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1 Conway Board of Guardians.

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Conway Board of Guardians. MR BIRCMAM'S FAREWELL. UNION HIGHLY COMPLIMENTED. PENMAENMAWR'S REPRESENTATION. MtS COLTON'S RESIGNATION. Jlr J. Raynos, J P. (chairman), presided over the monthly mooting of this Board on Friday. There were also present: JIrs Oldmstn, Mrs Brock, Mrs Lloyd, Miss Champneys, Rev. David Davies, Dr Spinther James. Messrs Favnl Jonoc, Wn.. William. O. W. Roberts, P. H. McC'emont, Win. Davios, F. Hart, S. R. Bart- i e, Edward Jones, Hugh Owen, W. F. Jones. Aneur'n Jones. E. J. Eva-ns, Jor.athan Roberts. Edward Roberts, Robert Parrv. Vtith the Clerk l dr 1. S. Parry), the I ant Clerk (Mr J. W. Post), aiiit other officials. Mi* BIRCH A VS FAREWELL ADDRESS. Mr Bin-ham, the Local Government Ko;rd inspector, who was also present, at the Chair- man's suggestion, addressed the Board at the oe.sef;. The Inspector said that as that was pro- bably th-i last tin.' for inm to be present in his official capacity, he was thankful for the oppor- tunity of saying a few words, more particularly because it was nearly a year since he was there before. In the coursc of previous sumin-irs thev hacl boon provided with his usual report, making relating1 to the work done from year to year. He had not been provided with the iiii particulars necessary to do that on this occasion. Under the circumstances li4, wouW base hI comparisons l etwcen t;h" past year and that of ten years ago. He might, however, soy that the state of things generally in the Cmon was very much the san: as last voar. si ihey were. to look at last year's figures for sake of comparison it. would find tL:1t in the Conway T'nion the rata of pauperism had dimin- ished 1ast ten years 13 per cent. !T,o actual number of paupers was 150 mere th-vi ten years ago. but the population had J:1:n\'}¡:;e increased 38 per cent. The percentage of pau- bors "1.. now 2.6 per cent., as compared With 3 per cent ten years ago, a decrease of 13 per cent. During the same period the expenditure had increased very largely. rlic, util(),. I were now relieving very few more paupers than ten years ago, when they cost under £ 4000, but new the cost was over £5000. That was a iarg3 'n- crease in expenditure, but it was "I,, case every- where. While pauperism had :OiJ.JOInl ex- penditure had increased 30 per cent. In that connection he might say that pauperism had gone down 20 per cent. in Wales, in Monmouth- shire generally, while ti ?. expenditure had in- creased 10 per cent. In Conway pau»"risrn hed gone down 13 per cent, and expenditure had in- creased 32 per cent. With that, how^ir. he did not ihink they had much reason to be dissatis- fied, bur he would very much like to see the per- of their pauperism reduced to 2 per cent, rather ;han 2.5 per cent., and if he were on the Board, he would not be satisfied until -ii iL had been effected. The Cnion drew rs ••< MHVCOS largely from seaside resorts and having regard for 'hat face they obtained money which were denied to other unions. The matter was one which "hould be very carefully gone into. While giving' adequate relief in deserving cases they should bo more strict. with regard to undeserv- ing persons. The overseers of the Lnion levied rates to the extent of £ 28,000 or ;;21.c,G ill CVr- ■ Ktrvonshire and Denbighshire, the J:irtr county accounting for between £8000 JEM.XQ, and Carnarvonshire the remaining £ 2j..)M0. Our oi that sum, however, considerably icss t .ni,i one- half cf that was spent in sarno way connected with the relief of the poor. Another important thing was that the Board took up the i"|ue?tien of vagrancy. Tho Commission which had inquiied into the matter had made everai very accept- able recommendations with a .j" to altering the existing state of aff-urs, and he could only hope that th > T, il, Ojver.irnent Pioard n'er.id take stops to frame a J'-li n accordance tnos recommendations. l.nl.ss the Cenway Board had already taken -te -,i to do so lie sug- gested that they at nee adopted a re.-e.ution supporting the C'ommisston s ieport, and Lave the same sent up to the Local Government Board. ALREADY ATTENDED TO. The Chairman: We have already done 00, "11'. Mr Birchim said that was He hoped before Ion!; to see a practical effect to the matter with regard to the workhouse. He must say he had always found the house, exceedingly clean and apparently well kept in every way. During the last few years the Board had carried out considerable structural improvements, but he hoped his successor would not be permitted rto grow into an old man before other improve- ments were attended to. He was person a 1 ly ■ convinced that, though the children kept in the houses were well clothed, well fed, and appar- ently healthy, they would be far better oft if they were housed outside the workhouse premises altogether. The :i,-(-oiiiiriodat,oii of the house at present did not suffer from any pressure, but if at any time they were compelled to spend more money in enlarging the premises he hoped they would reco'lect his advice and take advantage of that opportunity to remove the children from the house (hear. hear). AN AFFECTION FOR THE PEOPLE. Proceeding to .speak of his departure, Mr Birch am said he had been connected with the poor law work of South Yv ales for 34 years, and during that time he. had formed a great deal of affection for the people. lie had been connected officially with North Wales since 1892. That was, of course, a considerable time, and it was with great regret that he found the time had now come for him to retire. He took that op- portunity of thanking all the present) Guardians and their predecessors for all the kindness and onyrtesy extended to W: ni during that period. Ho had from t;me to time made several suggestu ;is to them, and ho had found them ••e:i;lv to con- sider patiently all of them, end many of them had been carried out to his entire ?at.«.sraction To the officers of the Union also he wished to express his cordial thanks. He had had occa- sion to trouble them for particulars, etc., of which the Board knew nothing, but h's requests had always been acceded to effectively, ear-fully pd punctually. He was very sorry that lhat was the last time for him to come amongst them, and he could scarcely tell them how much he reg'rettcd that, his connection with them had been severed (hear, hear). The Chairman thanked Mr i'ir/aa-.n for his address, and observed he hoped the inspector s successor would follow the linos UKC-I up by him, namely, that he would not be "00 hard upon the Cluardians 'hear, hear) With regard to Mr Bircham's suggestion that the children should be accommodated outside the houie. he was afraid that, however much they might "ike to act upon the inspector's iuggestion, that was not the time tf> ask the ratepayers to put *m«-;r hands deeper'into their pockets, bccause the rates were already very high. The Board were doing all they could to reduce the extent of pauperism and expenditure. In concision the Cli:ii:man said he v.-as sure all his colleagues wouid jc.in him in heartily thanking Mr T'rennm for the admirable manner in which he had carried out his duties in connection with the Board (hear, hear). They all hoped Mr Bircham would enjoy life for a great many years to come (hear, hear). Dr. Spinther James seconded, and observed that: the Board had experienced struggles with 'Local Goye-rnmentl Board inspectors. For in- stance, thev had fought a hard battle against them on the question of having the children -educated at the workhouse, and the Board were victorious. Tho inspectors had also tried to force the Board to supply the children with workhouse uniforms, and in that again the Board had successfully prevailed against the suggestion —— Air Bircham: That was before my time, I'm sure. Dr. James: That is so, air, and I only refer to it in order to show what hard masters we had before you cam; sir (laughter and hear, hear). I wish you a long period of life to enjoy the rest you have so well earned, sir (hear, hear). It was unanimously decided to place on re- cord the Board's hearty appreciation of Mr Bircham's services. MRS COLTON'S RESIGNATION. A letter was read from Airs Colton, of Pon- niaenniawr, resigning her portion as a Guard- ian for that district. The Chairman said he was quite sure that all the members were very sorry Mrs Colton had decided to take this step. He took it for gaunt- ed that they extended to her their sympathy. A Member: I suppose there '.jill be a vacancy: The Clerk: That is a question for the Board. There is no fine as in the case of a councillor, but the consent of the Local Government Board is required in respect to both the resignation and the election. Mr McClemont. said he; was s'rongly of opin- ion there should be an election. Considering the population Pcnmaenmawr was very badly re- presented. In the absence of Mrs Colton, there were only two members for that district, where- as th". rateable value of the district, according to the basis of representation in force- within the Union, entitled them to four. The matter was at this stage allowed to drop.

-==-__------Gardening Notes.…

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