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[No title]
Letters on any subject of public interest are cordially invited. The insertion of a letter does not necessarily mean that the Editor agrees with the views ex- pressed therein. Correspondents should write on one side of the paper only, and no letter will be published unless the writer sends his name and address, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of goad faith. --+--
[No title]
In these days of increased wealth, and of a consequent increase of luxury and personal comfort, there is a pressing danger lest we forget the supreme importance of sacrifice, writes the Bishop of Sodor and Man in the Sunday at Home. We cannot but rejoice that the personal corn forts" of life and homo are now more widespread, and that the reasonable enjoyments of existence have been brought well within the reach of all classes, even the very lowest. Equality of opportu- nity is one of the cardinal principles of the social life of the Gospel, and this should em- brace the opportunity of reasonable rest and pleasure as well as of education and other social advantages. But the pendulum may swing too far in the other direction, and it is undoubtedly doing so now in all classes of society. Soft habits of self- in dtilgeii ce. are taking the place of the stern self-discipline and ready alertness to duty, which has made England what it is, and which alone can pre- serve her influence and her empire. And the Church of Christ will fail in its duty to country and to God if it does not proclaim its Gospel of self-sacrifice, and of the blessedness of self-restraint. I heard Archbishop Ben- son tell the following story when preaching the annual sermon of the Church Missionary Society. A Chinaman, who had brought up his family with care and self-denial, giving them the education and the discipline needful for a successful career, was asked how he was able, on very limited means, to accomplish it. The man was not a professing Christian, but his answer revealed genuine knowledge of what goes to make up a true life. Be- cause," he said, I worship the great bright god of self-restraint." And self-restraint, like sympathy, is one of the secrets of sacri- fice
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"The Church in Wales."
"The Church in Wales." To the Editor of the Rhondda Leader." --Sir,-The letter which appeared in your last issue under the above head demands a reply, and I shall thank you if, out of the abundance of your broad-mindedness, you will allow me space for a few obser- vations. I shall not try to prop up any- thing I shall say by means of such epithets as "hypocrites," &c., and by insinuations such as that your correspon- dent is not an honest man, &e. If Mr. S. B. John thinks he can do his cause any good by saying that sort of thing, let him indulge his fancy by all means; I do not think he can do my cause any harm. He must fill his bombs with ex- plosives that are more potent than adjec- tives if he is bent on demolishing the ramparts of the National Church. His observation on what he regards as a contradiction in terms between two tracts that are circulated in the parish of Clvdach Yale reminds me of the worries ox a schoolboy wiieii lie writes out. his first exercise on the predicables and terms. Really, sir, I could have hardly believed that small matters of this kind would have for a moment engaged the thought of one who disposes of the weightier matters of constitutional his tory with such flourishing eclat. Putting these small things aside as being un- worthy of a serious discussion between two full-grown men in the columns of a newspa-er, I proceed to deal with his strictures upon another tract (193). He says: But the Church in the reign of Henry 1. was Roman Catholic. Many other endowments (besides that mentioned in the tract) were given in the Church's Roman Catholic days, obviously to support that form of faith," &c. This statement is the gist of your correspon- dent's argument, and, needless to say, it rests on the assumption that the Anglican Church to-day differs root. and branch from the Church of Henry I.'s time. That is to say, in other words, the writer does not believe in the continuity of the Anglican Church. Let us subject this assumption to analysis. Unity and the continuity of unity are qeitei-ally defined as consisting of five points—the worship of one God, the holding of one faith, the possession of one sacramental system, the looking for the realisation of one hope, i. and the being animated by one Spirit. In respect to these five points the Anglican Church to-dav is one with the other great branches of the Catholic Church, and she is one with herself at aJI periods of her history. Her Creeds are "the same as those of the Roman branch of the Catholic Church, and the same as those of the Eastern branch, with some minor exceptions, such as that of the filioque expression. The English Church is Pro- testant only in the sense that she pro- tests against the errors of Rome and against Papal usurpations within the
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The Incorporation of the Rhondda.
The Incorporation of the Rhondda. To the Editor of the Rhondda Leader." Sir,—Your correspondent, Anti- Humbug," has run the whole gamut of local administration from Small Holdings to Education, and from shop assistants to landowners and proprietors of large concerns. His letter is one long series of generalities, doleful prognostications of what might happen, and assertions that rest on no other foundation than the somewhat shifting compound of hia own befogged brain. To deal with all the amazing state- ments contained in his epistle would demand more space than even such a courtly gentleman as you are would be prepared to place at my disposal, and, therefore, with your permission, I pro- pose mainly to deal with the assertion which he makes with regard to the newly created County Borough of Merthyr Tydvil. (This, by the way, is the only concrete instance with which he tries -to prove his case, and in this he has been singularly unfortunate, as I shall prove hereafter). He says: The limited administrative powers which your correspondents com- plain of is a real blessing in disguise. It is a blessing whose loss the ratepayers of Merthyr already deeply grieve. The rate- payers of that Borough would be only too pleased to return the control of the police to the County Council. Already the ratepayers of Merthyr have to main- tain thirty-five polict pensioners. The County police buildings, and the County educational buildings, when final arrange- ments of purchase have been completed, will add to the Merthyr ratepayers' burden an enormous amount of expenditure. The Merthyr Housing Scheme has also proved a complete failure, and the ratepayers are penalised accordingly." To arrive at the truth, I wrote to Mr. F. Sidney Simons, solicitor, Merthyr, who was so largely instrumental in obtaining the Charter for that town, and who may well be expected to know something of the supposed disadvantages consequent upon Incorporation. Through Mr. Simons' courtesy I am able to produce his letter in reply. He states The statements that Anti-Humbug makes in his letter are absolutely with- out foundation. So far as the police are concerned, we now have 15 more men than we did under the County, and the annual pay- ment that we have to make on Police Account is less than it used to be, and we have not a single police pensioner. Since we took over the police, we have lost one sergeant, and we made a grant of £100 to his widow, which was supple- mented by a grant from the police them- selves of a like figure. The Force got up an assault-at-arms in aid of the widow, which realised a large sum and enabled them to make such a handsome payment. fi Our pension fund at present in round figures stands at E900 in credit, and, as I have already told you, there are no liabilities at present thereon. The County police buildings in Mer- thyr have been rented by the Corporation for L240 a year, and the Corporation re- ceives a similar sum from the Stipendiary Funds Account for allowing the County Justices and the Stipendiary to make use of the Town Hall, so that the effect of the arrangement is that each party cries quits.' We have no County educational buildings in Merthyr with the exception of the Intermediate School, of which we get complete control in April next under the Merthyr Intermediate Education Scheme, and for which we do not have to pay the County. So far as the Housing Scheme is con- cerned, I do not quite see what this has got to do with Incorporation, but the actual figures for last year shew a, balance to revenue on the Twynyrodyn houses of JE38 13s. 3d., a balance of L7 6s. 3d. on the Penywern houses, and a loss on the Penydarren houses of £27 6s. 6d., after paying jE77 10s. for painting and jE27 for alteration of staircases. &c. The figures I give you are ascertained balances after having paid all outgoings, interest on loans, and capital redemption." Further comment on my part is super- fluous. When Anti-Humbug fails with a concrete case, I have not much patience to follow him into the shadowy realms of his own vacuous fantasies.—Yours &c., CORPORUS.
[No title]
To the Editor of the "Rhondda Leader." Sir,—The enthusiasm of the Mid- Rhondda CbamJjer of Trade in regard to the above matter is very remarkable. Another meeting under its auspices was held last Wednesday evening, which was reported very fully in your issue of the 6th inst. Two speeches were delivered by Councillors Tom Evans and R. S. 6th inst. Two speeches were delivered by Councillors Tom Evans and R. S. Griffiths, and it would be very ungrateful on my part as a citizen of the Rhondda to allow an opportunity to go by without thanking the latter gentleman for his very able and elevating speech. It was a fair-minded exposition of pros and cons of this complicated question. Although I am convinced that the disadvantages of a Charter in its relation to the Rhondda far outweighs its supposed benefits, yet I feel that such a speech is of educa- tional value, and it also proves that all our. representatives are not of the type who rush "Where angels fear to tread." With all the merits of such a speech, Councillor Griffiths' account of the amount naid to the County Council re- quires further enquiry. This is the fourth account of the amount paid, and neither is consistent with the other. Being, how- ever, that this contribution is a very im- portant argument in favour of a Charter by each of the speakers, I should be pleased to know if any member of the Rhondda Council really knows the true amount of the sum paid over annually to the County Treasurer. At the meeting held at Richards' Hall on October 20th, the following accounts were given by Councillor J. D. Williams: —Yearly contribution of the Rhondda Council to the County Treasury, £ 19,882 received towards rates and roads, £ 9,882. Councillor Tom Evans' accounts were:- Rhondda contribution to the County, £ 40,000 received in return from County, £ 8,000. At last Wednesday's meeting, Coun- cillor Tom Evans made an amended state- ment of accounts, as follows:-Annual contribution to the Council, £ 22,000; received towards roads, health, and edu- cation, £ 3,756. At the same meeting, Councillor Rhys Griffiths said that Rhon- dda contributed for the past half-year ending September last as follows:-The sum contributed to County last half- year, £14,600; received for roads and salaries, £ 3,000, The Guardians re- ceived during the same half-year £ 7,000. There is no doubt that the Rhondda Council makes a half-yearly contribution to the County Fund, but how much is a mystery, Councillor Tom Evans very graciously amended his former account by a reduction amounting to £ 18,000, and that very unblushindv, too. He seems to be a very dexterous manipulator of figures. ±ie appeared to be so extra- ordinarily clever that he even convinced his audience that fl five times one is five," and he felt so convinced of the fact that it was beyond dispute to him that five times one was the exact amount which the Rhondda Council contributed to the County Council. No wonder he so un- wittingly admitted that everyone who supported Incorporation was a "Humbug." It is intolerable that such would-be financiers and administrators should take upon themselves the task of solving muni- cipal problems which should be left to those better adapted for such duties. The Rhondda ratepayers would do well to ask Councillor Griffiths to publish a cheap pamphlet on The Advantages and Dis- advantages of Incorporation." In conclusion, may I ask those who support the obtaining of a, Charter whether they know, firstly, the exact number of police officers of all grades, the number of County police buildings, the number of County educational insti- tutions. the number of the teaching staff, the number of County Isolated and other hospitals, and the estimated cost of the annual maintenance of all such County properties and their officials within the Rhondda Council area; and secondly, whether, if the Rhondda were incor- porated, they can give an estimate of the additional cost of the maintenance of paupers and lunatics to be provided for, and the new buildings which would be necessary to provide for them within the proposed Borough? It would also be interesting to know the number of police and other official pensioners that would become a burden upon the Rhondda rate- payers when incorporated. It would also be interesting to obtain an estimate of the amount of corruption which would accrue through the proposed salary of the Mayor of the Rhondda? What a lot we are compelled to listen to of the higher status" which a Charter would confer, from the lips of professors of faithfulness to the working class. It may mean their millennium. Every smoker" at the Pig and Whistle Hotel" will be pre- sided over by the Mayor of the Rhondda. He will be in general demand in clubdom, chapel and church tea parties, at dancing parties and skating rinks. From the point of view of these professors'' a Charter is worth fighting for, because their ambitions are boundless. The thou- sands of working men who own their own homesteads in the Rhondda, earned by hard and diligent toil, might well arouse themselves in time, or they will be over- burdened by extravagant expenditure of proud agitators who clamour for every high chair in every public place. They call it "status."—Yours, &c., ANTI-HUMBUG.
The Pentre and District iTrades…
The Pentre and District Trades and Labour Council and 'Your Humble Servant.' To the Editor of the Rhondda Leader." Sir,—There is an old saying that, wher- ever mud is thrown, some is sure to stick. During the last few days an attempt has been made to smudge my character as a Labour representative. and irhe reckless- ness of the treatment meted out to me is such that my best friends may find a difficulty in recognising my besmirched appearance. I can stand a fair amount of criticism, but it is hateful to me when the magic word principle is used to "obscure the issue." I would have thought that the ferocious attack made by Mr. T. C. Morris at the meeting of the Trades and Labour Coun- cil would suffice to convince anyone that I am the most unscrupulous person that ever held a public position, for he tried to move heaven and earth to abase me; yet that did not satisfy him, for he again resumed his attack "in two weekly papers. No! sir—that did not satisfy his greed for notoriety and self-advertisement, so determined was he to attain hie revenge
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"The Church in Wales."
realm of England; she is not Protestant in the sense that she denies the Catholicity of the Western and Eastern Churches. She accepts, e.g., the validity of Roman Catholic Orders. It is true that the Roman Church does not accept the validity of Anglican Orders, but all her arguments against the validity of our Orders are now acknowledged to have broken down, and there is nothing said by recent Roman Catholic writers on the matter. In every service of the Church, the Anglican is taught to say: "I believe in the Holy Catholic Church." If as to the essential doctrines of the Catholic Faith. I believe exactly the same as the Anglican of Henry 1/e reign, then I am a member of the same Church _as he was. The denial of the continuity of the! Anglican Church is due to ignorance of history, and there is not a single historian of repute who holds to it. Perhaps your correspondent will be interested to hear what the late Mr. Gladstone, in The State in its Relations with the Church," has to say on the subject. He says: "I can find no trace of that opinion which is now common in the mouths of un- thinking persons, that the Roman Catholic Church was abolished in England at the period of the Reformation, and that a Protestant Church was put in its place nor does there appear to have been so much as a doubt in the mind of any one (of the Reformers), whether the Church legally established in England after the Reformation was the same institution with the Church legally established before the Reformation," &c. And this is exactly the view held, as I said before, by all historians of note. When, then, your correspondent says in effect that the Church of to-day is a totally different institution from that of Henry I.'s reien, he is flying in the teeth of history. But such people as he do not care a jot about history, except such as is of their own making. If it suited their ends they would just as soon say the pre-Reformation Church was a Mohammedan institution as say that it was Roman Catholic. It was somebody of his class that spread the yarn about the parish of Clydach. Vale the other day that we are in receipt of State aid, and that the parson needed but to touch an electrical button when down would come the cash for any pur- pose he might require. But this is by the way. Now, sir, the matter stands thus the Church after the Reformation is that known as the species Anglican the Church before the Reformation was also of the species "Anglican," that is to ils say, it is absolutely as to all. its essentials the same Church; ergo, tithes and other endowments given to that Church at any time of its history belong to the same Church for all time. If, sir, your correspondent has suc- ceeded in these evil days in retaining the powers of clear vision, I would recom- mend him to start in earnest with a course of historical studies; let him then scan the clearer heights of constitutional, political, and ecclesiastical history. There is ample material to be had—if not exactly within his reach, yet without a great deal of trouble. Let him, above all, ignore no longer the vast store of original documents illustrative of Church history. I take it that he is not above accepting a bit of advice from me, since he appears to be so faithful a reader of my parish magazine! But I will admitj for the sake of argu- ment, that the Church of to-day is not the Church of Henry I.'s time, and that the formularies of the faith of to-day are not those of yesterday, even then, would the State be justified in despoiling the Church of her property? Not at all, any more than it would be justified in rob- bing Nonconformists of their endowments because they have violated their trust deeds. There is such a thing as develop- ment of doctrine, and a very legitimate form of development it is, too, provided it be on the lines marked out by the general process of evolution in the world of thought. What I mean is this: our Creeds must remain the same, but our interpretation of them must expand with the centuries. The tree receives nourish- ment from its environment when a sap- ling; it receives the same sort of nourish- ment from the same source when a full- grown tree. We had our endowments at an early stage of our Church's history, and they helped sustain our life then; we have them to-day, and they go to support the same organism very much I developed. Speaking personally, I would be the last man to tie our Nonconformist I brethren down to their trust deeds, with their antiquated statements of doctrine, and their fossilised hyper-Calvinism. I I have transcriptions of about a dozen Bap- tist trust deeds, copied by myself, now before me, and I dare risk my neck on it, there is not one of them but that has been broken and trampled upon every Sabbath Day for the last forty years or more. And yet, no one talks of filching away the endowments of the particular Chapels which these deeds concern, on the ground that they no longer have the same faith taught in them. The con- sistency of our opponents, like their con- science, is very elastic. It is like the tent we read of in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, big enough to cover an army when required, ana small enough to go into one's waistcoat pocket when it suits the occasion. By the way, does Mr. John know that there are some hundreds of endowed Dissenting Chapels, some scores of which are in Wales? And does he know that there are some Dissenting Chapels actually in receipt of tithes? If he wants to have a list of them, will he be good enough to continue to read my parish magazine, where he will have some interesting par- ticulars respecting them from time to time? And if he should chance to have anything to say on the matter, he is per- fectly welcome to contribute to our correspondence page; only he must prac- tise good manners first, and like a little boy at school learn to play his game without getting into a "wax."—I am, &c., W. MEREDITH MORRIS. Clydach Vale, Nov. 8th, 1909.
The Pentre and District iTrades…
because I had dared to answer a few questions submitted to me by your reporter a few weeks ago in what he terms a remarkable interview." I'm not at all surprised that he exhausted the allotted space in your paper, and that he had to seek pastures new in another paper; but he has failed to prove that my actions have been either, to hood- wink Ir mislead my supporters, or a candid admission of my ignorance of the significance and aims of the Labour move- ment." Perhaps it would be but fair on my part to state here that Mr. Morris told me personally on leaving the meet- ing that he would not appeal further to the Press, yet for some reason or other he soon forgot this resolution, with the result- that a letter written by him ap- peared in the Rhondda Leader for that same week, and also the following week, in the Free Press," there ap- peared a lengthy epistle from his pen. In his letter to the Leader he states as follows —" I only want to point out thal. 1 must question ttie bona fide oj Mr Jones' first candidature a8 Labour representative, and also the invitation to join the Trades Council. I desire to point out that it was upon my proposition, &c., the invitation was extended." (The italics are mine). Now, we will examine the accuracy of the two statements con- tained in the italicised part of the above quotation. Firstly, until the advent of this second Daniel no one questioned or disputed my claim to represent Labour in No. 3 Ward during the last ten years. With regard to the invitation, I am able to prove that my sympathy with the cause was in harmony with the aims and objects of the newly formed Trades and Labour Council, and that I was invited to join without being subjected to any form of catechism as to my views on Labour questions. But, to-day, Mr. T. C. Morris—the newly appeared nrophet- has found out that I am altogether out of joint." A present member of the Trades and Labour Council told me, before I joined, that I ought to be paid for my services and loss of Avork, and that he would do his best to seek membership for me. In this he succeeded; but by to-day the doctrine instilled into his constitu- tion by his political tutor has so changed his views that he has become one of my chief opponents. I beg to submit a copy, of the invitation which, I presume, is a "correct record" of the proposition carried at a meet- ing of the Trades and Labour Council; Pentre and District Trades and Labour Council. 44, Penrhys Road Ystrad-Rhondda, Aug. 24th, 1908. Dear Sir,—The above Council, at its last sitting, unanimously decided to invite you to become a member of it, which invitation I sincerely hope you will accept. You have been very closely connected with Labour in the past, and I believe you have to-day the interest of the sons of toil at heart.—James James. Again, in the report and balance sheet for the year 1908, the following appro- priate remarks were adopted —" The two Wards are represented as follows: —Two County Councillors, six District Coun- cillors, and four Guardians. Out of the 12 seats available, only one is occupied by a direct Labour member, viz., Coun- cillor Edward Jones, J.P." I believe it will be granted that the above fully prove (!) my good faith as a Labour representative, and (2) that I was invited to join the Trades Council. The reader will kindly notice the date of the invitation and that the report alluded to was for the year 1908—a year ago. In spite of the above facts, some of the Labour members would rather traduce me than fight for other seats in the cause of Labour. I was told at the time of join- ing that my particular political views would have to give way to the claims of Labour, but I never understood that my individuality would cease to exist. It is well known that the Trades Coun- cil is domineered by a particular section (who favour a particular economic theory), of which Mr. T. O. Morris is a prominent member and if I were to sacrifice my convictions and be submissive to his dic- tates, I would be very differently treated by him undoubtedly. In fact, my offence (an action determined on before the formation of the Trades and Labour Council) would soon be forgotten and for- given should I humbly apologise to Mr. T. C. Morris for my indiscreet action," and give my word of onour that, at the forthcoming elections, I would speak on the Labour platform only, irrespective of the merits or demerits of other worthy candidates who happen to lack the special uniform of a particular set of people." Mr. T. C1. Morris has very kindly referred to me as their paid represen- tative." It is quite true, and although very thankful for small mercies, I am not prepared to sacrifice my convictions, liberty, and principles for a few pieces of silver. I would rather sever my con- nection with the Labour Council than be tyrannised or terrorised by a few ex- tremists. Nevertheless, I shall serve the Labour cause-in the future as I have endeavoured to do in the past-to the best of my ability, not forgetting Y graig o ba un y'm naddwyd, A'r ffos o ba un y'm cloddiwyd." Ton. EDWARD JONES. P.S.-It will be noticed that the majo- rity of the Trades Council, at the meet- ing held on the 8th inst., approved of my action.—E.J.