carlyle," wrote that distinguished scholar, prostrated morality bofore greatness: bis followers prostrate it before mere foece, which is no more adorable than fraud-the force of those who are physically weak." GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. Oar survey of Carlyle's lite-work is completed. Necessarily fragmentary aud imperfect, it may still serve to convey some idea of his ennobling teaching. In the present age,as in the olden time, to the writing of books there is no end. But alas how much of our fecundity is mere chaff and stubble; how little is pure, fructifying grain Modern literature is Sahara-like in its aridity and range; but, dotted over the wide expanse, there are here and there smiling oases and pleasant, grateful fountains, wherefrom there is a constant outflow of beneficent and fertilising influences. Such a fountain are the writings of Carlyle. It is something to be thankful for that in an age of tinsel there should be vouchsafed to us this grand, elemental man, with his inspired tongue and his great heart bursting with human sympathy and compassion. Be it ours to profit by bis teaching, to do our own humble life- work with the thoroughness and loyalty on which he so eloquently insisted. Here on earth we are as soldiers fighting in a foreign land under- standing not the plan of campaign, and having no need to understand it. Saeing well what is at our hand to be done, let us do it like soldiers, with submission, with courage, with a heroic joy. Behind us, behind each of us, lie 6,000 years of human effort, human labour. Betore us is the boundless time, with its as yet uncoqIQuered aDl uncreated Continents and El Dorados which we, even we, have to conquer, to create. And from the bosom of eternity there shine for us celestial guiding stars." My inheritance how wide and fair 1 Time is my fair seedfield— Of time I am heir."
Welsh Intermediate 1 Education.…
Welsh Intermediate 1 Education. THE ACT POPULARLY EX- PLAINED. The New Mauual, The manual to the Intermediate Education (Wales) Act, 1889, and the Technical Instruction Act, 1889, by Thomas Ellis, M.P., and Ellis Griffith, barrister-at-law, which has just befit issued by the National Association for the Pro- motion of Technical and Secondary Educatioc, will meet with a general and ready welcome in the principality. In an introductory note, Mr Rathbone, M.F., says that the Intermediate Education Act does not carry its meaning, or the powers whicb it confers, on the face of it, and it is necessary for a man to be a lawyer, and to have ala" library at hiselbow, in order to understand this an. most modern Acts of Parliament." Mr Rathbon* is undoubtedly right, for comparatively few persons in whose hands even this short act is placed would be able, without assistance, to form any adequate idea of the actual extent and character of the provisions it contained and the powers it conferred. This has been abundantly proved by the absurd errors into which some uewspapers have fallen in dealing from time to time with some of the simplest questions involved in the act. With the present little manual for a guide, any man possessed of otdinary intelligence will be able to obtain a very good grasp of the general acope of the act, and to understand the exact bearings of any particular section. The lawyer and the law library referred to by Mr Rathbone may be dispensed with, inasmuch as nearly all they could tell us, and in some respects much more than they could tell us, will be found giveu in a ciear and comparatively simple manner in the 120 pages of which this little shilling manual consists. As a sample of the kind of explanations given of the actual text of the act, we may instance the following, appended to the clause referring to KKLIGTOUS EDUCATION, which i, perhaps, one of the most unsatisfactory portions of the act. The doubt and uncertainty which enveloped Section 4 (3) have been cleared up by the in-ertion of the text of the sections of the Act of 1S69 which bear upon this question. Comparing Uie-e sections with the new Act, the compilers thus summarise the actual effset of the provisions respecting religious instruction :— In the caRe of a nay RclJolar ;— 1. No distinctive catechism or formulary shall be taught Ilim. 2. He i. exempted from attendance during religious worship or instruction. 3. His non-attendance at such times shall not preju- dice him in any war. 4. Religious worstip and instruction shall be conve- niently arranged ior his withdrawal. In the ease or a hoarder ;— 1. He may withdraw during religious worship or in- struction with the consent of the persons ill charge of the boarding-houses. 2. If such conseutis withheld, the governing body of the schooi must allow him to board at a suitable place, and must make good the extra expense involved. With equal minuteness we and other important and intricate, or obscure, provisions explained, e.g., the Treasury regulations as to gauging the ( ffii'.eiify ofachoois, the definition of educa. tional endowments available for the purposes of the act, and others. But what wiil be even more highly appreciated than the copious explanatory notes appended to the text of the act are the other portions of the book, in which important information is supplied, and valuable suggestions are made as to how the act can be inns; eff'jcfci veiy put in opera- tion. un RATHBOtfES TRIBUTE. From Mr RathboneS iutroduution we make the following extract, in which lie P;1Yd Welshmen a well-deserved tribute :— In no part of the United Kingdom is the thirst for education stronger, or the aptitude ot the people for availing themselves of its benefits greater, than in Wales, while the poverty of the country, when compared with England, makes it necessary that a large proportion ot its population, esp&eially the«iever cniidren, should seek their fortune in other lands. Hitherto Welsh youths have been at a serious disadvantage as compared with the Scatch and German. This disadvantage wili disappear if they rightly use tbeopporcunities now offered them, nor need we then fear for tha future of the Welsh people. Sober, industrious, thrifty, and religious, they are more ready to sacrifice present comfort for an ideal to be realised in the future than are Englishmen, and, indeed, we do not know any nation that surpasses them in this important eleinenf of progress." We may also note, in passiug, our satisfaction that, according to Mr Rathbone, "theWetah members do not pretend to consider the altera- tions made by the GavrnlDent as an improve- ment," and that they especially regret the omission of a Welsh Board of E lucation," which, apparently, they oniy consented to swallow be- cause it. would have been tolly to refuse so large an instalment of educational facilities, and thus to deprive, probably for years, the clever children of Wales of the advantages possessed by their coa:petitors elsewhere." Certainly not the least interesting portion of the work is Mr Acland's views on THE KIXD OF SCHOOLS ESQUIRED. Mr Aelana, who is known as an earnest educa- tionist, and win), as a member of the joint education committer for 'Carnarvonshire, will have a further opportunity of impressing the authorities with his notions, very rightly emphasises the need for a thoronga uuder- standing aud hearty co-operation between the various county committees. Coming down to details, Mr. Aclaud is of opinion that, in the first instance, thoroughly popular schools, with rea- sonable lees, immediately above the elementary schools, will ba most required. He think', that all centres which have a population of from 8,003 to 15,000 should have a good school if the district itseit is prepared to provide the necessary build. ings as a voluntary contribution. Estimating the number who will rtqu re secondary education at from 16 to 20 per 1,000, it follows that the new shares will provide accommodation for about from 130 to 350 each. He assumes these schools to be the pressing preseut need of the country, and that they will be sjpplemented by some higher or O-assical schools. FEES, FHKK SCHOLARSHIPS, AND CDBKICCLCM. The leas at these ecnooU would, in his opinion, range from Is 3 i to 6 J per week, or from £2 10-5 to £5 a year, :md that one place out of every eight or ten should be free, these to be com- peted for by the elementary schools in the surrounding parishes. The curriculum will have to be not merely "upper elementary," but distinctly intermediate. This, however, will not mean that the schools should be classical, but that with few exceptions the main features of the course would be modern and technical, or com- mereia J, Day versus Boarding Schools. — Mr Acland further assumes that these scnools will be mainly day schools, the local committee where necessary arranging for the accommodation of pupils from a distance at suitable and duly approved lodging- houeK, The Position of Private Schools presents one of the most (Jiffiiuit problems mmer the act, and there will probably oe some cases of hardship in connection with these. Mr Acland would pro- pose to take over some Rood private schools, but only under condition of complete public control. Teachcrs and Examiners.—Mr Aciand very properly insists that no teaciier, male or female, should be appointed who has net some certificate botb,of adequate training in teachingand adequate knowledge. He thinks the University Colleges might well provide for a due supply of such qualified teachers by arranging for the training of such teachers as a spacial branch of the colleges. He recommends that there should be an annual inspection under the county authorities, quite dis- tinct from any examination earned on on behalf of the Government, and inclines o tbiok that hero again th^s university colleges might render valu- able assistance. Mr Acland has some very appropriate remarks :111 Local and Provincial Organisation and Super- visiun, and sums up t)y saying ihti; to drop all supervising work and leave each school isolated when its scheme was complete, without that stimulus BInd encouragement from above which Wales, and Wales aloue, could give, would be to lose more than half the value of tbo act." He urges each joint committee to institute an inde- pendent enquiry into the educational state of its county to visit every populous place and take public evidence, and warmly advocates joint action between these joint committees in order to give the work a strength, stimulus, and vitality which it could not otherwise possess. We must hold over for another article the con- sideration of other and no Jess important sections of this little work. HOW TO pur THE ACT IN FOBO £ Au important section of the book is that which gives information as to the "Framing of a Scheme "and the "Passing of a ticheme." The first necessity of course is money, and among the funds available are specified—(1), Endowments (2), County Rate; (3), Treasury Grant; (4), Grants from the Science and Art Department; (5), School Fees (6), Local Subscriptions. Endowments.—Considerable uncertainty pre- vails as to the amount of endowments available for the purposes of the ace. It is not only educa- tional endowments which ate so available, but non-educational doles and: charities may be made available. Itiese, however, can only be secured with the consent of' the trustees of the sam6. "It will thus be necessary," says this manual, "for the joint education com- mittee to, consult the trustees of "such ^^antiesAs,to^eiF wilUngness to-devote a-part ow be tbewQolo of fire charities to the, pctpoK of os* .s oC. £ tablishing exhibitions for poor meritorious boys and girls, or for travelling instructors, who might hold classes or give lectures in villages." TreasurV Grant. -This, by the Act, is limited by the amount of the county rate, and is made dependent npon the efficiency ot the schools. It appears that the word efficiency was sub- stituted for the more technical word merit." tor the double purpose of obviating the system of payment by results," so universally condemned in elementary schools, and of enabling the an- nual inspection to include, not alone the exami- nation of pupils, but "the whole equIpment of the schooi, its course of instruction, its sufficiency of apparatus, its fees, and the degree to which it may command the favour and meet the nends of the district in which it is situated." Fees and Subscrtptions.- Considering the means and resources of a large majority of Welsh parents, it will be advisable to have the fees as moderate as possible. Thus alone can the schools become the people's schools, conferring benefits, not on a class, but on the community." In order to enable them to fix the fees at a low point, the funds at the disposal of the committees must not be expended upon bricks and mortar, but must be devoted to the maintenance of the schools. Thus it will be necessary that, in most cases, the locality where a school is to be established should be able to furnish the greater part, if not the whole, of the money required to provide suitable school buildings. THE GOVERNING BODIES OF SCHOOLS. The remarks under this head are so appropriate that we may be pardoned for giving the extract in full The constitution of the governing body is one of the most important provisions of the whole scheme. It is owing to the constitution of the governing bodies of the existing intermediate schools in Wales that tti- mass of the people have not felt, the necessary confidence in their I working, The chief aim should be to make the governing bodies thoroughly representative of the I whole district served by the Bchool. For instance, every school board in the district should be represented, and where there is no school board "Jje vestry should be allowed to choose a repre- tentative for the parish. Popular interest would thus be quickened, and harmony and co-operation between the elementary and the secondary schools I ured. It would be well also to have upon each governinp, body a representative of the University College most closeiy associated with tllO school. His guidance upon the coarse of instruction, the choice of masters, and the provision of suitable appliances and apparatus for the school would be invaluable. His presence with the representatives of elementary schools would farther help to weld, hariaonise, and co-ordinate the various educa- tionsnal interests in Wales." STATISTICS. Tim statistics contained in the appendices, though not strictly accurate, afford materials foe forming a fairly good idea of th« work before the though not strictly accurate, afford materials foe forming a fairly good idea of th« work before the variout county committees. We summarise the tubular statements so far as they refer to the nine South Valian districts. FUNDS AVAILABLE. J Educa- County. I Treasury tional I lldtrt. Grant. J^ndow- meats, ^naow- € s. «1. £ s. d.f £ s. tl.j £ d Brecen 586 1 586 1 6A|I007 19 10; 4i3 0 2 Cardigan. 4;>5 3 9 435 3 9*1 U3 0 4; C'rusitheu 904 3 4 80+ 3 4 !ll«4 16 8! 60 2 6 Glamorgan! i j County.,jS544 3 11*3,544 3 llJ 50;1 14 6 125 6 4 Cardiff l30j b 3 i3c.5 5 3 85 15 8, 15 0 0 Swansea.. 534 18 6 534 18 6 100 0 «i Pembrek*. fa 0 Sob a 0 1 7! 168 15 6 jtadnor 24-i 1 64 349 1 6i 451 Jfi 9; 18 16 0 Monmouth 2lfc7 19 7il21t>7 19 7^4057 16 l! 174 2 0 Assumng that the whole of the educational and apprenticeship endowments were at. the disposal, tud that the previous estimate 0 f 20 per cent. of tie population would have to be provided far in the secondary schools, the following -.vould be the reqsirements for each county and the flAlids avails hie :■»- Breconshire would have £2.613 3., Id per annum to O^'vote, alii 1,150 scholars to proride for. Cardigan wriulci hare £ 1,403 7s iO i, and 1,400 pupils. • Carmarthen's,3,053 b8 lOti to lueet ¿.5D\) scaolars. Gianwnianshif e— £ i,12i 8s 9 t for 7,250 pupiis. Cardiff— £ 2,711 6s 2d for 1,650 puniis. SwaiiSM— £ 1,169 17s 0<1 for 1.20 J pupils- Pembioke— £ 2,437 7s Id for 1,850 ou(>iis. Hi'incr— 1, ifcS 15s lOd for 470 pupils. Monmouth— £ 8fjt>7 17s 4d for 4,i5J pupils. lliese calculations are, however, only rough estimates, and further iuquiry will probably prove that there exist o,b'r and uuexpected sources of income. We have by no means exhausted either the sub- ject or the good features of this little work. The Suggestions from fh? Educational System;; of other Countries" afford in themselves much matter for soriou* consideration, while the chapter on "The Possibilitieo; of the Act in Wales'' should be carefully iread and studied by every one who is in any way interested in the success of the act. We heartily ei)riimen(i the book, a.nd trust that it will command a ready sals and be largely read. With all the opinions it advances we may not be able to agree, but the consideration of them caunot fail to be of service. We conclude our jno'iw with the following extract on THE DOTr OF WALES The structure ot the act. is Rucll a to necessi- tate its being worked in a popular and democratic spirit. The endowments are comparatively meagre. The rate is restricted to a halfpanuy in the pound. The Treasury grant is not to exceed the aggregate amount of the rate. Ail three sources of income put together aud utilised to the fullest possible extent wiil only be sufficient to help the maintenance, not the establishment, of adequate secondary schools. The keystone of the structure of the act is that the scuool buildings shall b" supplied by the localities. This is not a task beyond the strength of Whies. Let the spirit of enthusiasm, of generosity, aud or self-sacrifice, which has done so 1x1 a a 1 for Wales already, and which makes this record possible, oseifliw to the domain of education, which, in a degree ouiy Necood to religion, is the lever of progrss*, tbe upliftir of the masses, tin hope of the poor. Locsl effort and sacrifice in the erection of snmptuoue school buildings will be amply repaid. A school which represents the effort and sacrifice of the people will inevitabiy develop the best capabilities and aptitudes of the people's children. Lot the site of the secondary school be spacious and pleasant, let the plans be such as to allow and even invite exten- sion, let the architecture have character, let the budding be solidly built and well ventilated, let the rooms be well equipped and suitably fitted. and let not the schooi bo burdened aud hampered in its work by debt. There schools would thus become living factors in the social life of Wales and the priceless heritage of its people. Thus would Wales combine in its national system of education the order and permanence of a State organisation with the spontaneity and freshness of individual and popular effort. Nothing contributed more directly to the awskening of Modern Greece than the patriotism and generosity of Greeks in foreign lands and dis- tant cities. They helped to found schools and colleges in their native land, where were taught the men who subsequently fought the battles. made the laws, and established the prosperity of regenerated Greece. There are Welshman to day who have trrown rich in trade, commerce, and the professions in lands and cities beyond the Welsh border. L4t them repay the debt they owe to the pure and stroug influence of their early life in Wales by making offers of belp which will stir localities to effort in the building of schools, which will give to Welsh townsman and peasants the oppor- tunity of realising that knowledge is plwer- 'firoreu arf, arf dysg-tfiat for the battle of life, knowledge is truly a shield and buckler."
ENSiUGE IN SOUTH WALES.
ENSiUGE IN SOUTH WALES. Ensilage is evidently iucreasing in favour in South Wales. Take this list, and remember that there was in 1889 little need to st:ick grass in silos, while in 188S there was scarcely any oppor- tunity to milk., ha v. NO. OF "ILOS. TOTAL CAPACITY. Counties. 1839 j888. 1389. 1888. N,' N 'u. Cubic Ft. CuuiciTt. Brecon 4 2 17,760 6.960 Cardigan 10 7 45,726 44,728 Carmarthen 17 10 61,421 53,506 Glamorgan 33 -2 121,431 5L), 644 Pembroke 10 24 21,002 20,7.6 Radnor 3 10 4,812 54,92o Monmouth 32 27 10a, 746 74,744
I FOR TIME TO SETTLE,
I FOR TIME TO SETTLE, Edith Downes No. Papa, I can never accept Mr Scads, He is nearly twice my age. Old Mark Downes: Humph But be won't be twenty years from now! Edit J Downes Then, Papa, Set him wait the twenty years.
[No title]
"I trust you will not think hard of me," he remarked, reaching for his hat. Sirs," she answered, frigidly, "one who kuogv you can never think bard of you," And wandering home- ward 'neath the electrio-light, be wondered whftt _*o omt to @orgy. ..L
-Samuel's Sentiments. i I…
Samuel's Sentiments. i I Samuel on Strikes. OXK CAN EASILY SYMPA- THISE WITH A STRIKKR LIKK THIS. (ERlf much Samuel am Strikes;'1 plural! "strikes," don't yoe know-not Samuel on Strike." Strikes are all the go just now, sir. Everybody seems to ft on strike when they can't get what they deserve, 01 want perhaps I ought to sny. I bar literary met: and artists—they may go ou the seraum or as the jamboree," but they seldom strike. It is a luxury within the reach of the working clauses, but one which they cannot afford, like early asparagus or eight- panny Intimidads. They may be very striking in their remarks but action is not quoted in the market. In these pipmfi times of strikes, I expect ere long to hear that even the sandwich m^n who parade the street* will strike t* a man hecause they have too little pay and too mush bos^rd—- not board and lodging, of courp. Surely some of them must feel that their finer feelings are injured by being compelled to parade about as heathen Turks and Hindoos. But I don't know, after all now, I remember, most, of the savage and tattoeed S indwieh Island warriors to be seen in the penny shows hail from Otild Oireiind." It is astonitfhing what a man will do in the way of sinking his individuality when h? is hard up, or is wanted by the police at home. Even the schoolboys have been on strike, though they didn't quite seem to know what about. However, that is a mere detail not to be considered by some people who throw up the drumsticks and go out." Striking seems to be contagious, like the measles or yawning. Some timoK it seems very strikingly to strike the strikers that they ought not to have "truck and made such a false stroke. But t,here-it is human nature all mea more or less like to have a grievance--and to ven- tilate if. Aq Gilbert said, This world would be awfully flat if we'd nothing whatever to grumble at." And there must be something delightfully I inspiriting in walking about, the streett with a band, banner, and a. collecting box. No, after all, t.here'd be notbin inspiriting in being one of the banner bearers-especially in a breeary quarter. Carrying a big banner is rather too like work in rral earnest for a man who is having a bit of a strike, and who has resolved, as the say. ing is, not to strike » bat." I should prefer tbf coilectiue-box to the bannor myself—with < ¡ "banner" one's ardour is liable to "tag.* j TBRT MUCH ON STRIKE. (Pen ahem same price as usual. I thought it necessary to point the matter out to you, a& ( t-radesmen say when their accounts have been ilong outstanding). Now that wouldn't apply to the collecting-box so far as I am concerned, especially if I could go round by myself. Yes- t.h ere must be something pleasurable tn strikes- a gpod deal of ale from a sympathetic public, fot inst"nce, It is astonishing iiowale and sympathy go t, igettier-tl)t-y are in tbe case of strikes out, and indivisible. Some'timee, I must say, the striker 18 thricf armed iiA having his quarrel j'ist generally ht oniy has i-iip., usu-11 number of arm; occasionally, when matters got no forrardsr," so far as he ifc concerned, i'\e »s also armed with a brickbat. I bave never myself seen in auy strike the i'xands turn (,iit; but I tiaiv seeti the knees turn m mai\y a time; I always like a fri end "in- kneed;" he is generally a friend indeed. Strides are fairly good thiDgs f,-tr the brass bands, sir—they give the latter emplovment. But they don't always R've music of a strictly appro- priate nature I once heara* one playine that classical (i,tty, Wf-'re All ,ri t.lie Job," as they walked at the head of a body ot men who hadn't worked for a month. Now as to some strike we bave heard about JatelY-the "dockers," for instance. By- the-way, it seems to me that in this tailoresses' strike, we might fitly cali the masters the dockers," seeing what they "dock" for" power" and other matters. More power" to the tailoresses' elbows, say I but I'll deal with them shortly. Those dockers were mere tools, many of them—the slaves WHAT STRIKES SOMETIMES LEAD TO A MONTH HARD, of noisy agitators in need of a good Advt. but they pretty well got their own way, all the same, Rnd I hope the tram men and tailoresses may do the same. Those tr"m men seem a bit fain t-hearted -I li,.)y hnven't their heart in the THJC WOBK1NG MAS ORATOR OOMSS GREATLY TO KB FORE IN STRIKE. business somehow. Though they are often on the line during working hours, they trequentiy seem to get off it in ventilating tbair grievances. There is not enough steam about the way in which they gee-on "-perhap., I ought to say izee-aae-on. Tue conductors certainly ought to have fare-play and to be able to strike on t be box. A- to refer- ring to the men in front as drivers "—that is absurd they ought to' be calied the "drtven." They ought to mlike a point of line-iog up, with We don't care a tram" as their motto. I entirely object to the statement that the couduct of the tailoresses is but sew-sew I mean so-so, "if ah can speyk." The young women deserve better treatment altogether, for, goodness knows, they work hard enough for what they get, and some of the Jew masters seem to think that they (tbe masters) are not Jews, bat Mxhommedan*, and keeping a Harem after the manner of "sich." God help the really good- looking Christian girl who works for some #ew masters I could name. But the girls don't need my advocacy; they are women and can speak for themselves. If they bad to meet those who exact too much work for too little pay face to faoe I guess that they would most literally come up to the scratch" a good many of them. I have made it my business to see a good deal of them, sir. during the tronbles-especially the nice- looking ones. These I have endeavoured to soothe in the hour of their adversity; I thoupht it my duty, and I did. I have not deemed it necessary to mention the matter to Mrs Samuel J I was afiaid of alienating her sympathies. SAMUEL: HIS SENTimons.
[No title]
No man ever had to be far-seeking to see temp- tation. ¡ SAVING Tix.-About one-sixth of the tinned iron plate consumed in the manufacture of cans and other articles is left as scrap. The tin being valuable and the supply limited, many attempts have been made to recover it from this scrap, but it is only witbin a few months that the saving of the metal has reached the importance of a regular industry. Mr Albert Lambocte, of Brussels, now has in successful operation experimental works capable of treating four million pounds of tin sorap yearly. By his process the tin is converted into stannic chloride, for which the silk industry makes ample demand. The separation is effected by placing the scrap in a high tower, and passing over it a slightly heated current of dry chlorine diluted with an inert gas. In the diluted state the chlorine unites with the tin without attacking the iron, which is left free, aad betpg of good qqakty, is readily put touso: