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**'""*'*"1904. REGISTRATION…

-Kil YL RECORI)&.ID VERTISER

SHALL SUCCEED MR. SAMUEL SMITH?

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SHALL SUCCEED MR. SAMUEL SMITH? AT a meeting of the Flintshire County Liberal Association on Saturday, a letter was read from Mr. SAMUEL SMITH intima- ting his intention not to seek re-election. 'Vhen we. announced some time ago that Mr. SMITH had definitely decided not to When we. announced some time ago that apain contest the County, there was a stupid attempt made to discredit it, and the intervention of one of the party agents was invoked in order to invest the contradiction with a sort of official authority. That Mr. SMITH'S intentions were well known to the leaders and officials of the Party is evident from the following phrase contained in the letter read at Saturday's meeting: "I think the time has come when I ought to write you definitely about my position. I have delayed thus far at the earnest request of my Constituents who wished to avoid a bve-election." It will be remembered that the announcement we made was that Mr. SMITH had decided not to seek re-election, and that it was only at the earnest request of some of the leaders of the Party that he had not sent in his immediate resignation. Mr. SMITH now amply confirms what we stated, and we have a right to protest against the action of leaders and officials of the Party in attempting to misiead the Constituency when they knew perfectly well the exact position of matters. So much in justification of ourselves. Before discussing the question of a successor we should like to join heartily in the pcen of praise which Mr. SMITH'S valuable and faithful services called forth at the meeting on Saturday, and also to express our sincere regret that a connection that has existed so long, so happily, and so profitably, is about to be severed. Flintshire has been highly privi- leged in being served by a representative of the high moral and intellectual qualities of Mr. SMITH. Politics in this County nave assumed a loftier and more elevated tone since he became our representative the asperities of party differences have been lessened, and the conception of politics has been broadened and deepened. Mr. SMITH has enforced the truism that politics is the science by which a country is governed for the well being and happiness of every being in it, and not merely a party machine for disestablishing the Church, or for effecting .tn some great revolutionary and organic change. If Parliament contained more men of the calibre of Mr. SMITH there would be less injustice and oppression abroad, and less poverty, squallor and vice at home. It has been Flintshire's proud privilege to return to Parliament a man of intense human sympathies, whose life aim has been to improve our social and moral conditions, and who has been enabled to accomplish much valuable work in this direction by the force of his own spotless character, no less than by the vigour of his intellect, and the experience borne of the close study which he has made of the social and political evils which are at the root of the misery and degradation that unfortun- ately exist in this country. Although Mr. SMITH will shortly cease to represent us, we trust the sweetening and enobling influences of his teachings and high ideals have so thoroughly permeated his Constituents as to have a permanent and abiding effect. He carries with him into his retirement the grateful thanks of those whom he has served so well, and their sincere wishes that he may so recover his health as to derive from the remainder of his days that measure of quietude, repose and content- ment, which are the rewards of a well spent and noble life. We part with him with regret, but with the conviction that his name will ever be revered and honoured in Flintshire. It is a difficult task that is set the leaders of the Party to choose a successor to Mr. SMITH, and one that must be proceeded with, with great circumspection and care. We confess that we are not impressed with the way that things have commenced. It was, in our opinion, a tactical mistake to introduce the name of Mr. HERBERT LEWIS in the way that it was on Saturday. It was not fair to him, nor to the Party generally. No man stands higher in the estimation of the Party than Mr. HERBERT Lewis, and there is no one who is entitled to more grateful recognition for sterling services than he. But we fail to see any sufficient reason why he should be removed from what to him is a safe seat in the Borough to undertake the more arduous task of fighting the County. We know that to represent the County involves three times the expense that is involved in re- presenting the Boroughs, and Mr. HERBERT LEWIS frankly told the delegates that he is not in a position to spend on an election or on registration any more than he spends at present in the Boroughs. It is all very well for enthusiasts to promise that they will make up the difference. Our experience of Flintshire Liberalism is not such as to make us sanguine that it will survive an appeal to the pocket. If we were really convinced that the difference in the cost I would be made up we would strongly advocate the proposed exchange, if it is the desire of Mr. HERBERT LEWIS that it should take place for we recognize that his wishes ought to be respected, and that the great work he has done entitles him to any hon- our which Flintshire Liberals can bestow upon him. But, to be straight, we are far from being convinced that that is possible, and it would be placing Mr. HERBERT LEWIS in an absolutely false pcsition if he were induced to take the candidature on the promise that the conditions which he has laid down will be fulfilled. Moreover, it is the general experience that where an election is a strain on the party funds, the Tories, with the greater wealth they have at their command, never hesitate to contest the seat however hopeless their chances of winning it. With regard to the threat of the intervention of a Labour Candidate we cannot accept it as serious, and must strongly deprecate the frequent reference made to the possibility of such an event, as being an incentive to outside interference. We sympathise with the claims of labour, and the Labour leaders, on the whole, exercise a wise discrimination in selecting Constituencies where the industrial element is predominant. It can scarcely be said that Flintshire is a constituency of that description, and even though a Labour Candidate had the support of the Liberal Association it is extremely doubtful whether he would carry the seat. But the strongest objection, in our opinion, to the exchange is that it may loose the Party the representa- -ion of the Boroughs. We have had letters from several leading Borough voteis who say that they are extremely doubtful if they can retain the seat with any can- didate other than Mr. HERBERT LEWIS. It is argued that the Borough seat is safer than the County, because the last figures showed a majority of ten per cent. on the polling strength, whereas the County only showed a majority of six per cent. But it is our opinion that the ten per cent. majority in the Boroughs is to be attributed to the strong personality and the popularity jf Mr. HERBERT LEWIS rather than to the strength of the Party, and that with any other candidate the majority would be reduced to vanishing point. The pre- cipitancy with which Mr. LEwrs' name has been thrust forward is a matter that is to be very much regretted, especially as the gentlemen who are responsible for it represent only very small polling districts. and are more directly concerned in the representation of the Boroughs than the County. Had it been that there was any difficulty in securing a Candidate the course suggested might have been a desirable though still a hazardous one. But there are no dearth of Candidates. There are at least two gentlemen in the County who are prepared to accept the Candidature, whilst there are a number of influential Liberals outside the Constituency who would readily accept an invitation if extended to them. We hope the different polling districts will weigh well the whole of the considerations. Mr. HERBERT LEWIS is entitled to have his wishes considered with the utmost defer- ence, but the question must be viewed from the standpoint of what is wisest and best in the interests of the Party as a whole. TOWN AXI) COUNTRY KOTES. The Liverpool Welsh Nonconformists, in a manifesto which they have issued, declare their refusal to pay the education rate, because creeds and confessions contrary to truth "are taught i: the schools, and further, because the children are taught that their parents are heretics and enemies to the Church of Christ. The second is an excellent reason. There may be few schools in which this teaching is given, but it is infamous that parents should be made to support a system under which such teaching is possible When, however, the Liver- pool Nonconformists take npon themselves to declare that the creeds and confessions are contrary to truth they are doing very much the same thing which they condemn in others. If Dissenters characterise the creeds of another Church as untruthful. they cannot complain if the Church calls them heretics though they may justly complain that the State backs up the slander. Parliament rose, after an arduous session, on Friday. The North Wales Members intend to have a vigorous campaign against the Education Act during the recess. They will also have to pay some regard to the preparation for the next election. A good proportion of the Welsh constituencies are already provided with candidates on both sides, aud though the campaign will no- where be formally opened yet, the "nursing 1 of the constituencies is already beginning, and will be continued with increasing industry as the general election gets nearer. In North Wales the most important cam paign will be that of Mr. Lloyd-George, which begins next month. He will speak at Bangor, Carnarvon, and other centres in the constituency, and it is expected that Sir Edward Grey, will accompany him at one, if not more, of these meetings. On Fri- day Mr. Naylor, the candidate selecled to oppose him, addressed a meeting of Con- servatives at Bangor. He declared that he was going to fight the constituency not as a party man but as a patiiot. The rally of Unionist Free Traders in defence of the existing Fiscal system is proceeding apace. Not only, as the Spectator claimed some weeks ago, is all the wit of the party against Mr. Chamber- lain the bulk of the leading commercial men are in the same galley. Mr. Baird, the head of the great Lanarkshire iron firm, has taken his stand, and with him the most influential firms in Glasgow and Mr. T. Hugh Bell, who with his father, Sir Low- thian Bell, speaks for the industrial interests of Teeside, has separated himself from Mr. Chamberlain. Even in Birmingham, too, the reactionary movement is throwing into the anti-Chamberlain party the more re- sponsible men When we are told that the glass industry is ruined by Free Trade it is only necessary to point to the action of Sir William Chance who knows more about that trade than the combined staff of pamphleteers under Mr C. A. Vince. The Glasgow bakers have just resolved to increase the price of a quartern loaf by a halfpenny. Of course no Free Trader would argue that there was any connection between this fact and Mr Chamberlain's proposals. But when the price of bread remained unchanged after the removal of the Corn Tax last April Protectionists called upon a wondering world to observe the fact. 'As the action of the Glasgow bakers shews, there is an actual shortage of grain, the prices have moved in sympathy. The case is worth studing closely, be- cause it contains a good illustration of a fact often overlooked by Protectionists. Whei the Corn Tax was imposed the price of bread rose immediately, because the margin of profit in the baking trade at that moment was so narrow that the duty made all the difference between profit and loss, and compelled the bakers to pass on the burden without delay. In the Glasgow case it is evident that had the Corn Tax besn in existance it would have precipitated the action of the bakers a week or two earlier. OOO CLAREMONT HYDRO NOTES. Another busv week at this establishment, visitors having: to be refused accommodation every day. Another Whist Drive took place, on Monday evening, the winners proving to be Mrs. Holds- worth, Mrs. Steeds and Mr. Richardson and Mr. Adams. lennis and Bowls are being played on every occasion when the weather permits, and the Crouquet rornament is still in progress, the semi-finalists being Mr. Ashley Norris and Mrs. I nmer, and Mr. Richardson and Miss Adams. Impromptu concerts have been held each evening, there being no scarcity of excellent talent among the visitors. 0§0 RHUDDLAN. FOOTBALL.—On Saturday evening a meeting of the Rhuddlan Football Club was held at the Black Hotel for the purpose of making the necessary arrangements for the forthcoming season. The meeting was a representative one, and all present appeared to be anxious to have a thorough good club formed. It was unanimously resolved to en- ter for the Welsh Junior Cup and North Wales Junior Cup The selection of a secretary and the question of entering for the second division of the North Wales Coast League was deferred to the next meeting, which is to be held next Saturday evening at 7-30. It is to be hoped that the committee will see their way clear to enter for the league, and if they do, I am confident they will make a good fight. There are not a few good lads in Rhuddlan, and a goalkeeper second to none in this district. It is surprising he has not been approached by some of the Combination clubs, but I suppose his quiet and unassuming disposition coupled with the fact that he played for Rhuddlan" has not been to his advantage. NEWMARKET. A TOWN HALL FOR NEWMARKET.— Thanks to the suggestion of Mr. M. A. Ralli, while speaking as one of the presid- ents of the recent Eisteddfod held at New- market, the inhabitants have embarked upon the project of building a Town Hall in which to hold their annual Eisteddfod. Already two public meetings have been held, and several influential gentlemen have appointed to assist the eisteddfod committee in making arrangements for the erection of this much desired hall. Mr. Ralli has promised a handsome sum to" wards the erection, and it is expected that the land will be given by an individual who takes the deepest interest in the welfare of Newmarket. A committee was held on Wednesday when a vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Ralli for his generous offer. We wish the committee every success in the undertaking.

CHURCH MUSIC.—No. 2.

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