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I Llandovery Gossip.

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I Llandovery Gossip. I [By CIW BOWDDWR. "] The fate of Llandovery Workhouse is still in the balance. Mr. W. Thomas, Caio, was not present at last Friday's meeting of the Board of Guardians. So it was decided to adjourn the discussion on the advisability of closing it for another month. Ald. Watkins has not yet entirely lost hope. He gave it as his opinion that the time is not yet ripe for closing the Institution. The debate, when it does take place, is pretty sure to be interesting, for the champions pro and con are able and forcible speakers, and none more so than the veteran, who leads for the negative. The local Branch of the N.U.R., at their meeting on Sunday, decided not to run a candidate all on their own for the Town Council at the November election. But they -r e l ect ion. But they were addressed by Mr. James Price, Cwm- gwyn, an aspirant for municipal honours, whose views on questions that are engaging the attention of the Council at the moment and those looming ahead met with general approval. At the close, he answered a num- ber of questions, including that of the re- election of Aldermen. He is against the principle, and instanced the stand he had taken in regard to co-option at the Board of Guardians, of which he is a member. The retiring Councillors, all of whom, I believe, will seek a renewal of the confi- dence of the burgesses, are Messrs. H. Havard, Ben Jackson, Daniel Lewis, and David Jones, Upton House. Other names I mentioned as candidates include that of Mr. Jones, Star Supply Stores, and Mr. James Price, as already mentioned. We are in for a warm time in the ancient borough from now on to the 1st of November, anyhow. There will, no doubt, be public meetings, at which-candidates will be invited to ex- press their views. The old 'uns will be invited to give an account of their steward- ship, and will probably come in for a little heckling. The young and untried will, if they follow the lines of the past, make pilgrimages into the future, loading their pro- gramme with fair promises—some impossible of achievement. The annual leport of the Medical Officer of Health to the Rural Council is not very cheerful reading. The infantile mortality, although slightly lower than last year, higher than for the whole of England and Wales. --T,leTe is a scarcity of trained mid- wifery nurses in the rural area. Even if it were only Health Visiting (says the doctor), it would materially assist mothers in the proper feeding of their infants. The general mortality was the highest recorded for many years—21.8 per 1,000. Residence in the country is not, at any rate so far as this locality is concerned, as many would fain have us believe, conducive to health and longevity. Whilst the influenza epidemic in the urban area was slight so far as mortality was concerned, it claimed no fewer than 21 victims in the rural. There were 13 deaths from pulmonary tuberculosis. This is most unsatisfactory. The influenza epidemic has strongly emphasised the need of j' housing reform. Even the general public were amazed at the conditions under which some of the people lived. During the influenza epidemic we had from 4 to 11 j people in the same house down with this disease in bedrooms with no fireplaces and windows not made to open. In two-room cottages with earth floors and zinc roofs, is it surprising we had 13 deaths from phthisis, 17 from cardiac disease, which in every case originally arise from rheumatism due to the i housing conditions? Very few of these pouses are provided with a water supply, except water in an exposed well or stream." During the housing enquiry, a case was men- tioned where the accommodation was so wretched that, in the case of a death from influenza, the corpse had to be placed in an outhouse pending interment. There are scores of farmhouses scattered over the country without lavatory accommo- dation and other requirements one would ex- pect to find in a civilised country, where women form a portion of the occupants and the common decencies of life call for observ- ance. Your ,rollicking farmer friend will tell you that, as in the days of his ancestors, the open fields are good enough for both sexes.

"The Second Coming."

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IOur Poultry Column.

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Liandovepy-Boapd of Guardians

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