The Welsh Coast Pioneer and Review for North Cambria

_4 Births, Marriages, and Deaths. Announcements of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, arc charged for as ordinary advertisements, at the following rates:— Not exceeding 00 words 6d. Exceeding 20. and not exceeding 30 words 9d. DEATH. GRIPFrrHs-April 7th, at Dudley House, Colwyn Bay, .lohn Griffiths, aged 76. II t) I Funerals Completely Furnished by D. ALLEN & SONS, STATION ROAD, COLWYN BAY. ¡ Telegrams—Allen's, Undertakers, Oolwyn Bay. 420

Official Announcement. Abergele and Pensarn Urban District Council. APPOINTMENT OF AN INSPECTOR OF NUISANCES AND SURVEYOR. THE above Council will, at their meeting, to be M held on the 23rd day of April, 1900, consider applications for the appointment of Inspector of Nuisances and Surveyor. The person appointed will not be required to pevote his whole time to the duties of the office and residence within the District will not be insisted on. The Salary will be £ 60 per annum, divided as follows: As Inspector of Nuisances, £ 50 per aunum as Surveyor, £ 10 per annum. The appointment of Inspector of Nuisances will be subject to the approval of the Local Government Board. Knowledge of Welsh is desirable. Applications, in the handwriting of Candidates, accompanied by recent testimonials, not exceed- ing three in number, to be sent in sealed envelopes, marked" Inspector of Nuisances," to me at my office, Town Hall, Abergele, on or before Friday' 20th day of April, 1900. Canvassing the Councillors, directly or in- directly, ia strictly prohibited, and will be deemod a disqualification. (Signed) EDW. A CRABBE, Clerk to the Council. Dated, Town Hall, Abergele, 11th April, 1900 1236

Lighting-up Time (Greenwich time). April 13-Fridav 7 50 p.m. 1 14 -Saturday. 7 52 „ fl 15-Sunday 7 53 II „ 16-MolJduy. 7 55 „ 17-Tllesd),y. 7 57 II „ 18—Wednesday 7 58 u 11 19—Thursday 8 0 II

High Water at Coiwyn Bay. Morn. Height. Even. Height h. m. ft. in. h. m. ft. in. April 13—Fri. 9 51 17 0 10 6 16 4 14-Sat.10 23 17 7 10 39 L6 11 15 -Sun ..10 53 17 11 11 9 17 G 16-Mon.ll 26 18 1 11 43 17 8 17—Tues.12 0 17 9 18-Wed,12 18 17 5 12 36 17 1 19-Thu.12 54 16 7 112 15 10 u

Ati-il 12th, igoo. AT Carnarvonshire Quarter Sessions, on Friday, John Barnard, alias John Arm- strong, was sentenced to five years penal servitude for obtaining sums of money under false pretences from several farmers in North Wales. A SAD boating accident occurred at Brighton on Tuesday. A flotilla of torpedo boat destroyers arrived off the town, and in the afternoon boats left each vessel for the shore, each boat containing five men. The sea was rather rough, and as the boats approached the pier two of them cap- sized. Six men were rescued by the lifeboat, but the other four were drowned. PATRICK DUMPHY, aged 74, who was found guilty at last Waterford Assizes of the poisoning of his two sons, was exe- cuted at Waterford on Tuesday. A SERIOUS military riot has taken place at Fort Gomer, Portsmouth Harbour. It originated in a canteen, and a free fight occurred among about 100 men of differ- ent regiments. Bayonets were produced, and two men, one belonging to the Dublin Fusiliers and the other to the North- amptons, were wounded, the former's condition being critical. No further arrests are contemplated with respect to the attempt to shoot the Prince of Wales. Sipido, who has had an affecting interview with his mother, now expresses sorrow for his crime. THE Colonial-office has received news of the Ashanti outbreak, from which it appears that there was a collision with our troops in consequence of the Govenor demanding the surrender of the Golden Stool that two of our officers were slightly wounded, and there were about ten other casualities. THE Viceroy of India telegraphs that the demands for relief continue to increase, except in the Punjaub. The recipients now number 4,976,000 A GREAT pro-Boer meeting of schoolboys has been held in Philadelphia, at which a telegraph boy was instructed to deliver personally to President Kruger a message signed by 22,000 boys expressing the hope that the Boer arms would be successful. THE death took place at Constantinople 011 Wednesday of Ghazi Osman Pasha, the veteran Turkish General. THE loss of the liner Mexican, briefly reported on Saturday, took place eighty miles from Capetown, at which place the transport Winkfield arrived on Friday morning. The rescue of the passengers aud mails was carried out with splendid coolness on the part of the officers and crew. A TELEGRAM received in Paris states that an encounter has taken place between an Abyssinian army and a force of Mussul- mans. Two thousand of the latter were killed. The battle was the result of a religious war." THE Queen on Monday drove through the city of Dublin, passing along O'Connell-street, College Green, Grafton- street, and St. Stephens Green. The route had been announced beforehand, and the streets were thronged with people. The Queen had again a most cordial reception. LORD JAMES, of Hereford, presiding at the annual meeting of the Liberal Union Club in London, referred to the demands this week, by some Liberal Unionist orgenisations for rearrangement of Parlia- mentary representation, and pointed out that if, as some claimed, Ireland should be deprived of thirty members, in fairness there must be redistribution throughout the Kingdom, and that would lead to disfranchisement of many small con- stituencies. MR R. W. PERKS, M.P., presided on Tuesday at a meeting held in London of the newly formed Liberal Imperial Coun- cil. The object of this body is, while retaining full sympathy with the traditional principles of the Liberal party at home, to maintain a free, unaggressive, and tolerant British Empire abroad, and to promote in all practical ways the consolidation and ultimate federation of the empire. Mn CECIL RHODES has arrived at Southampton from the Cape. THE death is announced of Baron Inchi- quin, a representative peer ot Ireland and Lord-Lieutenant of co. Clare. Also of Sir Douglas Maclagan, formerly Professor of Medical Jurisprudence of Edinburgh University. FROM the latest Board of Trade returns it appears that for the three months ended March 31st, as compared with the corre- sponding period of last year. imports increased by £ 8,835.952, and exports by X10,145,189. THE twenty-ninth football match be- tween England and Scotland under Association rules took place on Celtic Park, Glasgow, on Saturday, in the presence of about 50,000 spectators, and resulted in a victory for Scotland by four goals to one.

Still another Financial Muddle at Conway. ARE there no intelligent business men with an aptitude for systematic finance to be found in the neighbourhood of Con- way ? The reports of several Councils which hold their deliberations in that town have of late revealed a state of affairs which is nothing short of a public scandal, and for procrastination and financial muddling it would be difficult to find such glaring cases anywhere. In fact, such a state of affairs would not be tolerated by an intelligent public having any regard for efficiency in the adminis- tration of local affairs. It is not long since it was found that the Cowlyd Water Board had run itself into debt to the amount of about ^30,000, and that body is scarcely out of the quagmire, yet subsequently it was found that the Town Council at Conway had caught the in- fection, and was indebted to the bank to the amount of nearly £ i 0,000, which is more than the total ordinary revenue of the borough for two years. And now comes another ugly revelation. At the meeting of the Rural District Council last Friday it transpired that a sum of nearly five thousand pounds is owing to the treasurer, for which there must be a con- siderable annual charge as interest. It is a most unsatisfactory state of things, and no good reason can be adduced to justify it.

The Responsibility of Overseers. THERE is not much glory attaching to the office of parochial overseer, but some one must be found everywhere to undertake the duty. It is great folly on the part of anyone to take up such appointment, however, unless he knows the duties and the responsibility involved. At Abergele Petty Sessions, last Saturday, the two overseers were summoned, and ordered to pay from their own pockets, about seventy pounds, being the balance of the amount demanded on precept, and which sum it was the duty of the assistant over- seer or collector to have collected. It is, of course, a hard case, but it is rather strange that in an important district like this the overseers were apparently ignorant of their liability.

A Gross Imposition of Olan Conway Ratepayers. LIABILITY of a similiar kind, but less justi- fiable was the ground upon which a number of ratepayers of Glan Conway were ordered to pay the full amount ot rates demanded of them, including a rate for water which they do not get. A more glaring injustice it would be difficult to conceive, but it must be the consequence of the carelessness of some of the parish representatives of a former day, or of the deception of that voracious body known as the Cowlyd Water Board. It must be quite evident that the parishioners con- sented or asked to join in the water scheme on the understanding that water would be supplied to them, and for this purpose they allowed their parish rates to be mortgaged to secure their quota of the cost. For the convenience of the borough of Conway however the mains had to be taken on the opposite side of the river, and as lJ, Cowlyd Board has not yet carried out its part of the bargain by supplying water to the parish, it is surely unjust to enforce payment for what they have failed to supply. As a protest against this seveia residents refused to pay their rates, whic include a charge of is 3d in the water. The Llanrwst magistrates, however though sympathising with the defendants, had to make an order. The hardship- however, is so palpable that it would justify the intervention of the Loca Government Board, if the whole parisn made a strong representation and com- bined to resist the precept from the Watct, Board until it carried out its share of the bargain.

Patriotic Bumbledom. WHAT a great fuss has arisen about the paltry allowance of eighteen-pence a week to the mother of one of the Volunteers who has gone to the front ? It is scarcely likely that any guardian would wish to take advantage of any of the patriotic funds in order to stop so trifling an allowance, and no one would ask that the mother be left worse off now than when her son was her chief support at home. But the episode shows that the guardians are not always so vigilant as might be expected. Would it be nght and prudent to allow parochial aid to a woman who was regularly receiv- ing ten shillings a week from her son for her maintenance ?

Another Grievance for the Quacks of ) Education. EDUCATIONISTS and educational quackS have still another promising topic for a grievance in the new minute just issued by the Board of Education setting forth the conditions under which a public elemen- tary school may be recognised as a higher elementary school. The grants are to be offered for such schools, one called the principal grant and the other the grant for practical work. The principal grant IS divided into two sc iles, the higher and the lower. The higher scale ranges from 27s- for the first year's course to 65s. for the fourth year, whilst the lower scale ranges from 25s. to 55s. The Board will decide which, if either, of these grants shall be paid in the case of each year's course after considering the report of the inspector. The higher scale grant for practical work ranges from 8s. to 25s., and the lower front 6s to 18s. No grant may be received from the Board of Education by any higher elementary school in addition to these grants except the fee grant- No doubt this will afford material for abundant criticism, as also has the revised code. In ordinary affairs payment by results would be considered a sound sys- tem, but those engaged in education in this country are of a higher creation, and abhor anything which is suggestive of l greed for personal gain in regard to the efficiency of their schools. But when the system of encouraging results is removed, then there must be more grumbling than before.

The Usual Problem in Dealing with Paupers. How EAT: R upright they may be it cannot be said of all guardians of the poor that they are well able to draw the proper line between .sympathy for paupers and regard for the ratepayers' pockets. Personal feeling does sometimes have the better or discretion, as may be seen now and again when a plausible version secures for a pauper a shilling or two more than would accrue from a dry matter-of-fact state- ment. But there are difficult problems to be faced occasionally, as was the case at Llanrwst the other day, when a poor delicate widow with three children came forward to ask for relief. A father-in-laW offered to take and maintain the children., which generous offer would obviously have left the mother free to go to service and earn her own living. No ordinary mother cares to be separated from her c ildren. but when sentiment comes 111 the cliffictiltylsilicreised. Had there been I no voluntary offer from the grand parent the course would have been clear, and thus it became a question not of supple- menting that offer by a fair allowance for the mother alone, but as to the prudence of separating a mother from her little ones-

Scattered Homes for Pauper Children. THE St Asaph Board of Guardians have also been at some pains to solve the ddfi- cult problem of maintaining pauper children and do not appear to take very readily t the scattered homes system which is nOw being mooted. The continued progress and improvement in the method of malO- taining the needy and destitute may be more than the descendants of Bumble can approve, and some may think that the ratepayers are going to be ruined bv the cost of maintaining those whom tf would not be right to punish, they would have to suffer from the accident of birth- The boarding out system is pernicious, and the recent revelations of professional baby farming, or baby murder on the slow process, ought to move the sympathies 9 Guardians. The scattered home system apparently the plan most in favour inith poor law reformers, and rural guardians would do well to encourage rather t 1,11" scout the suggestion.