Welsh Gazette and West Wales Advertiser

MRS. HUMPHREYS-OWEN AND MACHYNLLETH COUNTY SCHOOL. IN another part of our columns we publish a report of the seventh annual Speech Day at the Macbynlleth County School* when Col. PRYCE-JONES distributed the prizes and certificates, and gave an address. Mrs. HUMPHREYS-OWEN also spoke on some educational matters, and as she is a member of the Montgomeryshire County Governing Body, her attitude on certain educational questions of considerable moment at the present time has caused some surprise in that district. The Head Master in his address referred to the disad- vantage under which pupils from Mont- gomeryshire are labouring in their competi- tion, with those from the counties of Merionethshire and Cardigan, for the Rendel scholarship which has been recently established, and is open to the three counties. We were not aware (and possibly the public were not) ot this disability, until it was mentioned last week. It consists ia the fact that pupils from Montgomery must be, by the terms of their scheme, under eighteen years of age, while those from Merioneth may be any age, and those from Cardigan nineteen, while it is true that Machynlleth school won this scholarship this year, it is, nevertheless, highly improb- able that Montgomeryshire can hope to capture this prize under average and normal circumstances, once in a decade. It may be well to quote the Chief Inspector's general report, just issued on this question. He says, It would be well if the upper limit of age for pupils were fixed at nine- teen in all the County schemes. Schools in which the upper limit of age is fixed at eighteen are clearly at a disadvantage throughout, as compared with schools in which that limit is fixed at nineteen." In face of this very plain fact, we regret that Mrs. HUMPHREYS-OWEN took occasion to say she dissented entirely from the views of the Head Master, and confused the issue by the statement of her reasons for thinking the age limit of eighteen was high enough, if not indeed too high. Mrs. HUMPHREYS- OWEN refrained from stating why it was a good thing that pupils from her own County should stand very little chance of winning the Rendel scholarship. We can only con- clude she must be of opinion this scholarship is an evil to her County, and ought to be abol- ished. Mrs HUMPHREYS-OWEN also found her- self in complete disagreement from the views of Col. PRYCE JONES who deprecated the fact that the Montgomeryshire Governing Body had not sought powers, on the sugges- tion of another County Body, to increase if they thought fit, the halfpenny County rate levied at present, and thus place the schools that are financially in low water on a sounder financial basis. It is scarcely! beside the mark to reply, as Mrs. HUM- PHREYS-OWEN did, that the County Council already possesses the power to raise a higher rate for Technical Education. For we must remark that, unless some at least of the money so raised, be applied to the purposes of Intermediate Education, the question of the Technical rate is one that can have no possible interest for the schools. We regret to note that Montgomeryshire is one of the few counties that has applied none of such monies to help the schools. We must refer to one other point in Mrs. HUMPHREYS-OWBN'S criticism of a school that has for years been doing very brilliant work. She referred to the disparity in = numbers between girls and boys, but on consulting the schedule of the scheme we find that in all the schools of Montgomery- shire the proportion between boys and girls are as two to one, that is for every girl in the school there are to be two boys, and on that basis the schools receive their quota of the County fund. We are sorry to differ from Mrs. HUMPHREYS-OWEN, but we believe the time has now come when it is j possible to eliminate from the schemes irregularities and errors, which were bound inevitably to appear in them, and which bear hardly on institutions which have more than justified their existence by the character of the work they have so success- fully performed.

] Xmas Ulara$ Grting Co. Never a better opportunity to PICK from the Crystallised Cream of every Land. TTYER SPARKLING WITH NOVELTY. NOW OPEN FOR THE SEASON. THE ABERYSTWYTH BAZAAR I World's Fair, and Children's Palace of DELIGHT WITH AN ENTIRELY NEW AND ORIGINAL STOCK OF ALL THAT IS BRIGHTEST AND BEST Gathered from every part of the GLOBE. So Wonderful and Life-like is our Collection of Toys and Dolls that it makes young and old EXCLAIM. It is indeed a veritable Fairy Land of Delightful Things 1 Come for the Christmas Things to-day. Disappointment often meets late-comers. We pack the Bazaar Store Room willingly and free of cost. Present day purchases for later delivery. FANCY GOODS Of ail kinds in perfection and completeness of stock are always in mind here, and we offer many lines in Christmas and New Year Souvenirs at such low prices as are hardly realized. Whatever the age, station, or sentiment, they must find what will suit their I taste in this house of merchandise. I TOYSI TOYSI TOYS I I Instructive! Amusing! Entertaining! Our Meohanical Models are not only in perfect working order, but can be seen working any day in the World's Fair at the Bazaar. Welsh and English-made Toys Special Feature at Ward & Co. For strength and durability are far superior to all others. DOlls I DOllS! Dolls I OUR DOLL SHOW is more varied than ever. All Gems of Perfection. The BAZAAR DOLL'S PALACE is the great attraction. How deliehted the girls are. How the gleam of admiration brightens up their happy faces as they go tripping about among the myriads of dainty dressed, rosy-cheeked and cherry,lipped, Dolls of all ages. INFANT TOYS, soft, strong, and durable. FUR ANIMALS. WITH WHAT GLEE OUR LITTLE DOTS AND THEIR ELDERS ADMIRE A LOVELY DOLL; THE WORKING MODELS; OR A MINIATURE TRAIN AS IT STEAMS THROUGH TUNNELS AND ROUND CURVES AT EXPRESS SPBED. COME EARLY BEFORE THE BLOOM IS OFF. AND AVOID THB CRUSH. SEE THE GOOD THINGS PROVIDED LEISURELY AND WITH COMFORT. YOU'LL LIKE THIS EXHIBITION ABOVE ALL OTHERS BECAUSE THERE IS RIGHT HERE EVERYTHING OF THE BEST, AND ALL SO CORRECT. NOW WHAT DO YOU NEED ? HERE IS THE LIST. IT IS WORTH READING. AT CHRISTMAS TIME MORE PEOPLE THAN USUAL COME IN TOUCH WITH THE ABER- YSTWYTH BAZAAR. WE COULD NOT AFFORD TO DISAPPOINT THEM AT THE MOST POPULAR RESORT IN WALES Crackers and Bon-Bons. To ensure a merry evening party get a good supply of the mirth-inspiring Crackers from Ward & Co., World's Fair. PARENTS ARE INVITED to bring their Children to see the Toys and Working Models. PRIVATE CHRISTMAS CARDS. TABLE TENNIS. f LEATHER AND CABINET GOODS. PLUSH GOODS. PHOTO FRAMES. LARGE ASSORTMENT OF CHOICE CIGARS. LARGEST STOCK OF PIPES IN WALES. IN FACT EVERY NOVELTY OF THE SEASON. Ward 6s Co., Bazaar, Great Darkgate St., (Next Door to the New Post-Office.) +. NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS. We have been compelled to hold over several reports for want of space.

MR. AUGUSTUS BRIGSTOCKE AND AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATION. Tms week we publish a full report of an important address on agricultural co-opera- tion delivered by Mr. AUGUSTUS BRIGSTOCKE at the annual meeting of the University College of Wales Agricultural Society on Friday. Mr. BRIGSTOCKE has given much time and thought to the study of the subject, with the result, we believe, that increased knowledge has only deepened his conviction that co-operation offers at least one way out l' 'I 'I or the slough ot despond into which too many of our farmers have fallen, and in which far too many of them are apparently content to remain. The zeal and energy, which Mr. BRIG8TOCKB is throwing into the difficult task which he has undertaken have already marked him out as the apostle of the movement in West Wales. Mr. BRIGSTOCKE, moreover, believes in his mission and if faith can remove mountains, we are con- vinced that it would be hard to find a better man than Ir. BRIGSTOCKE to translate the principles of co-operation into practice. Without raising false hopes or inviting any unmecessary opposition he is detotKhed to do all he can to put the principles he advo- cates to a fair test, firmly believing that the result will be a permanent benefit to the agricultural community. Space will not permit us to deal at length with the many advantages that it is expected would accrue I to the farmer by the establishment of a well- j organised co-operative society, and for an enumeration of these, and for much other valuable information respecting the aims and objects of such a society, we can do no better than recommend all who are inter- ested in the subject to carefully peruse Mr. BRIGSTOCKE'S address. To what extent co- operation may help the farmer by bringing him material relief remains to be seen but we are inclined to believe that it would serve to bring about many improvements simply by the interchange of ideas. Co- operation may prove a very present help in times of depression, but unless it have a basis from which it can exert a powerful educative influence that will make for a continuous advancement it can yield no lasting benefits. It is not enough that farmers should combine in order to overcome present adverse circumstances. They must also make an unceasing effort to lessen those adverse circumstances, and one way to do this is for every farmer and landowner to cultivate that small estate within the ring- fence of his own skull," as CHARLES DICKENS used to put it. In this direction the Agri- cultural Department of the Aberystwyth College is doing splendid work, and is, we believe, destined to do yet much more. Co- operation may do much, but we believe that the farmer's first line of defence will be found in wider culture such as that provided at Aberystwyth College. This kind of work also has, we are glad to learn, the practical sympathy and support of Mr. BRIGSTOCKE, Mr. D. D. WILLIAMS and his colleagues are to be congratulated upon the success of the short course of lectures for farmers' sons. No better proof of the appreciation of these classes could be required than the faet that Mr. WILLIAMS has had to continue them for an extra week at the urgent request of the students.

LORD ROSEBERY'S SPEECH. WE must confess that the lively anticipa- tions and the high hopes of our friends, the Conservatives, aroused our suspicions as to what LORD ROSEBERY would say at the 1 Chesterfield meeting. But the oracle has spoken, and neither of the two great political! parties are much the better. He, no doubt, mirrored the feeling of the country admir- ably and truthfully, but he did no more. The country is in a wavering mood, and LeRD ROSEBERY wavered with it. The whole Empire hung upon his lips as he spoke for two hours on Monday night. lie uttered many a telling truth, but we fear it will be vain to expect the country to have heard in it the one clear call." The Earl of ROSEBERY said he deprecated the fuss" that had been made of the meeting in advance, and said there was nothing celestial or inspired about it. He j was there simply to speak his mind. He had some advice to give to the Liberal party —a party which had suffered by a long exclusion from office, or if not from office, from power. The Liberals had got rid of the Irish alliance and its consequences, and they had to gain, or regain, the confidence of the country. Let them "clean their slate," and consider well what they should write upon it in the future. There were Tory Liberals in the Liberal party, and they seemed unable to comprehend that the world was moving. His Lordship said that if he were in power his watch-word would be ii efficiency "-in the navy, the army, commercial affairs, education, the housing of the poor, and temperance. The efficiency of the legislative and administrative machine was of immense importance. Wo were in the presence of a grave national crisis, to which three causes had contributed—foreign rela- tions, the Ministry, and the war. We were regarded with ill-will and even hatred by the peoples of Europe, a feeling which might overcome the desire of the Governments of Europe to maintain good relations with us. Passing on to the war, he deprecated the pugnacious oratory of Mr. CHAMBERLAIN, and said that the Government had failed in its duty to demand explanations from Mr. KRUGER when it discovered how extensively; he was arming after the Jameson Raid. They ought to have been prepared for defence when they saw how the Transvaal was arming. With regard to the snatch dissolution last year, Lord ROSEBERY said it was a grave breach of political morality, and he demanded, amidst prolonged cheering, that the Government should, as soon as the war was really over, appeal to the country for its verdict upon their promises and their performances. Nothing bad struck so deep to the roots of political morality as the elec- tion of 1900. Lord ROSEBERY satirised the remark of the Lord CHANCELLOR that a sort of warfare was still going on in South Africa. It was said that there was no alternative Government. In all his life, from all the bitterest foes of Great Britain, he bad never heard such disparagement of her as a doctrine like that. If it be true," be said, put up the shutters, forswear your Empire, and go to dig in your cabbage garden. A. nation that cannot produce an alternative to the present Government is more fit to control allotments than en Empire." Upon the question of the war Lord ROSEBERY said that while he was anxious it should end, we must pursue it to that end with all the energy and all the resources of which we were capable. He would at the same time listen to any over- tures for peace from the exiled Boer Govern- ment. After reminding the meeting that the Dutch and the British must live together in South Africa, Lord ROSEBERY id-" I, for one, declare myselt in favour of the largest, promptest, and most liberal amnesty that our security will allowi uridei- the present circumstances." As regarded the terms of settlement he would, he said, give civil rights to all Boers who had taken and signed a definite and drastic oath of allegiance. He believed that when the time came for the Boer Government to open itself freely through indirect means to His MAJESTY'S Government, peace would not, or should not, be very remote. Concluding his speech, Lord ROSEBERY said the object of our policy at home should be to restore the efficiency of Parliament, of our adminis- tration, and of our people, and of our foreign policy, to dispel the atmosphere of suspicion and hatred which had grown "up around us, and to restore things to the footing on which they were when the Liberal party left office in 1895. What he could" do to further that policy he would do.

NOTES AND COMMENTS. Mrs. T. E. Ellis and others have issued an appeal to the charitable public on behalf of the poor and the aged among the Welsh community in the Metropolis. While the greater part of the country is shivering in the throes of a terrible storm of biting wind, rain, audj snow, Aberystwyth is enjoying a wonderful immunity and is practically untouched by the blizzard, which is making such havoc elsewhere. This is a fact which should be given a wide publicity. The Earl of Cawdor presided over an important gathering at Haverfordwest on Friday, when it was decided to inaugurate a sub-branch for the counties of Cardigan, Carmarthen, and Pembroke, of the National Association for the Prevention of Consump- tion and other forms of tuberculosis. It is to be hoped that the time is not far distant when it will be found possible to establish a. joint counties Sanatorium for this district. The Welsh Pony and Cob Society is making headway, and the arrangements of the Inspection Judges for the First Volume are announced in our advertising columns this week. Sir Marteine Lloyd, the genial Baronet of Bronwydd, Mr D. Lloyd Lewis, of the National Provincial Bank, Aberyst- wyth, and Mr Jenkin Jenkins, Blaenplwyf, Talsarn, who take a keen interest in the movement, will gladly supply any informa- tion respecting the conditions for entries. Newquay, we are glad to note, is at ]aM¡ moving—and in the right direction. Steps are now being taken to provide that place with a public hall, the want of which, undoubtedly, seriously militates not only against the highest welfare of the community, but also against the prosperity of the town <IS Hi Slimmer roflnrf. Tho nna Vtona AP -a.& 'LA. "1. public life at Newquay is jealousy, and a rank suspicion that every move for the general weal is but to serve some near end. Once let the leaders of the people sink their minor difference, and Newqnay will soon rise and go ahead. The Board of Agriculture draw attention to the fact that there are now no districts in Great Britain to which muzzling orders made by the Board are applicable, and the free movement of dogs between Great Britain and Ireland is permissible. There appears to be good reason to believe that rabies has now ceased to exist in the United Kingdom, but the Board state that it con- tinues to be very prevalent abroad. They have, therefore, issued a new order regulat- ing the importation of dogs, which will take the place of the present regulations in ch next. The report of the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture contains some interest- ing statistics relative to the rapid develop- ment of the bee-keeping industry in that country. The annual honey crop is now valued at about £ 4,000,000. This seems an enormous figure, but the sxtensive scope of the operations may be judged from the fact that there are now considerably over 300,000 persons engaged in the culture of bees, 100 apiarian societies, eight periodicals devoted to the trade, and 15 factories for the manufacture of beehives and kindred imple- ments. This week we give reports of speech days at the Tregaron County School, Machynlleth County School, and at the recently estab- lished Secondary School for girls at Lam- peter. At Tregaron the ceremony this year was unique, inasmuch as the whole proceed- ings were conducted in Welsh :ttid that, we learn, with marked success. We have occasion to deal with the proceedings at the Machynlleth County Sohool in another column. At Lampeter Mrs Daavies-Evans, of Highmead, and Mrs Wilmot Inglis-Jones, of Derry Ormond, delivered interesting addresses Elsewhere we publish the final reply of the Aberystwyth temperance party to Mr Fossett Roberts, and this, so far as they are concerned, brings the affair of the challenge to an end. This week space will not permit us to do more than simply record the verdict of public opinion, which is, in plain blunt language, that Mr Fossett Roberts has funked. We do not want to reitejiite or to retract anything we have already said on this subject, but we think it should be distinctly understood that Mr Fossett Roberts ca. never claim that he has had the best of the temperance party in this little affair; for Mr Fossett Roberts, like his still-born challenge, has had to quit the st:.ge, unwept, unhonoured, and unsung." The County Governing Body of the Merionethshire intermediate schools at their meeting at Barmouth on Thursday took a step towards acknowledging the claims of Dr Williams's school for girls te official recognition as a centre of secondary educa- tion. Though still outside the intermediate education scheme of the county, the school, it was admitted, did the work of a county school for girls, and its existence had saved the county governors the trouble and expense of establishing a girls' school for the Dolgelley district. In these circum- stances the county governors decided to hand over a sum of X200 allocated to the Dolgelley district for the purposes of technical instruction to a joint committee representing both Dr Williams's school and the County School for Boys. Mr. Charles Williams in the Morning Leader" say, We need only repeat our belief not only that the regulations will have the effect of driving half the volunteers out of their units (their attendance at company drill counts nothing unless there are present one officer, three n.c.os., and 20 irieti 1), but that they are intended to do so, and thus pave the way for a declaration by Mr. Brodrick, or his successor at the War Office, that nothing remains but the rigid enforcement of the militia ballot, that is to say conscription _1 1 1 WUlcn, we nave long since pointed out, is, though its operation is suspended," the law of the land. And from the militia ballot to compulsory service, without ballot, is only a step, and a step which Mr. Brodrick means to take if he continues to run the Pall-mall office. For rank bigotry it would be hard to beat the « Church Times." In its last issue it calls the Bishop of Sheffield to task for contributing towards the re-building of a Methodist meeting house at Rotherham, which had been burnt down. In enclosing his donation the Bishop tells the Methodist preacher that when he was vicar at Rother- ham the Chapel was a well-known worker for good in the par ish." The Church organ has no bowels for this kind of tribute and the Bishop's appreciation has galled it eve* more than the Bishop's gift, for it adds that ("the fact remains that it (the Methodist Chapel) works to some extent in antagonism to the Church, unless we are to accept the novel theory that the Separatist Bodies are co-workers with the Church." Poor pur- blind bigot! Pity it has been born so late in the day. The "Church Times" and Smithfleld faggots would go well together.