Rhondda Leader Maesteg Garw and Ogmore Telegraph

Pontypridd and Rhondda Water Board. Breezy Meeting at Pontypridd. Mr. R. S. Griffiths' Protest. Quits Meeting Despite Appeals to Stay. A meeting of the Pontypridd and Rhondda Joint Water Board was held at the Council Chamber, Pontypridd, on Wednesday, Alderman W. H. Mathias, J.P., the chairman of the Board, pre- siding. The Rhondda Council was repre- sented (in addition to the chairman) by Councillors Ben Davies, W. H. Morgan, R. S. Griffiths, J.P., J. D. Williams., J.P., Dd. Smith, and H. E. Maltby; Pontypridd's representatives were Coun- cillors Danl. Arnott, Arthur Seaton, Hopkin Morgan, and T. Taylor. The Clerk (Mr. W. P. Nicholas) was also in attendance. The Clerk reported the receipt of a letter, enclosing a resolution" passed at the last meeting of the Pontypridd Dis- trict Council, expressing their dis- approval of an appointment being made without the matter having been pre- viously put on the agenda. Mr. R. S. Griffiths said the resolution was a very harmless piece of literature, and he quite endorsed what had been said —or reported to have been said-by one of the members of the Board itself at the meeting, that it was far too milky in kind and character. If there was need of such a resolution at all, it ought to be couched in much stronger language. The object of putting a matter on an agenda was to give a member of that body an opportunity to take Dart in the discussion. In the interests of the public, he thought that the simple facts should be made known. All the members of the Board were present at the first meeting, and after a very long discussion as to what should be done with a view of pro- ceeding with the Board's business, it was moved that the Clerk of the Board should be a member of a certain profession, and an amendment that the Clerk should be selected from another profession was lost. Another motion was moved that the per- son decided upon should devote his whole time to the duties, but that motion was again defeated, and Mr. Nicholas was moved as Clerk of the Board. No one moved an amendment, and there was no counter proposal at all. Councillor Arnott: Excuse me, Mr. Griffiths, I cannot accept that statement. You have not read your minutes. Mr. Griffiths: There was absolutely no amendment. I have already said that it was S'aggesJ/eu at one period that the matter should be deferred The Press were excluded entirely out of deference to the feelings of the Pontypridd mem- bers I felt very strongly that they should be present. Mr. Arnott said that if Mr. Griffiths was going to continue in that strain, he (Mr. Arnott) would be bound to reply. The Chairman: It would be better to leave it alone. Mr. Griffiths: If you say so, I don't want to persist. Mr. Arnott; We don't want to pursue the matter further; we have made our protest. Mr. J. D. Williams said he was of the same opinion as the Chairman it would be far better in the interest of the Board to let the matter drop. Mr. Griffiths: I am -,of a different opinion, but I will abide by the Chair- man's ruling. Here is the beginning of a kind of discussion that we must put an end to to-day. Mr. J. D. Williams: No gootl purpose can be served by going into this matter in any detailed manner. In the interests of the Board, it would be better to let everything drop. The Chairman: We want to work in harmony together. Mr. Griffiths: We will never work in harmony together in this way, sir. It is due to the dignity and status of the Board, and to the Clerk, that the public should have some explanation of the attitude taken up and the business done at the last meeting of the Board. It is I a direct insult to the Board, and espe- cially to the Clerk, and I protest against letting the matter drop as you suggest. The Chairman said they were all satis- fied as to what had been done. There was nothing irregular in it. Mr. Griffiths: We have been charged with not discussing this matter, and that we have blundered and proceeded on un- business-like lines. Mr. Arnott: If you are going on to discuss this matter, I am bound to reply. It is not fair for you to go on talking, and for us not to say anything. Mr. Griffiths: The Chairman will be puite willing for you to speak upon it. The resolution itself is a very slender thread to hang on strong language in the form of speeches which were far too strong. The Chairman (to Mr. Griffiths): You have expressed yourself, and 1-move that the matter be dropped. Mr. J. D. Williams seconded, and the motion was agreed to. Mr. Griffiths said he would withdraw from the meeting in face of that resolu- tion. He felt the position very strongly. The Chairman: No, no; don't do that. Mr. Griffiths: I have made up my mind I shall not stay. I am not going to sever my connection with the Board, but from this meeting I will retire. Mr. Griffiths then left the room despite the Chairman's appeal to him to stay as a personal favour. The Board, then went on to consider the business on the agenda.

Tonypandy Difficulty Solved.. For many years Tonypandy has had to face a serious difficulty. Whilst evidence was always plentiful, it was aifficult to confirm because it was always the evidence of strangers in distant towns. But now there is an abundance of local evidence, for Tonypandy cases are reported in our columns week after week. Mrs. Mary Miles, of 32, Eleanor St., Tonypandy, says:—"Some months ago began to complain of pains in my back, and there were swellings in my feet. At times my back was very painful, and I was unable to do much stooping. I used Doan's Backache Kidney Pi'lSi and one box of them did me so much good that I got a second one, which quite cured me. The pills also sent away the dizzy attacks I used to get. I have no occasion to use Doan's Pills now, but I shall always speak well of them, for I have found them to be a reliable remedy for kidney trouble. (Signed) Mary Miles." Doan's Backache Kidney Pills are two shillings and ninepemce per box, or six boxes for thirteen shillings and ninepence. Of all chemists and stores, or post free direct from the Foster-McClellan Co., 8, Wells Street, Oxford Street, London, W. Be sure you get the (same kind of pills as Mrs. Miles had. 4905s

Brighter Outlook in the Rhondda. Cambrian Workmen Will Fight to a Finish. The industrial outlook in the Rhondda is far brighter this week than it was a week ago. Work has been resumeda,t Abergorchy, Mardy, anSt other collieries where the workmen abstained ijrom work as a protest against the employment of non-Unionists. The workmen at Fern- dale and Tylorstown also resumed work on Monday, the enginemen and stokers having agreed to go in pending a settle- ment of their grievance. The situation at the Cilely Atlantic Collieries, Tonyr- efail, where the men have taken a stand on the non-Unionist question, remains the same. Throughout the latter part of last week, numerous processions bearing white shirts paraded the streets of Upper Rhondda. The workmen of the Bod- ringallt Colliery, Ystrad (Messrs. D. Davis and Sons, Ltd.), held a monstre procession on Monday, and resumed work on the following day, their efforts in inducing the defaulters to toe the line having proved successful. No settlement has yet fteen arrived at in regard to the dispute at the Ely Col- liery, Penygraig, and at the meeting of the Rhondda miners on Tuesday, the Cambrian representatives expressed their determination to fight the. issue to a finish.

Settlement at Ocean Collieries, The trafficmen's dispute, at the Ocean Collieries has been settled, as the result of an interview between Mr. Wm. Jenkins, Ystradfecha.n (managing .director), and Mabon, M.P., Mr. John Williams, M.P., and other miners' leaders. Reporting to a mass meeting of the workmen, Mr. Watts Morgan said that three-fourths of the men's demands had been conceded, and he strongly advised them to accept the- terms offered. This was eventually agreed to, and the men at the Dare and Park Pits resumed work last evening. At the Maindy and Eastern Pits, a difficulty presented itself some- what unexpectedly, it being found that there were still a few non-Unionists, and it was decided not to resume work until these had been brought into line.

Early Settlement of Elyj,Trouble Probable. At a meeting on Wednesday between the Naval Workmen's Committee (who were accompanied by Mr. Watts Morgan) and r. LwwGlyil, general manager of the Cambrian Combine, the latter made an offer to include the cut- ting price per ton of the coal in the seam in dispute at the Ely Pit and five items of dead work which are generally per- formed by colliers in stalls and headings, the other items of labour not included in the price named to be paid for in accord- ance with the schedule of rates now in operation at the 5ft. seam at the Ely Pit. The terms of the offer made by the management will be submitted to the men at a mass meeting to be held to-day (Thursday), and the men's committee will again meet Mr. Llewelyn on Saturday. There is every hope of an early settlement of the difficulty. Work was resumed at the Glamorgan Colliery, Gilfach Goch, where the men have been out on the non-Unionist ques- tion since the end af September.

Carnival at Tonypandy. A select fancy and evening dress carnival was held at the Pavilion Rink, Tonypandy, on Thursday evening last, and, as anticipated, proved to be very successful. There was a fine display of costumes, conspicuous amongst these being Dr. Price, Garrick, and Carmen. The utmost ingenuity was displayed in both the costumes and make-ups. Soldiers and sailors skated side by side with fairies, whilst clowns and jesters whirled in and out, and round and round, accom- panied by ladies of all nationalities. The judges Tvere: -Mrs. Davies, Miss Organ, Miss Williams, Messrs. Pearson, Gitto, and Davies. The following were the prize- winners Best fancy costume, lady.—Miss Love, Tonypandy (Carmen). v Best original costume, lady.—Miss Queenie Owen, Porth (Coster). Best national costume, lady..—Mrs. W. Pearson, Tonypandy (Irish Colleen); con. solation, Miss Hilda Goacher, Trealaw (Grecian Lady). Best fancy costume, gent.—Mr. Geo. Thomas, Post Office, Tonypandy (David Garrick). Best original costume, gent.—Mr. Jen- kin Williams, Porth (Dr. Price). Best comical costume, I gent.—Mr. Edwin Jenkins. Tonypandy (Deaf and Dumb). Best national costume, gent.—Mr. Ted Thorne, Trealaw (Roman Warrior). Best juvenile costume, girl.—Miss Olwen Thomas, Tonypandy (School Girl). Best juvenile costume, boy.—Master Walter Humphreys, Penygraig (Collier Boy). Best graceful skater, lady.—Miss May Banfield, Pontypridd. Best graceful skater, gent.-Mr. Oliver Bryant. Trealaw. Mr. D. 0. Jones, the recent winner of several' graceful skating events, was skating in this event, but was not competing. Best waltzing couple.—Miss Ada Thomas and Mr. James Morgan, Mountain Ash. Best two-stepping couple.—Miss Olwen Thomas and Mr. Geo. Thomas, Tony- pandy. Ladies' hoop race.—Miss Sharpe, Ponty- pridd. Gents' candle race.—Mr. Piper, Tony- pandy. The prizes were distributed to the suc- cessful competitors by Messrs. J. D. and L. Jones, after which skating was resumed. At 10.15, novelties, consisting of comical hats. confetti, spirals, waivers. blow-outs, &c., were distributed amongst both skaters and spectators, causing end- less amusement, and a pleasant evening's enjoyment concluded with the National Anthem at 11 o'clock. The manager, Mr. Dovey, and the owners are to be highly congratulated upon the excellent programme, and the very able manner in which it was arranged and carried out.

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After 40 Years. Mr. Tom John, M.A. Resigns. Decides to Enter Public Life. Services to Welsh Education rteoalled. [By H. A. DAVIES, Western Mail."] The retirement of Mr. Tom John, M.A., from the headmastership of the Llwynypia Schools, for the purpose of entering public life, is so interesting an event, and of such significance to the locality, that it cannot be allowed to pass by as a merely ordinary incident in the life of the community. Hence my ven- turing to intrude myself upon the readers of the "Rhondda Leader" with a brief but very imperfect contribution to its columns other than through the ordinary editorial channel. Mr. TOM JOHN, M.A. Mr. John needs no introduction to the I Rhondda Valley, or even to Wales for the matter of that. There are but few men whose names are so familiar in every part of the country, and they are fewer still who have so unselfishly and un- grudgingly rendered such signal service to the nation. Wales, indeed, owes Mr. John a debt of gratitude which will not probably, and possibly could not, very well be requited, No apology is, there- fore, needed for î tribute to the man and his work—a man whose picturesque, versatilel and genial person- ality is an asset of appreciable value to the nation, and whose work is of enduring worth. It is, perhaps, quite pardonable that one should regard Mr. John and the Rhondda as inseparable, for here he has spent the most useful part of his busy life. He is not, however, a native of the place, much as the Rhondda might covet this honour. His place of nativity is Trecynon, Aberdare, or, as it was formerly known, Heolyfelin. Mr. John's father. the late Mr. Dafydd John, too, was a man of exceptional abilities, and, like the son, an accomplished musician. He was the pioneer of oratorio music in the Aber- dare Valley, where such works as the Messiah," The Twelfth Mass," and Judas Maccabseus were performed twenty years before the formation of the Aberdare Choral Society. Mr. John received his early education under the late Mr. Isaao Davies, at the famous Ysgol Cbmin—an institution which has turned out a remarkable number of men who have loomed large, in the public eye, but none more so than the subject of this discursive sketch. After leaving for the Normal School, Swansea, he. became pupil teacher under Mr. Hogg, and subsequently completed his collegiate career at the. Borough Road College, London. Thence he went to North Wales, but only stayed there for a. very short period. He then came down to Peny- graig in 1871—at a time when the Rhondda schools were built and supported by colliery committees representing the workmen. who paid a. poundage for their maintenance. Mr. John then, as he has always been, was a man with the courage of his convictions, and made a vigorous protest against the autocratic action of some of the managers. He then removed to the Llwynypia Colliery School, where he has remained ever since. The school, however, under- went material change, and a handsome and commodious building erected by the School Board prior to the educational administrative work being taken over by the existing Educational Authority. And Mr. John's eventful career as the fore- most of Welsh educationists synchronises tli his occupancy of the headmastership of the Llwynypia Schools, which he will formally relinquish next Friday. During this period, there is no phase of educational work affecting Wales with which Mr. John has not been in close touch, and which he has not helped to mould to suit the needs of the Princi- pality. First and foremost he has always been concerned with elementary educa- tion. And this, after all, is of,absolutely vital importance. Mr. John was the first to realise that the elementary schools were not given that recognition which was accorded to intermediate and higher education of Wales, and his incon- trovertible argument is—and, bv the way, this was a point which was only recently emphasised by Mr. Lloyd George—that emphasised by Mr. Lloyd George—that you cannot build up an efficient system I of intermediate and higher education upon a stunted and defective system of elementary education. And towards the attainment of this ideal he has worked with might and main in season and out of season. Equal opportunities for the rich and poor is a motto which he has always faithfully cherished, and which has been a source of inspiration to him throughout his life. He is bent upon securing the richest and fullest opportu- nities for all children, irrespective of social conditions, and he is convinced, as the result of his long experience, that bright intelligences in Wales are allowed to run to waste for the lack of opportu- nities and encouragement. An expert educationist imbued with such a high and fine ideal was just what Wales required, and although he has already done a vast amount of good, he still feels that his life-work is not completed in this direc- tion, and hence his decision to enter public life. It was but a fitting compliment that a man who has done so much for education should be given the blue ribbon of his profession by being elected the President —and that by a large majority—of the National Union of Teachers, a body con- sisting of upwards of 50,000 members, and including some of the ablest men in the Kingdom. He is, by the way, the only Welshman upon whom this honour has been conferred, and it was conferred, as already indicated, with the approbation of his professional colleagues throughout the country. It was fitting, too, that Mr. John should be honoured by his compatriots, and in 1906 he was given the honorary M.A. degree of the University of Wales, an honour which has only been conferred on three other distinguished Welshmen— Dyfed (the Archdruid), the Rev. Elvet Lewis, and J. Ballinger (the well-known librarian). It should not be inferred, nevertheless, that Mr. John has in any way confined his energies: to the furtherance of elemen- tary education. While he has always been a. member of the National Union of Teachers, and on the executive of that body for two dozen years, he has also occupied a prominent position on the governing authorities of the higher and university education of Wales. He has served for years not only on the Court of Governors, but also on the Senate of the University of Wales, and a governor as well as a. member of the Council of Car- diff University College. He has, too, been a member of the Central Welsh Board since the. start, and also of the Executive Council. He is further a co- opted member of the governors of the Porth County School, and also of the Evening Continuation Schools Committee, appointed by the Rhondda Education Authority. So that really there is abso- lutely no phase of the Welsh education question with which Mr. John has not had practical experience, and he has at all times been jealous to do everything possible which tends to raise the educa- tional status of the Principality. It would not, perhaps, be out of place, as showing his zeal for the welfare of the I children, to recall the courageous part he took in connection with the early stage of the Welsh educational revolt. He was then the president-elect of the N.U.T. He then initiated a movement' for bringing together the four Welsh bishops and the representatives of the teachers with the view of arranging a truce on the educational struggle, and the, result was the historic conference which took place at Llandaff Palace in November, 1904. Mr. John is a many-sided, versatile man who does not allow himself to be obsessed with educational matters alone. He is an astute observer of Imperial, national and municipal affairs, and as a. journalist he has occupied the editorial chair of the Glamorgan Free Press," and now guides the destinies of the Rhondda Leader." He was one of the founders of the Mid-Rhondda Chamber | of Trade, and while secretary he made that body a force to contend with. He is no less active, in religious circles. He was first a member and deacon of Salem Church, Llwynypia, and upon his severance with that church lie was the recipient of a. handsome presentation. He is now a deacon of Ebenezer Chapel, Tonypandy. Music, too, claims him an enthusiastic f devotee, and has spent « great deal of nis vnluCTwIe rims in training local choirs for the performance of several well- known oratorios. As a trainer of voices and as conductor he was always excep. tionally popular, and his abilities in this respect are acknowledged throughout the Principality. It is characteristic of the man and his broad views of life that he should also exhibit every sympathy with athletics and recreation of all kinds. As is now generally known, Mr. John seeks to obtain a seat on the Rhondda District Council, and many of his old scholars in the Ward which is now vacant through the resignation of Mr. Leonard Llewelyn, have already expressed their delight at Mr. John's decision to enter public life, and it would be a graceful act on the part of the locality to save him the. worry of a contest, for notwith- standing his pronounced advanced views on matters generally, lie is a. man who in a sense belongs to no party in the narrow sense of the term. His great ambition is to be known to posterity as the children's friend, and surely no one can well differ from a man who sets before, him such a simple, beautiful and high ideal. Mr. John finds that he is somewhat overtaxing his strength in a.ttending to public work as well as discharging the duties of a headmaster, but as a public man, devoting himself to public work alone, he is still in the prime of life. On the Rhondda. Council he will have a great scope for his abilities and energies. The. Rhondda Education Authority is larger than most of the agricultural counties of Wales. The schools under the Authority provide accommodation for over 28.000 scholars, and there are altogether over 31,000 names on the books, while the average attendance is over 25.000. There are altogether 720 teachers and 88 depart- ments, and for this reason Mr. John maintains that the Rhondda should have been incorporated long ago. And surely, on such a body as the Rhondda Educa- tion Committee, he will be an-ideal mem- ber, while he will be no less conversant with the other work of the Council. For example, the Health Committee has to deal with the medical inspection and the feeding of children—two objects for which he has agitated for years. His great ex- perience as an administrator will stand him in good stead in the discharge of other municipal duties. He is endowed with a capacity to master every detail, and with a courage and gift of speech to enable him to give forcible expression to his views. A Welsh Nationalist to the core, with an immense belief in the possi- bilities of the Welsh nation. Mr. John will be an acquisition to the Rhondda Council.

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