Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

The Carmarthen Weekly Reporter

The copyright status or ownership of this resource is unknown.
Hide Articles List

9 articles on this Page

CA.L{l\j Å..Il TIIEN JL' UVT…

News
Cite
Share

CA.L{l\j Å..Il TIIEN JL UVT r>.T7< TV J 5 1.1 S f\ T Lrr-, SEARCHLIGHT. Vf.vr.ft tome, and sic yon down you shall nt bu lge, You shall not g>>, tiil I set you up a glass, Where you may see the inmost part of yon.' SHAKESPEARE. There are many people getting from the country, baskets, which (they s.y) contain game. The neighbours always say that they contain mushrooms. Horse trainers do their best to bring the education 01 their pupils up to date. The other day Carmarthen people saw a horse being made to stand steady whilst a motorist made his machine cough, sneeze, and sputter, and blow its horn. It took two men to hold the horse at the start; but towards the end he quieted down and pretended that he rather liked it. It is stated that farther particulars of the finances of the recent Infirmary fete at the Park will be published in the annual report of the Infirmary. This will be ready in Alay next, so that there will be plenty of time for everybody to have forgotten ail about it. Would it not be much better to send it to the British Museum with instructions that it should not be circulated until the year 10;,).!? That would be a still more certain method of attaining the very desirable end in view. *»* It is the biggest piece of humbug possible to pretend that a full statement cannot. be published. Take the case of St. Peters Christ- mas Tree as an example. There are many other examples, but that is one with which we are more or les-i acquainted. In the case of the Christmas Tree, you read the report of the event in the local press this week, and two or three weeks later, you find the balance sheet published. Of course, there is no moral or legal obligation on the promoters of the Christmas Tree to publish a balance sheet; but they do it, and the success of the event for more than a quarter of a century shows that the policy is a sound one. Now with regard to this fete, it is either possible to publish a balance sheet or it is not. If it is not possible to publish a balance sheet, there must be something in the arrangements very different to that which obtains in the case of other events organised for charitable purposes. On the other hand, if it is possible to publish a balance sheet, and the Com- mittee won't do so, the thing is much worse. In the former event it would be only a com- plete lack of business capacity due to natural stupidity or to a neglected education; in the latter case it suggests that there is some reason why the Committee wish to conceal the real state of the case. There is no getting away from it, and as the members of the Com- mittee are all business men, and even in many instances gentlemen of superior education, it is evident that it is simply a case of won't. Of course, so far the public have not thtf remotest idea of the amount of money which was made by the fete. There were three dis- tinct sources of income (1) contributions in hard cash paid by friends to help the cause; (2) money paid for admission to the Park (3) money taken inside the park. The first mentioned was a very large item, which makes the grand total of £180 ridiculously small. There was at least one side-show which took as much money in the course or the day as is announced to be the net produce of the fete and gala. It turns out now that the takings of the side shows did not go to the funds at all, and the question which arises is "What did go to the funds at all, and what came out of it?" /~1 Considering that the affair was subsidised out of the Borough rates, one would have ex- pected a little less mystery about it. How- ever, in Carmarthen Borough we are quite used to appeals to the public sympathy first, and a healthy contempt for public opinion afterwards. If the members of the Infirmary Committee wish to raise the wind occasionally for the benefit of the institution, they would do well to imitate the Christmas Tree method. Let them arrange a fete hire by the day any attractions they want—whether hurdy- gurdies, wild beast shows, roundabouts, or waxworks-pay all their bills, publish a balance sheet, and place the balance to the credit of the funds. At present we know that numerous side shows did a roaring busi- ness at the "Infirmary benefit," but we don't know exactly how much of the benefit the Infirmary had. A pathetic case came before the County magistrates on Saturday. An aged man had been taking some gin for medicinal purposes, with such striking results that his scientific experiments brought him into collision witu an unsympathetic policeman. The "Clerk (Mr W. Morgan Griffiths) suggested that the gin was too strong, but the fact is (to quote the Ingoldsby Legends) "that gin's but a snare of the old Nick the deceiver." Sometimes the spirit is too strong, and sometimes the flesh is too weak. The fishing season has now closed so far as the coracles are concerned, and it cannot be denied that it has been one of the best seasons known even in the memory of the oldest. There has been the usual grumbling against the bye-laws and the restrictions, and a good deal too much time has been spent in the impossible task of attempting to make re- strictions which will be acceptable to those who are restricted. The only method which would give satisfaction would be to do away with the bye-laws altogether. There would be glorious sport for a year or perhaps even for two, and then the Towy salmon and the Towy trout would become as extinct as the Welsh wolf and the British mammoth. *•* It appears according to the statement of a gentleman who has been placed on the black list that a tremendous fuss in Mill street was all caused by some nasty things which one lady had been saying against the character of another. The Mill street people are getting quite aristocratic. All they have to do is to have seven o'clock dinners and to take care not to pay their tradesmen until the bills are two years due, and they will be real gentry. There were several organ grinders here during the week with monkeys. One of the monkeys was rather objectionable in his con- duct, and the others cut it dead and were dis- gusted with it. Stin even the conduct of that particular monkey was not quite so bad as that of many of the children and younc peonl« about the streets. *it-)t It is really worth while considering whether some very strong effort ought not to be made to reclaim the heathens and the savages about our street corners. If I were to say that our hooligans are as had as any savages in Africa it would no doubt be felt as a great insult- by the Africans. ititit Some strong evidence was given on Satur- day against a gentleman who was charged with drunkenness. The most outrageous feature of the case was that he called the con- stable "an old Irishman." The policeman who bears the historic name of Jones, resen- ted the insinuation. There was an "Irish" brigade with the Boers which included natives of Cork, Jet-tisalem, San Fransisco, Germany, Italy, Denmark, and Russia; but even using the word in this cosmopolitan sense, it seems to have been a bit out on the present occa- sion. Scotch is however sometimes to the fore in these cases. it it it This is the latest achievement of the young ruffians of Carmarthen. On Friday a towns- man went to the Picton terrace gate of the Park seeking admission. He found the gate locked, and went round Morfa Lane, and got in that way. On meeting the Parkkeeper, the visitor asked him what was the meaning of this new rule. It turned out that the Park keeper knew nothing about it, and that there is a gang of boys who have a key and who lock and unlock the gate when thev are not observed. It is very convenient for them no doubt, but it is rather alarming in view of other revelations to know that we have anions us youths who appear to bo matriculating as burglars. ° **» There is no doubt of the fact that we have in our midst gangs of boys who have an ambi- tion to be apprenticed to a pirate in a good way of business. Their conduct is not ex- plained oy the more original wickedness which is inherent in all boy nature. They are simply thorough-going unadulterated blackguards who terrorise all weaker than themselves, and who sometimes try to mob their eiders when tiu-y are about a hundred tc cue. If you got good manly boys of their own si:;o to offer to light these whelps one at a time, they would slink away like the cowardly curs they are. Y'ioy are—like vermin—individually of little account, but rather inconvenient and trouble- some in the mass. It is a great pity that there is not a special Act of Parliament giving authority to the police to convey the members cf these gangs to the police station, and to flog them in batches of a dozen until all have been dealt with. The real young ruffian is of the class which has left school and consequently leels a man. In order to prove himself a man, he proceeds to show that he is an accomplished blackguard. He has no home; he has a house out of which ho comes and into which he goes at hours suitable to his pleasure, for he lives his life on the streets. In many cases his mother is afraid to interfere with him, lest she gets a black eye. *» Nobody who has not had personal acquaint- ance with these specimens would believe that human beings could be so degraded. It is a singular commentary on the frothy balder- dash which we sometimes hear, that this class reaches its highest or rather its lowest develop ment in those districts which are served by "religious" schools. These hooligans have all been taught their Catechism, and have seldom come under the infiunece of the School Board. I draw no moral. I simply state a notorious and undeniable fact—a fact on which many people comment privately, but have not the courage to state openly. < Next Saturday, the Carmarthen Board of Guardians will proceed to make arrangements for filling the office of Clerk rendered vacant by the deatli of Mr Rowland Browne. For this office the late Mr Browne received a salary of £ 130 a year he was also Clerk to the Rural District Council—practically the same body acting in another capacity—and received for that £ 100 a year. There was also, if I mistake not, an additional salary as Clerk to the Assessment Committee. It is theoretically possible that different people might be appointed to these offices; but it is extremely unlikely. It is not at all essential that a solicitor should be appointed; the lawyers trades-union have not succeeded so far in having this office made one of their preserves. It is however beyond question that in a case like this where the salary is fairly good, that the Local Government Board would insist on the appointment of a person thoroughly qualified-either by experience or by legal training-for the office. «** It is generally assumed that the Most Degraded Order of the Black List-like knighthoods and such like distinctions-can only be conferred once on the same individual. It so happens, however, that on Saturday the Boro magistrates admitted a St. Peters boy to the Order, although he had been admitted six months ago. It appears that there was some doubt as to the validity of the first initiation; the magistrates ought to have asked him whether he was willing to be black listed there or to be sent to the Quarter Sessions for initiation. The admission is now thoroughly good; but what a 'take in" it must have been for a man to find out that he was not a black lister for the last six months after all! There is still a demand for new houses in Carmarthen, and there is a difficulty now in finding suitable sites. Penllwyn Park has been filled up. At one time Quay street and Spilman street were the fashionable streets of Carmarthen. Their glory departed in obedience to the cry cf "Westward Ho!" Then Picton terrace enjoyed a brief spell as a fashionable neighbourhood. The Terrace, however, paled quickly before the new glory of Penllwyn Park. The process, however, is not at an end. There is still a hunger for building sites, and some other location will certainly be found. If the Rural District Council was only alive to its duties, there would be a possibility of a number of detached villas being built on the other side of the river. It is not fair, how- ever, to suggest that the sanitary arrange- ments o. Pensarn are defective. There is nothing the matter with the sanitation there, for the simple reason that there is no sanita- tion there at all. With regard to a recent case, it is to be noted that the Carmarthen people have become singularly tolerant of obstruction. We are all used to the sight of rows of carts drawn up in the streets. If an inn-keeper has undertaken to put up horses and carts, and his yard is overcrowded, it may be tolerated that he should range the carts in a row in front of his own premises. Even that is technically obstruction, and legal proceedings ought to be taken but the thing may be wmked at, if it is not a nuisance. There is however, everywhere a class of people who if they are allowed an inch always take a yard. Having been tolerated in obstruction, they proceed sometimes to range carts in front of other people s premises so as to interfere with the customers who are calling on neighbour- ing tradespeople. If the grocer rolled his apple casks and bacon boxes, and the draper piled his crates and packing cases in front of the public house, Mr Boniface would have something to say. It is possible that his remarks would not be fit for publication. But the cases-not the packing cases—are exactly similar. This nui- sance is not even a matter for the police. If anybody place any obstruction in front of your premises, yon have a perfect right to clear it away forthwith, without any notice. If it gets damaged in the clearing away, or does not arrive at its correct address, that is the look-out of the person who placed it so as to be an obstruction. Nobody has a right to I block the pavement in front of your shop any more than they have to tip their coals in your drawing room. The Clericals are in a fine quandary about this vacancy on the Education Committee. Ihey do not want if possible to let it go to a Nonconformist, and at the same time, they find it difficult to discover one of their own party who will accept it. The offer of the place has -eeii declined already by some to whom it was tendered. Even the most obtuse are beginning to realise the actual state of affairs. It is dawning on the dullest of the clericals that they are the mere rump of a party which is in a hopeless minority. Some of the wildest clericals who were brandishing their tomahawks are all smiles now, ana assure us that there is nothing to be enemies about. This is a bit too late. First they try to frighten us; now they think it best to square us. J,°,hn Lf/Vjs asked a defendant who was in trouble with his neighbours last week, why he did not leave Mm street. That's the ques- tion. there are plenty of empty houses in L m-m st.reet, a"d oth?r places cheaper than 111 Mill street But the attachment of the denizens of Mill street to their native heath is quite pathetic. Priory street to them would be an exile like Patagonia or Manitoba. It is a queer seatiment-a kind of microscopic patriotism. Some of them wander far over the world and come back to end their days in their childhood's haunts-the pleasant and romantic realm which has the Quay for one frontier and Dark Gate for the other. The new stores of the Western Counties Association on the Quay is being built of a new composition which is absolutely fireproof It won t burn even if you want it to do so I fancy I have seen that material sold at times as coal. „ ALETHEIA.

By the Way. ;

. Life in Mill Street, Carmarthen

Are you run down ? : ---I

Itanfynydd Agi I cultural…

Advertising

London Welshman.

Jnstices and Vaccination*

Advertising