The Weekly News and Visitors' Chronicle for Colwyn Bay Colwyn Llandrillo Conway Deganwy and Neighbourhood

Births, Marriages, Deaths, &c. Announcements of Births, Marriages, Deaths, or In Memoi-iam," are inserted at the following charge: One Shilling if prepaid; One Florin if booked. No annonncement will be inserted unless accompanied by the sender's real name and address (not for publi- cation, but merely as a guarantee of good faith). BIRTH. JAN. 22nd, at Derwen, Colwyn Bay, the wife of Rev. Jno. Edwards, of a daughter.

LIST OF VISITORS. TO VISITORS AND HOUSEHOLDERS. IMPORTANT NOTICE. During the Colwyn Bay "Second Season," commencing October 1st, The Weekly News Vistors' Lists will cease to be collected, but any Lists left at the Colwyn Bay Office,-Central Library, 8 Station Road,-itot later than Seven p.m. on Tuesday, will appear in that week's issue.

COLWYN BAY. PENSION EDELWEISS. (Misses Retemeyer.) Miss Foster, Edgbaston Miss Hodgson, Southport Miss Stroyan, do Miss le Comte, Rotterdam, Holland Miss Downie, Manchester; W. D. Brown, Esq, Wigan Mrs Brown, do; Miss Brown, do; Thos. Postlethwaite, Esq, Tranmere, Birkenhead; Mr Robert Postlethwaite, do. LOCKYER'S BOARDING HOUSE. (Belle Vue.) James Niven, Esq, Manchester; Mrs Cheetham, Southport; Miss Linn, do Mrs Matthews, Man- chester; Mrs Walker, Southport; The Misses Walker, do; Miss Brightmore, King's Lynn Miss Wharton, Halifax Mrs May. Birmingham Master May, do. Rhos Abbey Boarding House—Miss Wilson Miss Kenyon, Eccles Rev W. Ceidrych Thomas, Birmingham Mrs Thomas, do Wave Crest, Lawson Road-Misses Lever Alderman W. Nicholson, J. P.,Mayor of Bolton Mrs Nicholson, do Miss Brierlev Miss M. Brierley Miss E. Brierley E. Durden, Esq, Cheetham Hill, Manchester Mrs Durden, do Miss Durden, do Miss F. Durden, do Somerset Boarding House—The Misses Wright W. Kay, Esq, Stretford Mrs Kay, do Master Percy Kay, do Miss Hutton, Manchester

The necessity for advertising is very apparent to any reflective mind. If an owner wishes to sell his property, he must let someone know his wish,-if he kept his intention to himself he would also keep his property to himself. To advertise means "to apprise, nform, make known, announce, proclaim, promulgate, publi-b.The Land Roll. "THERE should be a point to every advertisement. State your point and stop right there. Don't keep on just to fill space."

The Welsh Land Commission. The subjoined compiled reports of portions of the evidence given at the Welsh Land Commis- sion's sittings on January 25th and 26th, will be read with interest in the neighbourhood of Conway and Colwyn Bay, and that more especially in view of the recent disagreements between the Conway Corporation and the Crown, and in view of the foreshore question at Colwyn Bay. THURSDAY'S PROCEEDINGS. On January 25th, the Welsh Land Commission sat, at Westminster, under Lord Carring'ton s presidency. Mr J. Russel Lowray, formerly one of the principal clerks in the Woods and Forests Depart- ment, but now retired, was the only witness called. He said he wished to commence his evidence by saying that he very much desired to avoid saying anything that would prejudice the rights of the Crown or of other persons. There- fore he wished to confine his evidence within such limits as would enable him to avoid prejudicing the Crown or limiting its rights in any way. The rights of the Crown in Wales were now almost entirely seignorial. The Crown had little or no rights in fee simple. At the conquest of W ales in it the reign of Edward 1. the whole of the country might be said technically to have fallen to the Crown. The grants ofland in Wales made in the time of James 1. and Charles I. practically made a sweep of Wales, so that they found that in the reigns of Charles II. and James II. there was no reference made to grants in Wales, as it was thought better to leave Wales alone. Whatever demesne lands were originally in possession of the Crown, there was now scarcely any demesne lands in which the Crown had the entire fee simple. The rights of the Crown were now confined to the income from the foreshores still under the management of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, fee farm rents, various manorial rents, &c. By the 24th and 25th Vic., chap. 62, it was enacted that the Crown should not be entitled to recover any property or lands which had been held by others for 60 years, upon the mere proof that such property had more than sixty years previous formed part of an estate belonging to the Crown, and the result of that Act was that a large number of Crown fee-farms and other unimprovable lands were swept away. It really limited the Crown to what the Crown had in possession now, or had had in possession within the past sixty years. The Welsh manors and lordships pertaining to the Crown were very numerous, and extended over a large area. It must not be supposed, however, that the Crown possessed all the seignorial rights. The amount of Crown freehold land was remark- ably small.—only about nine hundred acres. The total unenclosed waste land still belonging to the Crown was 84, 1 to acres, the lands formerly Crown land sold since 1788 (subject to the reservation of mineral rights) amounted to 90,863 acres, and the lands divided and allotted under Enclosure Acts, subject also to the same reservation, were 189,828, making 364,801 acres. This was an estimate of all the land in Wales in which the Crown pos- sessed an interest. Mr Grove Are these minerals being largely worked ? The Witness In some cases, although unfor- tuneately the depressed state of lead and copper has knocked some of the Welsh mines almost out the market.—Continuing, the witness said that the rent from the,e 364,000 acres was in 1377 L-,214, in 1689 L6,999, in 1760 C,4,933, in 1816 £ 3,960, in 1832 k5,446, and in the last 40 years as follows In 1849 £ 5,697, 1859 £ 9,118, 1869 £ 12,832, 1879 £ 13,289, 1889 £ 14,481, 1S92 £ 13,564. The in- creases since 1857 were in face of sales of fee farm rents to the amount of £ 34,369 and of foreshores to the amount of £ 117,178—together, £ 151,547. This sum at 3 per cent. would produce £ 4546 per annum, which might be added to the last year and show what it would have been if no sales had taken place. These figures showed the gross receipts. The Chairman What has been the general policy of the department as to wastes and encroachments ? The witness said that up to quite recently the policy as to wastes was that which was considered by all the authorities 100 years ago to be the correct one—that was, to get them enclosed and divided soon as possible. The Crown without actually promoting enclosures rendered every facility for the enclosure of its waste lands, and these enclosures had been very numerous. This policy was pursued until MrFawcett succeeded in putting a stop to it. Since 1868 there had been only one Crown enclosure. As regarded en- croachments, the usual practice had been to have them surveyed and valued, and to charge as rent one-fourth of the value of the lands and buildings. A great number of the encroachments were made by the tenants of the freeholders in whom the right of common was vested, but he believed that an encroachment ensured to the benefit of the freeholder and not the tenant. In reply to a question, the witness said that a great many of these encroachments were made by tenants of adjoining premises belonging to the freeholder in whom the right of common was vested, and were simply added to the farm. Do they buy encroachments ? Where they succeed in evading us for 60 years, then they get them for nothing. Continuing, the witness mentioned that in the four parishes of Gwvtherin, Llanfairtalhaiarn, Llansannan, and Llanefydd, in the lordship of Denbigh, the number of encroachments that had become freehold was 1,238 and the area 4,239 acres. Sir J. Llewelyn The London and North Western Railway Company are the lessees of the foreshore near Colwyn Bay ? Of a portion of it. They recently applied to purchase the strip of land along their whole estate at Colwyn to enable them to widen their line. -Continuing the witness said that he understood that indignation-meetings had been held in Colwyn protesting against the purchase. The matter had been brought before the office of Woods and Forests, and the Colwyn Bay Local Board were advised to go to the Railway Company and endeavour to make arrangements with them, a promise being given that in the meantime the Woods and Forests Office would do nothing." This was in October last. Since then the negotiations had practically come to an end. If they were not at an end, they were certainly suspended. Lord Kenyon asked whether it was not a fact that the Colwyn Bay Local Board had spent £ 8000 in making a new approach from the town to the shore. The witness said that he did not know the amount, but he had seen the approach, and he should think that it would cost that sum. Professor Rhys: Have you heard of negotiations going on with regard to the sale of a Welsh foreshore near an important town to a private landowner, and without the knowledge of the people ? I do not think it is likely that the Woods and Forests Commissioners would sell a foreshore to a private individual without mentioning the matter to the local Authorities or the townspeople. Mr Groves Are we to understand that with regard to the Colwyn foreshore the London and North-Western Railway Company were doing nothing because your Office has not given its consent ? Yes. Are we to assume that nothing can be done to alter that position without the consent of your Office ? Certainly. The Railway Company have a lease, but ti-iey are prevented from executing any works upon the land. By a Commissioner Mr Darbishire gave evi- dence with regard to some Crown lands near Pen- maenmawr, and said that some rights on the free ground had been sold to a Mr Sudbury, the Crown parting with its manorial rights. Has such a private individual afterwards the right to prevent encroachments ? Yes; the individual has the same power as the Crown. Mr Darbishire makes out that he has no power to prevent encroachments, and he suggested that the power possessed by the Crown should be extended to some Local Authority? If I were the owner of land which I had bought from the Crown I should be indeed happy if some Local Board would take care of it for me. (Laughter). Mr Griffiths Don't you think that in some instances the Woods and Forests have encouraged the people to encroach? I don't know of any such instances. But they have allowed people to build houses overnight and live rent free for twelve months ? There have been no such cases during my experience. FRIDAY'S PROCEEDINGS. At the Welsh Land Commission's sitting, at Westminster, on January 26th, Lord Carrington presiding, Mr Charles Cecil Trevor, Assistant Secretary to the Board of Trade, gave evidence as to foreshores in Wales and Monmouthshire. In answer to the Chairman, the witness said that 27 years ago the management of foreshores was transferred to the Board, and in dealing with them the Board kept prominently in mind the benefit of the public and the interests of navigation, endeavouring to prevent encroachments and the exclusion of the public from the use of the shore for walking, bathing, and the like. It was not, generally speaking, the practice of the Board to part with any rights except for some useful works in immediate contemplation or for some public purpose. If the Llandudno Local Board, for example, wanted to make bye-laws for the pre- vention of nigger minstrels or any nuisance of that sort, the Board of Trade, if the shore belonged to them, would consent to the bye-laws unreservedly. In the case of works not authorised by Act of Parliament, the invariable practice was to call on the applicant to give public notice in the news- papers, and any objections were fully considered. When Parliament had sanctioned a Pier, for example, the Board granted so much only of the shore as was necessary for the pillars or supporters of the structure, thus preserving to the public the use of the shore under the Pier free of to! Referring to the evidence given before the Commission in reference to Camlyn Bay, Anglesea, the witness said that two of the land- owners complained that the removal of materials below high-water line was calculated to damage their property, and after consideration the Board gave to them permission to exhibit a notice prohibiting the removal of the material. In September, 1891, the agents for these owners asked to be allowed to prosecute a man for removing material, an application which the Board authorised. It appeared that the County Court Judge, after himself visiting the locality, decided that no risk of damage in the immediate future was probable, and he declined to interfere with what he considered prescriptive rights to take material. The Board would never have dreamed of interfering in such a case if they had not been prima-facie satisfied that there was a chance of damage. The Court, however, decided that there was not. In that case you allowed the local landowners to use the Board's name in the prosecution ? The witness That is our usual practice. We say, You may stand in our shoes provided you pay the expense." Answering further questions, witness said there was another class of cases where the owner of the adjoining land claimed the foreshore as part of the manor. It had been considered desirable in some cases to effect a compromise by granting him a conveyance of the rights of the Crown, at the same time reserving any public rights. An arrangement of this sort was made with the Marquis of Bute in 1888 in regard to some 1200 acres of foreshore claimed by him at Cardiff. The Board of Trade compromised the claim, the Marquis paying £ 6000 for the land. The conveyance reserved to the public any existing rights as long as the shore was covered with water and not shut out by a dock wall. No notice ot this arrangement'with the Marqnis was given to the Corporation of Cardiff; in fact, they complained that they had not been consulted. The Board considered the claim a good one in its general aspect, but not so good as to admit it. Therefore they compromised. Mr Brynmor Jones Without asking you to express any opinion on this transaction, don't you think that it would be to the public interest, before these sales or compromises of Crown rights are effected, that the local Authorities should receive notice and have an opportunity of being heard ? The Witness In ordinary sales certainly, but I will not go so far as to say that this should be done in cases of compromise. Mr B. Jones But are not the doubtful cases the very cases in which the Board might usefully take into council the local Authorities ? The Witness said that might put an end to all chance of compromise. The local Authority was not always on all fours with the local landlord. After all, the compromises were not many. Further questioned, the witness said that there had been 38 conveyances of foreshore in Wales during the last 25 years, some of them being to Railway Companies for public works. The Board did not as a rule make any conveyances to landlords merely for the purpose of adding to an estate.

OLD COLWYN. Parish Church, Gohvyn.—English Services. 11.0 a.m and 7.0 p.m. Sunday School, 2.15 p.m.' Celebra. tion of the Holy Communion, 1st and 3rd Sundays in the month. Service on Wednesdays at 7.0 p.m., and on Saints' Days and Festivals at 11.0 a.m. Rev John Griffiths, M.A.. Vicar. Rev D. Stephens, B.A., Curate. English Baptist Chapel, Old Colwyn.—Sunday Ser- vices, Morning 11.0, Evening 6.30. Sunday School, 2.30 p.m. Prayer Meeting on Wednesdays at 7.0 p.m. Pastor, Rev. J. B. Brasted. MR EDWARD ROBERTS, B.A.—The parishioners of Colwyn will be very pleased to learn that the vacant Curacy of Ysceifiog (Flintshire) has been offered to and accepted by Mr Edward Roberts, B.A., who probably will be ordained in Lent, for the above-named curacy, for which there were several applicants. THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS.The National Schools have received a favourable report from the Diocesan Inspector (Rev J. Hamer Lewis), and the number of certificates of merit awarded is large. NEXT WEEK'S ENTERTAINMENT.—On Mondav evening next, February 5th (and not Tuesday as announced in last week's issue\ an entertainment will be held in the Assembly Rooms, Colwvn. The entertainment will be similar to that held, in the same place, on January 19th. Mr Mathew Wilks, of Gorphwvsfa, has very kindly consented to take the chair, and the proceeds are to go towards providing foot-lights and additional chairs for the Assembly-Rooms. The entertainment will commence at half-past seven. THE COLWYN FORESHORE.—A SUGGESTION. Old Colwyn, 30th January, 1894. To the Editor of the" Weekly News." SIR, — I annex copy of a letter I sent to the Secretary of the Treasury, with his reply mv suggestion may meet the approval of some of your readers.—I am, yours truly, J. H. [COPY.] Old Colwyn, 16th December, 1893. To the Secretary of the Treasury, London. SIR,-I notice in a newspaper that Sir G. O. Morgan, inteads to ask you about the London & North W estern Railway Company's intention to take a portion of the foreshore near this place. I think it is a matter that ought to be arranged locally, my idea is, that if the Railway Company, are allowed to widen their line, they should make a road along-side of it, this would act as a barrier against the wash of the high tides, and make Colwyn one of the most attractive watering- places in the United Kingdom. Every interest would be benefited, the Railway Company, especially by the increased traffic. To keep the road in repair, a small toll might be charged on vehicular traffic. Other matters could be arranged with the Local Board. Trusting my suggestion may bear fruit, I remain, vours respectfully, J.H. [COPY OF REPLY.] Treasury Chambers, Whitehall, 19th December, 1893. SIR,-I am directed by Sir John Hibbert to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 16th inst., on the widening of the London & North Western Railway at Old Colwyn, and to day that your letter has been sent to the Commissioners of Woods and Forests. I am, sir, your obedient servant, T. L. HEATH.