The Pontypridd Chronicle and Workman's News

THE NEW CHAIRMAN OF THE WELSH PARLIAMENTARY PARTY. As we last week anticipated he would, Mr. Alfred Thomas, M.P., was on Tuesday unanimously elected chairman of the Welsh Parliamentary Party, and the choice thus made brings reflected honour upon the constituency represented by Mr: Thomas. It Beed scarcely be said there is much rejoicing in East Glamorgan at the fact that the mantle of the Grand Old Man of Wiles should have fallen upon the broad shoulders of the only man who has yet dared to formulate "into definite shape a distinct policy of Home Rule for Wales. There are, of course, more fiery spirits in the Welsh Nationalist Party of to-day than the man who is now recognised as; their titular leader; but it is only befitting that the Chairman should be a man of broad views, cool head, and, while sympathetic with the advance guard, be a man who has sufficient regard for party discipline to sink his own personality for the sake of th9 interests of Cymru Unol." There was a concensus of opinion that Mr. Alfred Thomas was the only member who could weld the Moderates, the so-called "Extreme Section," and the go-as-you- please men into a solid mass, and we a, e not without hope that his well-known tact will yet succeed in bringing the senior member for Merthyr into line with the other Liberal representatives of the Principality. A party of one is utterly use- less to face the overwhelming Toryism of the predominant partner, England; a solid phalanx acting as one man can do much "i godi'r hen wlad yn ei hoi." The divisions in the Irish Party have thrown Home Rule back ten or twenty years and the object-lesson thus afforded should have due weight with the only Welsh Liberal member who now stands aloof from his colleagues upon national matters. But, lest it be thought that this little rift within the lute was brought about by the selection of the new -chairman, we may remind our readers that the secession of Mr. D. A. Thomas from his Party was not brought about by that event, but was publicly annouEjped by the Independent Member for Wales some time ago, and, consequently, his absence and that of Sir W. Harcourt from Tuesday's meeting was not regarded as in any way affecting the question discussed. We simply deal with the position of Mr. D. A. Thomas, in order to anticipate the possible objection that the selection of chairman was not unanimous. The only two gentlemen absent from the meeting were the Leader of the Liberal Party throughout the country (who cannot well limit himself to the lines of the Welsh Party), and Mr. D. A. Thomas, whose ability is recognised by everyone, but who prefers posing as a free lance rather than be considered one of a. party from whom he differs upon some minor points of policy and organisation. We reiterate our belief that the little difference which exists will now be smoothed over, and we feel confident that Wales to-day has a brighter prospect before her than she has had for many a day. With a united party, hiving a distinct object in view, and working steadily to attain it, in season and out of season, with a leader who possesses a genius for making friends and uniting factions, and, with a cause wort hy of the best efforts of those whose aim is to elevate the condition of the masses, we may well be imbued with the rousing spirit of Ap Lewis's stirring song: Cydfloeddiwn oil hyd entrych nen, Mae Cymru Wen yu codi."

INTERESTING DINNER AT PORTH. On Thursday evening a dinner was given by the local superintendents of the London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow Insurance Co., to their agents at Porth and Femdale. The dinner, which was held at the Temperance Hotel, Porth, was excellent u* every way, the tables being beautifully decorated, and well filled by the host and hostess (Mr and Mrs Davies) Amongst those present were-Mr Slea, district secretary; Mr Williams, Cardiff Dis- trict manager; Superintendents Mdssrs Shont, Treorky; Morgans, and Flower, Cardiff; Emery, Bridgend and Mr Jenkins, and Mr James, Porth. The cloth being removed a pleasant evening was spent. Mr Jenkins, Porth, .opened the post prandial proceedings with the toast of "The Queen" This was followed by the toast of ,the"London, Edinburgh, MM$fQ-1«Bgn>w. faaaalmtt .Onrpf-wa.Ti vIL coupled with No. 4 Division." It was proposed by Mr Short, Treorky, in a very humorous speech. and responded to by Mr Slea, who. in the course of his remarks, said this was the first opportunity he had had of addressing the agents since the 31st of December last. He was very pleased to be able to. say that their record during 1897 was consider- ably in advance of the previous year, and of for- mer records. As was usually the case, Division 4 had again contributed in no small measure to this successful year. The two districts present having contributed nearly 95 per cent of the new busi- ness. But good as the record for 189? had been, they had every prospect of making i,b yet better during the present year. Their local superintend- ents. Messrs Jenkins and James, had informed him that they were determined to get 3s per week each new business. This would mean a great deal at the end of the year. and could not be done unless the whole of .the agents worked to the ut- most of their abiliy. They had paid in claims in the Rhondda Valley alone over £lvv,OOO, a record they should be proud of. He wished them every success in their future efforts Mr T. Evans, Ferndale. now retndered an in- spiring song which fully deserved ae applause it received. I lie next toast on the list was. "The Cardiff Dis- trict Branch, proposed by Mr E. Emery, Bridg- I end. and responded to by the District manager. Mr Williams, of Cardiff, who gave a. very spirited address to the men, treating on their endeavours to further the success of the society. Mr Booth, Tylorstqwn next rendered a. verv good song, which was well received. Mr Flower, Cardiff, proposed the toast of the Porth and Ferndale Branch." This was rapond- ed to by Messrs E. Jenkins an- o. James Pbriah. r oenkins said that he considered all the agents m district as his children, and he was very pleased to see them gettin* promoted. H.An ,y,tbe whole of t[le agents present were L J^unp°n speeches of ft ST6 humorous m tne extreme. I Mr Williams, Cardiff, proposed the toast of the superintendents. E. Jenkins and D. James who r had so kindly provided the spread for than,. ihis was responded to by Mr J Edward* and Mr Jone*, Pontypridd awards and Mr Edwards. Ynyshir, propose. toast of Wirio^d re8P°nded Messr8 The last toast was then proposed, h"t and by Mr7 Shrt,

TREORKY SHOP ASSISTAN S ASSOCIATION. its annual Sh°-P Association held J Lh*T»] C £ ?Vers?zlone at tho "Treorky Infanta' joSf !n ThursdaJ evening last. A most en- was spent, the catering bedn^ I satisfactorily earned out by Messrs J fVJi™- I and their friends present, including Messrs T M Jones (president W Thrvm^ vf8 l- W W. Theodore (chairman) D ? .1 chairman*; Nellie Itees and Mr H^TA^S M 1 Evans, T. P. D. LewÙl. H. T. ana of the Committee). to be*hSdhtELt^he^ f aT £ urher ? mise^at TVfttvrW fchalfc business pre f ofher J The programme gon6 through was as under — W the Chairman; Solo, Mr r. William; Miss S. Davies; Game, "Jolly R*»; M"»H. L. Miss S A r% ^ones; Sonir- r. Thomas and Tim Nv-ies- Game, aje. "Two L '■ R««; Mr John DevDuaid.

THE PARNELLITE PARTY'S PARLIA- MENTARY FIRKVv _xyS. It is impossible for .d John mond, or for any member of the tiny part.. of which he is leader, to do more than he. has already done to set back the cause of Home Ruie in Ireland. It is pitiful, but it is only too true, that the worst enemies of that cause are not to be found in the majority of Tory Peers in the --ùuse t- Lords, or in — lory majority of 142 in the House of Com, mons, but in the ranks of tnoee who claim to be I the sole champions of Irish Nationalism. Until f a few years ago it could be said that the battle for Home Rule in Ireland would be won when public opinion in England was convinced «- justice and of its practical advantages. But the energy and earnestness that should be ceaselessly devoted to the enlightenment of public opinion on this side the Channel on the subject of Ireland's claim are beig dissipated in faction fights at home. The lesson may not be wholly ioz- upon • <e opponents of Home Rule in this country if only it —ows a somewhat startling light upon tue o^on that Nationalist opinion was so overwhelmingly strong that it could not be trusted to deal justly with the so-called loyal minority. Surely in his battle of the Nationalist sections the loyal minority would be in the very comfortable position of being well able to take care of themselves and their special interests. Factiorusni in Ireland certainly done its worst, and the proceedings of las week in the House of Commons initiated by Mr John Recfcmund can hardly affect the present position of Home Rule. Mr Redmond's purpose was obvious. His anxiety was to embarrass the Jj—onites on the one hand, and the leaders of the x^^eral Op- pos-jon on the other. Mr Redmond), as one of the leading English newspapers of the country, the Leeds Mercury," pointed out on Saturday, is a man consumed with self-conceit, amd he knows I tha,t he is only of importance in the House of Com- mons, and sure of a large and interested audience when he is providing sport for the Tories by at- tacking is former colleagues and their allies of the Lioeral party. For at least one or two nights in every Session he is able to minister to an insatiable vanity by playing now the familiar part he played last week, so entirely to his own satisfaction, and to the satisfaction of the opponents of Home Rule. The whole performance is beneath contempt and Sir William Harcourt would have been justified in treating the appeal made to him as unworthy of the slightest noitiee. It cannot matter two straws what Mr Redmond thinks of the attitude of the Liberal leaders or of the Liberal party to Home Rule. The man who has openly derided Mr Glad- stone as a traitor to Home Rule is oartnmty unde- serving of civil or serious treatment when he per. sists in putting forward Session a&jer Session his • -=: -=- I parrot-cry that the Liberal party have thrown over the cause they formerly championed. Inasmuch, however, as Mr Redmond's amendment demanded an Independent Parliament, Sir William Har- court doubtless felt the necessity of making the position of the Liberal party perfec.tly clear. If Mr Redmond really thought that he was going to place the leader of the Opposition in a. position of serious embarrassment he was entirely mistaken. Sir William Harcourt had no difficulty in giving the mover of the amendment a straightforward answer. There was no point in connection with the second Home Rule Bill so fiercely debated as that of the relation of the Irish Parliament to be established in Dublin to the Imperial Parliament. That it would be a, subordinate and not an Inde- pendent Parliament was made clear not by one speech by Mr Gladstone, but by a dozen speeches. Sir William Harcourt, therefore, took his stand on the provisions of the Bill of 1893 and the declara- tions of Mr Gladstone on .the question of indepen- dence. Mr John Dillon felt bound to acknowledge that to demand an Independent Parliament wfcs completely at variance with the policy laid down by Mr Gladstone and accepted by Mr Parnell as a final settlement of Ireland's claim to local self- government. Holding this opinion it is to be re- I gretted that Mr Dillon and his friends should have voted for the amendment, instead of having the courage to abstain from walking into the trap Mr ¡ Redmond had so obviously set for them. The anxiety of Mr Dillon and his colleagues to be assured that the Liberal party stands where it did in relation to Home Rule is natural enough. It would be more to the purpose, however, if they would recognise that the cause is not advanced by any number of assurances on that subject. Lord Roseberry warned the Nationalist leaders loner ago that the predominant partner has to be convinced. That was not a very palatable truth, pe, perhaps, but it is truth nevertheless, and Mr Dillon and his friends will not make much progress noo.rer ,the goal they desire to reach untii the recog- nise the force of Lord Kosebery's warning and en- deavour to act upon it. There need be no mis- givings about the attitude of the Liberal party of every section if British pubuc opuuon can be fav- ourahly influenced and won over to the cause of justice to Ireland.