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Rhondda Leader Maesteg Garw and Ogmore Telegraph

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----Editorial Notes.

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Editorial Notes. Mr. Lloyd George has experienced many Rhondda demonstrations of welcome in the course of his brief but pregnant political career, but we venture to think that none of the past receptions can com- pare with this week's in the genuineness of its welcome and cordiality. It was a right royal welcome. It was so obviously sincere that even the "isilly Suffragettes perceived that it was too dangerous to ply their trade of interjecting Votes for Women in the Rhondda. No atmosphere in Wales is so saturated with affectionate loyalty for Mr. Lloyd George, and the political gipsies were well advised to take Dr. Thomas' paternal advice to desist, unless they wished to experience a form of closure which they would not easily forget. We have a right to expect, too, some discrimination, even from the hire- ling women and the headquarters that dictate their campaigns, in respect to the kind of meetings they think it right to disturb.. This visit of the Chancellor was not in any way associated with his Chan- cellorship or his political position. It was not a political visit, but that of a private member of a 'large and influential deno- mination who had honoured him to its presidential chair, and which he had accepted with the loyalty of good layman- ship. The address was not political, and what was still more remarkable, it was not in English, but in the language of the hearth and home—the language of reli- gious worship in Wales. As President of the Baptist Union of Wales, Noncon- formity in its deep permeating influence upon the character of the people naturally I would form the burden of his speech. In a land where three out of every four members of the religious communities are Free Churchmen, there must be a dominant influence reflecting the funda- mental principles animatinq' such an in- fluence. As Mr. George truly said, the national life was formed, the national character of the people, the country's present and future were forged in the smithy of Nonconformity. There is no doubt that Nonconformity, by its mem- bers and the widespread character of its establishment, has a moulding effect upon the democracy of Wales. In the past it has had the most impressible influence, and its one great bed-rock principle of religious equality has been felt always operating when any form of social equality was under consideration. The culture of the Welsh democracy is certainly in the power of Nonconformity. Everyone who has watched the advancement of Secon- dary and Higher Education in Wales, will recognise the democratic influence of Non- conformists in its promotion, but the children of the democracy which are solely dependent upon the Elementary Schools for what education thev can have, are not, we venture to think, to be equally felicitated; and we are bound to say, and we do it with full responsibility of the criticism we are making, not so generously equipped. Why this? In the higher realms of education the controlling agency, though largely Nonconformist, has also a large ingredient of control from other people who are not enrolled in the Nonconformist circle. We would like the Nonconformist representatives of the Principality who sway the Elemen- tary Schools to compare Mr. Lloyd George's facts and compliments in his lobservations on the Elementary Schools. In the compliment to the Rhondda, Mr. George learnt that the schools were ex- cellent. We have no desire to detract, but we felt that when he remarked, There were many districts of which they could not say this, but taking the places where they had the best elemen- tary education, that the children did not remain long enough in the schools to form their characters, to open up their minds, nor to make true scholars of them. This was one of the great and important mat- ters of the future, not only for Wales, but -for the whole of Great Britain." We wonder whether Mr. George knew when he exhorted thus that the Rhondda chil- dren could leave upon the equipment of a Fifth Standard education, and that this Standard is actually the lowest leaving Standard in Wales. We trust, therefore, that this part of his speech—important and significant as it was—will have imme- diate and practical exnression in the Rhondda, so that the Rhondda children be not handicapped by their leaving the schools, as Mr. George said, "just when their minds began to appreciate educa- tion." What is wanted in Wales is the right spirit infused into the machinery existing in the country. There is strength in the assumption made by Mr. George that the Chapels of Wales are sound educational centres. But though we quite agree that the tradition has wrought wonders in the intelligence of the peasantry, we have our misgivings that that splendid tradition is sustained to-day as in the old days. The Sunday School is losing its grip, and in its working there is too much Laodicean lukewarmness in the air. Institutions like that working at Noddfa must be universalised, and a regenerated enthusiasm of fidelity and loyalty must be revived. The function carried out in Pandy Square on Thursday was one which, we trust, will have many imitations in the Rhondda district. The name of the late Mr. Archibald Hood is one which deserves a fragrant record in the Mid-Rhondda area of the Rhondda. It is a far call to the time when he came to the Valley to begin the great enterprise—world-wide known as the Glamorgan Collieries. About forty years ago, the great industrial insti- tutions at Llwynypia were in a state of infancy, and few people were seen when the first piece of turf was removed which inaugurated the renowned works, which during his days, developed into immense proportions. That the memory, by Statue and Drinking Fountain, of one to whom the locality owes its communal origin does deserve such permanent records, all will agree. The district would be sin- fully negligent if it did not commemorate its history and creation in association with such a character. To us who knew how paramount a. personality the late Mr. Hood was among us, and how human in sympathy and generosity he always was in every attitude of citizenship in his days of supremacy, it is difficult to trans- late these noble qualities to the people of the present days. The relationship if master and men has undergone deep changes since those days. When he came here, there was no organised system of Federation with the men and no Owners' Association among the masters. Differences between Capital and Labour were then locally adjusted, and that was the time to estimate the real spirit of justice in the masterships prevailing. The change that has come over the methods of industrial relationship of master and men has obscured the human element in negotiation of disputes. The individual has been lost in the majority or the minority and business considerations, tactics and strategy have displaced the parental and patriarchal methods of reaching industrial understandings. Mr. Hood was a, splendid type of the primitive method. He was stern but yet tender. Long service, honest and faithful, he always recognised as a benevolent duty. Llwynypia Colliery had its roll of pen- sioners before the Compensation Acts came into play. Indeed, his proprietor- ship was grounded not on Mammon, but on brotherhood. Even when the new methods of Sliding Scale and Conciliation Boards became the adjusters of diffi- culties, he was always found on the tender' side in the crises of settlement. His seeming hardness in' the fight was very thinly coated, and his human quali- ties of mercy, charity and benevolence seldom failed to have the ascendant influence. Another irrefutable proof that as a master he wished to act squarely and fairly, was his great enthusiasm for the

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Police Court, Porth, 30th…

"Leah Kleschna" to visit Tonypandy.

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----Editorial Notes.