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THE QUEEN'S SPEECH.

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The Bishop of ST. AsAPH formally sent in in his resig- nation last week, but the name of his successor is not officially announced. The Daily News makes a singular statement-that Government have resolved to prosecute the watching com- mittee on the Welsh Fasting Girl. Not the whole com- mittee, surely, London doctors and all! We cannot believe the report. On Thursday Mr OSBORNE MORGAN introduced his Burials Regulation Amendment Bill, of which the English Independent says :— The first clause affirms the right of the friends of any de- ceased parishioner to have the corpse interred in the parish churchyard with any religious service they may prefer, or with- out any service at all. A subsequent clause provides that the service shall be solemn, decorous, and properly conducted. When parties desire a service other than that of the Church of England they are to give the rector or officiating clergyman forty-eight hours' notice of the time at which they intend to bury, aud if that should interfere with any other funeral or service in the church the clergyman may name another hour on the same day that will be more suitable. The fees of the clergy, Ac., are preserved, and the costs of keeping the churchyards thrown upon the poor-rate. These are the main provisions of the Bill, which is carefully worded and will, we hope, meet the objections taken by reasonable churchmen to the Bill of last session. The Bill is one of special interest to our readers, who will anxiously watch its progress. Alluding to this measure, last Monday's Daily News said It is understood that the Burials Regulation Bill, of which the senior member for Sheffield has hitherto had charge, will be re-introduced on the first day of the session by Mr Osborne Morgan, with the expectation that it may be carried this year. The object of this Bill is to establish the right of all persons who desire to fee buried in the churchyard of their oom parish to have the religious service approved of by the denomination to which they belong celebrated on the occasion of their interttfent. The right has been admitted in principle by moderate church- men, although in past years objections have been taken to ths terms of the Bill by which it was sought to give it effect. It is stated that in the Bill to be submitted to Parliament to-morrow the ground of these objections has been removed. If this be so, and Parliament should see its way to legislation on the subject, no one, we should think, would be better pleased with the result than the Reverend A. F. Crisford, vicar of Great Shelford, in Cambridgeshire. This gentleman has just found himself in the very painful position of feeling compelled to refuse Christian burial to the body of a little girl, twelve years of age, one of his parishioners, who would accordingly have been placed in her grave without prayer or benediction, fead not the vicar felt at liberty to allow the schoolfellows of the deceased to sing a hymn over her grave. The occurrence of this case is opportune, for it will assist Mr MORGAN in carrying his measure. The country is getting quite tired of barbarities inflicted in the name of Christianity under the shelter of the State, and the friends of the Church are beginning to see that these old customs are barbarous. Our contemporary points out that Mr CRISFORD only acted in accordance with law; and it is much more reasonable to blame the law than the man who keeps his oath to obey it. But how can we apportion adequate blame to a law which condemns a little girl of twelve to unchristian burial because her parents happen to be Baptists ? From this case it is good to turn to a movement, in which several well-known men of different parties are taking part, to obtain some alteration in that melancholy remnant of bigotry, the Athanasian Creed. A memorial,- signed by the Rev. W. WALSHAM How, amongst others, has been presented to the Archbishop of CANTERBURY, asking "That the Creed itself be retained, but that in the rubric preceding it the word 'may' be substituted for shall,' or that some method be devised whereby certain of the clauses commonly called damnatory' be omitted, or receive an authorized explanation which may be ap- pended to the rubric." We wish Mr How, and Dean CHAMPNESS, Mr ERSKINE CLARKE and Mr H. G. DE BUNSEN, Canon LYTTELTON and Dean STANLEY, and the others who signed, had made up their minds to ask at once for the withdrawal of the obnoxious creed which deals damnation with such awful freedom to all who do not keep "whole and undefiled" and believe rightly," opinions on matters which the highest human intellect can never grasp. But we may be thankful for this beginning, which will most certainly end at no distant day in the banishment of the Athanasian Creed from the formularies of one of the most comprehensive churches in Christendom. Mr OSBORNE MORGAN has also obtained leave to intro- duce another Bill of considerable importance to the people —providing for the compulsory purchase of sites for places of worship. In some districts, we believe, where illiberal landlords own all the soil, great difficulty is experienced in finding sites for chapels, and the State, which compels people to sell for railway and other public purposes, may well exercise the same power in the case of places of worship. We publish to-day a report of an influential meeting on the subject of the political evictions. The names of those who attended the meeting effectually dispose of the critic- isms to which this movement is subjected by the conserva- tive press. Gentlemen of position like those who spoke on Monday do not expose themselves to the danger and ridicule of assisting: in movements that have no good foundation or are destined to end in failures. The reign of the evicting landlords is over. We are glad to see that the Llangollen Local Board have succeeded at last in getting so far abreast of public opinion as to admit reporters. Their exclusion is con- fined, we fancy, entirely to little towns, where the advantages of doing things in the dark are still under- stood. If it were possible to address our readers who cannot read" we should like to call their attention to Mr SMITH'S remarks at last Welshpool County Court. The learned judge gave such persons some useful advice with regard to the best method of keeping accounts. He recommends them to use a notched stick instead a cupboard door, because it is inconvenient to produce a cupboard door in Court. Accounts are kept on sticks in this fashion, it seems. On one side notches are cut to show the number of days on which work is done, and on the other to denote the pay- ments. We notice that the plaintiff in the case referred to failed to substantiate his claim-perhaps for want of a notched stick. At the meeting of the Oswestry Highway Board on the 24th ult., it was reported by the District Surveyor that, in consequence of an intimation from the officers of Inland Revenue, that farmers and other occupiers of land using their teams for carting stone and other materials to the highways would be liable to assessed tax duty for the horses so employed, he had received notice from several farmers that they would no longer perform team labour or deliver stones to the highways from off their lands. In consequence of this the Clerk was instructed to communi- cate with the Commissioners of Inland Revenue on the subject, and the following reply has been received— Inland Revenue, Somerset House, London, W.C. 5th February> 1870.—SIR,—In reply to your enquiry of the 1st instant, I am desired by the Board of Inland Revenue to acquaint you-ist. That they will not require licences to be taken out for farm horses used for simply carting to some neigh- bouring place of deposit, stones which have-been pitched off the farmer's own land. 2ndly. Farm horses otherwise used for drawing materials for the repair of the parish roads will be chargeable with licence duty if (as is mostly the case) the farmer receives any remuneration, whether in money or in abatement of his rates.—I am, sir, your obedient servant, W. M.. ROSETTI, assistant secretary.- 1. Bull, Esq,, Clerk to the, Oswestry Highway Board. Another letter, which partly relates,to the same subject, but gives additional information, has been published 11, Downing-street, Whitehall, Jan. 29: SIR,—In your letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer dated the 27th inst., you inquire whether farmers will be charged licence duty for their farm-horses when used— 1. To draw coals, which is done in some instances "with the sole object of relieving the labourers in the farmer's employ- ment, or other poor persons, from the cost of carriage." 2. To draw material for repairing the parish roads. In reply, Mr Lowe desires me to inform you that in law farmers would be liable to duty for any of these acts, but in practice- 1. The Board of Inland Revenue will charge the duty if the horses are let out for hire for the purpose of drawing coals; but if the drawing of the coals is only done occasionally and as an act of charity, without any profit, the liability will not be enforced. 2. Farm-horses used for drawing materials for the repair of the parish roads will be charged if (as is mostly the case) the farmer receives any remuneration, whether in money or in abatement of his rates. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, Mr W. E. Welby, M.P. C. RIvERs WILSON. A case which has excited great interest in the district was part heard at Ruabon Petty Sessions last week. A carrier at the Rhos accused another carrier of assaulting him in a very brutal manner and mutilating his tongue. A mania for tongue-cutting seems to have prevailed at the Rhos, for previously to this outrage the tongues of certain horses belonging to the complainant and his father-in-law had been hacked. It was stated at one time that the complainant was suspected of being the offender in all three cases, and the police appear to have shared in the suspicion; but the surgeon alleged that the wounded man could not have perpetrated the injuries on his own tongue. The idea was certainly a very curious one, and would have required a good deal of evidence to support it. Altogether considerable mystery surrounds the case, which is adjourned to the next sessions. The miners held a great demonstration at Wrexham on the 2nd. They assembled to the number of 3,000, some papers say, and 5,000, others, marched in pro- cession through the town, and then proceeded to state their grievances, which are tangible enough, and some of which, at any rate, will certainly be remedied by calling the attention of the country to them. The nation is grow- ing more tender of human life, and sterner in its treat- ment of those who, for their own gain, neglect any reason- able safeguards; and the miners, who provide for us one of the very greatest of our social necessities and luxuries, deserve the most careful treatment. Whether their pro- gramme- Eight hours for working, Eight hours for play, Eight hours for sleeping, Eight shillings a day, is likely to be realized, we shall not attempt to say; but if the wage seems high, the arduous nature of the work must be remembered. How many of the miners' critics, we wonder, would like to spend a third of their lives in a black hole, and to lose almost all the delight of the sun- shine, which makes up a very great portion of the enjoy- ment of life ? The "long firm" appear to be changing their locale. They formerly wrote from large towns—Manchester being the favourite-but we have just heard of their appearance in this district. A few days ago, some persons, dating from Ellesmere, wrote to Mr MEYRICK JONES, of Dol- gelley, for a large consignment of his well-known Welsh tweeds. The applicants had provided themselves with invoice-heads, to disarm suspicion, but Mr JONES was not to be victimized as easily as his would-be customers hoped. Instead of despatching the goods, he put himself in com- munication with a friend at Ellesmere, and thus dis- covered the real nature of the transaction. No suoh per- sons resided at Ellesmere; but they had, doubtless ir ade the necessary arrangements for obtaining the goods if Mr JONES had been foolish enough ici send them. Our readers will do well to b* on their guard, for similar attempts will most likely take place in this district. 1n the House of Commons on Tuesday night Mr WATKIN WftMAMS gave the following notice of motion :— Established Church in Wafes.-To call attention to the position- and state of the Established Church in the Dominion and Prinfeip&lifcy of Wales, and to move the following resolu- tions Istf.-That in the opinion of this House it is right that the establishment of the church and its union with the State should cease to exist in the said ffominion ami Principality. And 2ndly. That! it is just and expedient that the public endow- ments enjoyed fey'the church establishment should, after making provision for an vested interests, be applied to the support of a national and undenominational system of education for the said Dominion and Principality of Wales.

gtd .4 itrid fewo.

ABERYSTWYTH.

liAMPSTFER.

LLANILAR.

TRE'RDDOL.

MACHYNLLETH.

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OPENING OF PARLIAMENT,

THE BURIAL LAWS.

THE SUNDAY CLOSINS' OF PUBLIC…

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PORTMADOC.

TDE TABLE FOR ABERYSTWYTH,…