South Wales Weekly Post

CAMBRIAN PRINTING WORKS, 211, HIGH STREET, SWANSEA, POSTERS, HANDBILLS AND SALE BILLS.

The credit belongs to the Committee of .the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, of havino- "detected and initiated action in re- card to a claus.e in a Bill to amend and ex- tend the Truck Act, 1331-1896. which, if permitted to become operative, would crip- pie hospitals and infirmaries drawing their revenues largely from the contributions of workmen. The clause prohibits the em- ployer from making any deduction from wages in respect of any subscription or pay- .ment to any benefit society, sick club, hospi- tal, or any other society, club or benefit, cr for medical attendance. The usage in West W;1PS. as ;i-i most other industrial areas, is to obtain the consent of the employes of a company or firm to a deduchon of a penny or ?me pence in the £ beŒg m.de and the total sum thus deducted to be pald oyer to hospital (or other fund by which the work- men benefit. If this practice were made ille.g,al and re- placed by a system of collecting weekly or monthly from each individual, the result would be disastrous to the hospitals, for the ill different and the thoughtless would allow the whole burden to fall on the shoulders of the willing, and the ultimate sufferers would b¿, the workmen themselves, from whose ranks the overwhelming majoritv of the patients are drawn. Swansea Hospital Man- agement hRssignified its readiness to help in any concerted action taken to have the ob- jectionable clause deleted, and there is little doubt that other hospital authorities will take the same course once they realise the probable effect of such a clause. It is expected that tenders for the con- struction of the new Joint Asylum at Swan- sea will be in ha,nd in a month's tune, and am actual start made with the work either April or June. The spreedy pio\i^ion ot shelter for the poor patientjs near the homes of their ia.milies and friends will be greatly welcomed by the btter, to whom the distri- bution of the afflicted over Welch and Eng- lish asylums constitutes a decided hardship, since visits can rareiv if eve* be made to them. N-,l' could the existing arrangement, at the best of a makeshift character, M long tolerated. G that the obi'fiction to properly house the ZOO or 400 mental SufIir'E\rS from Swansea and about half as many irom ( Merthvr was not one that permitted of more than te.mpou.'ary evasion, On the other hand, it is not easy to fore- [ cast the actual Effx-t of the ohinge when completed. The' covt of the bnildibsrs. and the <H.u;]ra*«t ci n(,t, short ot it five «gOTef'is not evca exceeded. Fortunately, so fnr as Swansea ? concerned. bhe s?m of ??.5"'0— the price paid for brvin? out the borough's interest in the Tusti^'tioji wbeoi t.he litter was taiVrp oYr exclusively for G L- ro, Cr e&ll on deposit for vcara, and must bv tlti, time, by reasoning j of accruing interr-st, b^nme considerably mnre. This will be ava ilable as a propor- ticon of 's contribution to the capital outlay T1wn once completed, and the T,?M.?i.t\- f<?- ranr* for the ?.?om?od?on ?f t'? r"'t!?t? ???-hM'e di?n?e?.-?. the pr-in? wiTl '? p-3tt!c?nv t??d wh?t.h?r the pf-.illt w,ll ,e of tbp o?m?' "ut- lay and the mainWMUiee expenses w-M to a substantial degree exceed the prese t maintenance of the patients. The prohabiUtv is that t-hey will. and to an ex- tent not -adeouatel v compensated by any indirect financial advan.a.'T'eis derived from the proximity of the asvlum to the town. But the change was absolutely rni^rvoid- *Jjl,e. n.rvl all that the two authorities con- cerned could do was to Tr.I<e is Th is they achieved bv coopera- tion. which lias wvwd both Swansea aiid Mertbvr many thousands of pounds in capital oi'tHy. and hundred# a vewr in m.a.in- tieiiauoe '')n. The ft nl,iv he noted that t-h?, Joint Committee, const,i< u^ of lew jwutat.i ves of the two mumoiryihtieE, has hern &H« to carrv out ita work plefls- aait\jr and with an enti re absence of friction. —————— ——————

On the day on wIuch the result ?t tne roÙing in South Buckinghamshire was ce- 'red the London "Daily N ew M?d t* j~t- declared ?? "The immedi?e qnestion is Home R?-" The Prime ??"?- tee UnA 'don3 his utmost to make thia ?s?.e i^vt, S »n,e <i.T Wore ? e<;t:Qn h, sent to the Iblej,ai cand.dite mew™ in which the vote] weM exhor?d m wh?eh the ?0?1? that t fthh.e „l«c- SH?? South Buck, will i-e»b» the import- ance of acconiing vou thlr support in o/utT tb. ?t the hands Of the Government mav be strengthened ui nnaHy ?ettnn-, pi?bl?s onneéted with Iri.h fe]f-goVtH'nm.ent" wOlch have censed such grave disseiisioii in the p?t." The new Unionist member fox S,,ith Wuckir,Iianxsliii,o w?s opposed ii, the cl, atituencv bv a strong and popular i' candidate, and he also had to rneet very vigorous and not too punctilious cam- paign conducted on the Government s be- half by Lord Lincolnshire, who is 1 he largest landowner in the distiiet. Th-P motion of Sir Alfred Cripps as Lord rar- lnoor to the Upper House had deprived South Buckinghamshire of a representati ve who completely commanded the allegiance of the gr-eat. majority of the electors, aTd after such a loss there is always a tendoncy to reaction. Yet Mr. Du Pre beat his op- ponent by 2,331 votes. In Bethnal (ireen the Unionist candidate was contesting a constituency which had been steadily Liberal for more than twenty years, with the exception of the war time of 1900, when an ii-resistible appeal A as Inade to the patriotism which again i iani- Jested itself last Thursday. Liberalism Was represented by a newly-promoted Cabinet Minister, whose prominence is eii-P to the fact that he has been Mr. Lloyd George's factotum for Insurance Act pur- j ixxses. Mr. Masterman utilised his record in this respect for all it was worth, and v M i ^hokscmely instructed as to its real value. ? ?? algo copied h.s chief by covering the S?gerbread of hi,? p'erformancG? with a Z"p- thick gilt layer of promises, and the .Star," the London evening paper, "hich! ?ubli,h,,d by the "Daily News," td., ? el-h  the Rethnal Green electors to vote | for l?qr Masterman as the man who could T ,d,eli'e'r the goods." Of course, as Mr. | H '"??? George md?gna.ntiv protested in the; ]Ff,)U?S() of Commons a day or two :wo T?- beral never temot voters with anything i that co 13ever tempt vot.ers .with an:t!lIlg: T? ?? eolourabiy be considered a 'rIbe. 7le f Daily News itself remarked on the day Of tb, P°"'n? With every dav that PQat T L^ truth about the (Insurance) !.????'?s better known to the people." It ?'? ?s have become so well known in t-efra'?''? ??'? ?'s ele?t?rs ca.rehl1y ?'? ?-'turnin? ATr. Masterman ?'?t h? ?? deliver n,7, ,Ninstei.-naii '?'sed. d eliver Lhe goods as 1)ro- Our Ministerial friends have been trying to draw such solace as they can from ac- claiming the exiguous Socialist vote in Bethnal Green-316-as really given in sup- port of the Government. Admittedly the Socialist candidate intended to oppose Mr. Masterman, admittedly he did his utmost IA. oust the Insurance Act champion rom his Parliamentary seat, admittedly Mr. Seurr's campaign was a vehement protest against the principle and the methods of Liberalism, yet our Ministerial Mark Tap- lays assure us that when the 316 Bethnal Green electors did their best to return Mr. Scurr to Parliament in place of .Mr. Master- man, that was their playful way of carry- I ing a vote of confidence in the Government. They were supporters of Mr. Asquith just bccause they sought to get rid of his nominee in their own way. Mr. Scurr him- self remarked on the subject, I am re- joiced to have defeated the Government by taking away votes," and added, We have struck a blow for purer government." "From this our hard pressed Liberal commentators on the result of the polling derived—once more—a mandate for the (Cabinet's policy. The Liberals retained Poplar, though the anti-Ministerial majority was 614, and the Unionist candidate approached within 278 votes of the Liberal nominee—a man ex- ceptionally well known in Poplar public life —although the constituency has been consis- tently Liberal, for decades past, and in 1892 they polled no less than five thousand and seven votes upon a smaller electorate. The flimsy excuse is again being urged that the Socialist standard-bearer—who was, in his agent's words, working to defeat the Libe- ral candidate"—can be counted as a Min- isterial supporter; thai: the Insurance•• Act was the dominating consideration with the electorate. The broad fact remains that upon the predominating issue, be it Home Rule, or be I,it the Insurance Act, the Gov- crnment's nominee sustained an enormous loss of the votes that has but to be ap- proached upon a correspondin.g scale else- where to turn the Ministry clean out of office. When the Parliament Act was under discussion the Premier declared in the clearest terms that bye-elections would pro- vide a recognised outlet for tiie expression of public opinion upon a measure that was passing through under the provisions of the Act. The Government can, if it chooses ignore Poplar and Bethnal Green, but it will destrov all shred or claim to be r-onside-, I, as a constitutional administration, and will turn the Parlia.ment Act into a genuine re- volutionary instrument of party warfare. It is a profound misfortune that at so critical a juncture as the present, when the peril exists that we may relapse to a barbaric form of settling domestic policies—civil war- fare, that we had all come implicitly to believe to have been abolished Wre than a bentur* v ag-o-tbe conditions under which th3 Home Pule Bill is being pressed forward are so beclouded and uncertain. A great constitutional change is being effected under an admittedly temporary political interreg- num un4er conditions that resemble the usurpation of pøw", by Rn clicMchic dicta- toTHhip, determined to ignore every manifes- tation of public discontent until it has achieved its ends. This dictatorship simul- taneously asserts., a claim for obedience to its decrees or the ground that it has been con- stitutionally approved by the people, bolster- ing itself up with the new theory of the "divine vkrht of the people" that has super- seded the exploded conception of the "divine right of monarchy." The Parliament Act 1las been set up as an expedient for the passiiig into law under ab- norma l conditions of a measure whose prin- ciple h-is been twice specifically and em- phatically condemned by the public. In the face of such a situation any laws rassed possess such vabdity as may be couferrad by the force available to compel obedience to them, and not that with which legislation is endowed bv the sanction of public opinion, i When a law is backed by nothing morally stronger than mere force, force may pro-1 perlv be employed to oppose it. But civil war opens up such a nrospect that in general public opinion in Britain is prepared to endorse extensive sacrifices upon both sides if made with the object of averting it.

"The cord which binds Britain to India may be cut at any moment. The great Brown Continent is becoming EO packed with combustible matter that a flare-up is only 4 question of time, unless Britain wakes to the truth at once and, by sweeping reforms, sets her Indian palace in order. The India Office at home knows as little of the actual internal conditions of India as the Viceroy himself. For there is a gigantic conspiracy of silence." These ominous words, taken from an ar- ticle, "Shall we Lose India?" contributed by Mr. Shaw Desmond to the "London Maga- zine," if they stood alone might be dis- missed as the exaggerations of an alarmist. But, so far from being isolated and unsup- ported expressions of opinion, they only vary in form, and not in substanoe, from others which during the last two or three years have been coming into our magazines and newspapers from men, distinguished and un- distinguished, with a more or less intimate knowledge of India and the Indian people. Mr. Valentine Chirol, who is described as "perhaps the greatest pro-English authority on India, declares that "among the younger generation of Hindus there has grown up a deep-seated and bitter hostility to British rule. Mr. H. Fieldi ig Hall, in last October's "Nineteenth Century," wrote "Of all the problems that lie before the English people to-day there is none more vital, none more pressing, than that of India. For the dis- content there does not decrease, nor can it do so. It lS not sporadic. but universal, and though it has its crests and troughs, it has no ebb, but flows unceasingly. India is lost to us in sentiment. She can no longer bear our rule. It galls her and she resents it. She waits now but her opportunity, and, given that, she will depart from us—will we or nill we. Yet that would be ruin to both of us; no one who looks facts in the face will doubt that this is so. Therefore, before it is too late, it behoves us to take stock of the-I situation. Mr. Geoffrey Cookson a oouple of months earlier, in the same periodir.al, askea "How comes it that we are con- fronted with a dark and murderous con- spiracy directed by Indians against their benefactors? We urge upon India the bless- ings of civilisation, and she responds by or- ganised assassination. Ca.n nothing atone for our white faces, our proud, cold hearts, our brutal manners, our arrogant eloofne,-si Must we be prepared to either quit the f country or to face a reign of terror when no European will be safe?" India is known to be honeycombed with secret societies; seditious literature of the most foul and pernicious character is being produced on an extensive scale in India it- pelf; in London, Paris, South Africa and J America there are active bodie" engaged in supplementing the home supply by inde- pendent productions which are smuggled anto India. The manufacture of bombs for mur- derous uses has become almost a business, and even though the formidable movement, I by which, disguised as gymnastic exercises, I drill and the use of arms were being taught to organisations of men, having thousands of members, has been. checked, there is every reason for believing that the effect has been mainly to make the practice more eecret. And the native newspapers go as far as they dare in instilling poisonous notions into the minds of their readers. Even more in- sidious and dangerous are the fourteen mil- lion Brahmans who, in the words of Mr. Des- mond, are the driving force under the fire wave of sedition, some of them preaching a sort of holy war against the British rule, set- ting India aflame." What is the cause that makes India hate us? asks Mr. Fielding Hail. She did not I do so once. We did not conquer India. She placed herself beneath our ruile of her own free will. It was not English troops who I' won India, nor who kept India for us in the Mutiny. They were the nucleus, no doubt, ¡ but alone they could have achieved noth- ing. They were too few in number, too oppressed by the hostile climate, too im- I mobile to achieve a conquest. An English army might march through India it could not conquer it. India was won by Sepoy regiments under British leadem; by Sepoy police; English rule was accepted bv the people gladly. India gave herself to us 150 years ago, and again ratified her consent. I but 50 years ago. Yet now she fiercely v.iLshes a divorce and she is bound to get I it unless our relations change." I Mr. Cookson puts the same point in an- other form. "Our masterful eighteenth century ancestors found India stunned and fallen. Their success, their superior, moral pretensions captivated her imagination. They came to her in the guise of liberators, almost as being from another world. But we haye raised her iip we have restored her to consciousness; we have imparted to her something of our own unrest; of our active and inquiring minds, of our more generous vitality, and we have disillusioned her. The longer our stay an -India the more active our efforts to influence her outward life and her ideals, the more ir- reconcilable appears the antagonism. The crisis has been visibly nearing with every ef- fort on our part to graft West on Eaet. No; the. astonishing thing ie not that there is unrest in India but that we have enjoyed so long a period of tran- | quilitv; that the forces of aggression and re- snstance which came'into contact with tSie i arrival of the first European adventurers have not broken out into more frequent ex- 1)hy. ions. Alike by our virtues and our faults we were the people of all others most calculated to precipitate the crisis." Here we have the view put forward of an inevitable clash, due to inherent racial, tem- r>eramental, and other differences, a.nd prac- tically unavoidable causes, ttnly delayed by influlellice.3 of dimanisdiiixg potency. But this concept of the situation in India, whilst colouring the reflections of most writers, h1 not generally accepted, save as bearing upon one of the many causes (aomo of them preventable) contributing to create the present conditions. Mr. CVokscm asks the conventional qixes- tions that most readily suggest themselves to the average British mind whenever the stability of OUT rule in India is chal- lenged, or a doubt expressed as to our right to the respect, gratitude, and loyalty of the Indian people. But only to show that the answers yielded are not in all oases of the kind expected. "Have we not given her good things? Look at our roads, bridges, railways, telegraphs, irrigation works, our harbours, hospitals and universities. Do not the returns of trade, agriculture, the census speak for themselves. Is not our CLvil Service the finest in the world? Are- we not admitt.ing her sons to a fuller .,ha.re in the government of their country, What can she want more?" Mr. Cookson doubts if the Orientals care about material progress, and shows how railways and other indications of western activity have not been unmixed blessings to a people who have their own indigenous industries destroyed or debased by European competition. "Even if the improvements concerned things about which India oares most, the fact that they were imposed from without would render them the less acceptable. Our triumphs in administration, or in engineering, a-re not her triumphs. We are justly proud of them, but we lack imagination if we forget that thev cannot stir in the hearts of our Indiatn fellow-subjects the same emotions as in our own." The author of Where Three Empires Meet," who was as intimate with Indian masters as a Eruropean, could ever hope to be, dealing with a period forty or fifty years ago, attempted an analysis of the sentiments yr 'h which the Indians regarded the English- man. "They respect him for his courage, love of justice and straightforwardness, but they do not love nor even understand him." It would appear as if much, if not all of this respect had oozed away and filled their hearts instead with "the conflicting emotions of envy, contempt and racial animosity." Mr. Fielding Hall does not consider the reason of the change difficult to discover. "To one who has been for twenty-seven wars among the peoples of the provinces as non-ofifcial and as official it seems quite obvious. India dislikes our rule because it hurts her, and the reason that it harts her is that it has become bad. It has for fifty years or so deteriorated and grown more harsh, more unsympathetic and more pedan- tic. India, on the other hand, has grown. She wants more liberty, not less. We held her in elastic leading-strings some fifty years ago. Now she is stronger, she wants the strings relaxed, but we have made them into iron and constricted them." Sir Bampfylde Fuller, the first Lieutenant Governor of Eastern Bengal, who was in the very centre of the most formidable out- bursts of Indian violence in recent times, offered in 1909 a very different explanation. Our troubles in India 'he wrote) have rroc-eeded from a change in our views as to the claims which England has upon India's loyalty. Until recently it has been our assumption that we were obeyed be- cause we deserved obedience we have now been apprehending that obedience can only be secured by negotiation, by the grant of concessions to those that may clamour for them. In the past we have assumed that India was loyal to her British connection because of the respect she felt for the cour- age (straightforwardness; and justice of Englishmen; that she accepted British rule because she felt convi nced that it assured her a Government wnich was stronger, more honest, and more humane tha.n one which she could evolve for herself. During the last three years we have changed our reed. We have acted as if loyalty was not due which the State should command, not a manifestation of respect to which British rule was entitled, but a feeling which must be won by indulgence, a tribute, the pay- ment of which should be secured by nego- tiations, by compromises, by concessions." Hwp speaks ont tCie strong rrv>n who {-elieves tha.t only bv the firm hand can India be ruled and held. The diagnoses bearing upon the origin and nature of the disease may differ widely, as they are apt to do, but there seems to oe sub at antial aeemelltregarding its extreme gravity. For concurrently with the growth of discontent the barriers of the rival Indian religion-j are breaking down, and in the re- volutionary propaganda Hindu, Mahome- dan, Sikh, and Pur see a-re, fraternising for the common purpose i-f. 1 hrowjng off the I British yoke. Mr. Ohirol has stated, •• Eng- land could never hop»vto retain India merely by the sword against the combined hostility of its various r.,opies." The most disquiet- ing sign is the increasing extent to which Mahomedan and Hindu are able to com- pose their religious differences in other words, the dispoaitioa to combine which, if effected on an extensive scale, would be fatal tu British rule. More especially when the Mahomedans—sixty million strong ana possessed of a martial strength greater in proportion than any other Indian people- are drifting away from us, and the Sikhs, the lfower of the native army—these hardy soldiers from the Punjab carried us through, the terrible ordeal of the Mutiny—have dis- closed manifestation* i- hat the efforts to undermine their loyalty have not been ineffec- t:ve. As Air. Desmond reminds us, Lord Moaley, dilriti,, the, Bengalese unrest- in 1909, hinted that if a certain leader had not beeIt arrested and transported, the Sikh regiments might have risen in the night, and that Delhi only a short time ago. had guns trained on it in ex-ptctation of a rising. And of the 325,000 men comprising the In- ,.Il are white ?Lmong-,t' dian Army, only 75.010 are white amongst a population of 300,000,000. Townshend. whose Koks on Eastern peo- ples are at once the most illuminating and convincing, has predicted that the with- drawal of the British from India would quickly be followed by the nearly entire disappearance of every ign and token of an occupation which has lasted 150 years. For b that vast agglomeration of races the whites are practically lost except in a few cities aad garrison towns. There are mil- lions of Indians who live their live6, pre- occupied with the struggle for existence in villages remote from the main tracks of tiade and commerce, who have never seen a white man, and if they have heard of the Raj it is as of a being with whom they have not the slightest concern. The departure of the British would have no effect on the great mass of the Indian people, sunk into the torpor which overtakes the decadent nations, and who amid changes in rulers and conditions continue part of the patient and changeie&s East. An intelligent appreciation of the always possible convulsion in India—in recent years it has become an ugly probability—had its influence in bringing about the alliance with Japan and the uiriderstanding later with Russia. The first does rot provide for Japanese aid in fighting another Mutiny, since it relates only to the contingency of an external attack; but so long as the treaty lasts it ensures for us a friendly Power within striking distance to see to it that the difficulties within India are. not aggravated from witfcoii&tel whilst it Irie ^.nglo-Russiim entente^-also whilst it endures—deprives the revolutionary elentent in India of the encouragement which would I have been derived from the knowledge that a powerful potential ally might be contem- plating that dash-it was Skoboleff's dream, destined never to be realised, of leading the invading force—over the road traversed by the armies of every conqueror of India save the British, who came over the sea and en- tered by the front door. But, unfortunately, both alliances and ui-deratamdings are in their nature precarious. The fear of Germany, and German inliuence, which renders Russia plastic to pressure from Berlin, even when formally linked up to a rival combination, constitutes her an undesirable neighbour in Asia. There is no "fixity of tenure" in the arrangement by wtrich this great Asiatic Power is to leave Afghanistan and India outside the range of her activities. For the present the need of balancing, as a matter of safety, the great weight of Germany, the predominating part- ner in the Triplice, ensures the alliance with France and facilitates the understanding with Great Britain. Incidentally, too, it aids in turning a stream of French and Britisn gold into Russia, where it is wanted to de- velop the enormous natural resources of the Muscovite Empire and furnish the means for creating that Army and that Navy which are to be the outcome of a peace period for Russia which the Czar and his advisers are determined shall la6t long enough to achieve the purpose in view. Afterwards the direc- tion that Russian activities will take must become a matter of grave ooncern to the na- tions affected. Serious trouble for us, whether in India or Ulster, demanding an appreciable military effort, would unquestionably increase the chanceR, of a European war. As Dr. Dillon pointed out a few years ago, the German people, if so inclined, have never been able to prevent a war deemed expedient by the authorities when circumstances provided an odds on chance. And if by reason of a dis- abling strain within the British Empire the latter coased to be an effective unit in the combination ranged against the Triplice it would be in keepang with the unvarying policy of Germany to precipitate the inevit- able struggle with France in the expectation that Russia, for fear of becoming involved in an unsuccessful war, bound to be fatal to Czarism, might draw back and leave France to her fate, and by recognising German over- lordship of Europe defer for a time the de- cisive combat between Pari-Germanism and Pa-n-SIavism.

Captain Darling, Lakefield-roid, Llanelly, I formerly captain of the Llanelly trading boat Jason and of the dredger Lucy, was until a fortnight ago chief officer on the My Own. This Cardiff trader foundered a week ago when only one man was saved, :md Captain Darling' can be considered ver) fortunate, he having retired from the set vice of the company a few days before sue left for her last voyage. A few days ago an assistant in a Swansea draper's establishment was sent by the shop- walker to the rear of the premises for a cer- tain cape, which a customer required. The youth was some little time away, and when he returned with the cape, neatly folded, was greeted with the remark, "Well, here you arc at last. Why, you've been long enough to go to South America." "Well, sir," was the smart reply, as he handed over the article, "I did double the Cape." In a West Wales chapel, where candles were used, a rather taciturn and miserly old gentleman was elevated into the,iiosi- tion of deacon. After an unusually lon k time had elapsed, and the new deacon had not ventured to help in carrying on the ser- vices, he Was politely informed that he was expected to say a few words at the follow- ing meeting, and this was the substance of h\s speech I have not much to say, but I should !ike to know what is done with the bits of candles which we leave behind every night."

Stop Press: Sketty has a whistling lamp- post $ $I This year's spring equinox has come early, and made no mistake about it. The long arm of coincidence again. Both the Swans teams won by 3-1. Look out for some startling Parisian male confections this week-end at Swansea A Cardiff paper on Monday had reference -to, a ketch's "miser's mast," whatever that means. Fairplay, Swansea's houties cannot have been so badly built. They have withstood bit of weatfier lat-ely. Queen's Park Rangers played their cup-tie with Birmingham before a gate of a bout 35,000 people. Lie down, Swans' directors! "i-<>< Miss Eleanor Daniel, the young Llanelly actress, is now touring the States with a company of Welsh players who are perform- ing "Change." The persistent rumour on Sunday night at Swansea Docks that a vessel had gone down in the Bay with all lidrids happily proved to be without foundation. \.o?)t.???-<t-?. ? An analysis of the division on the Welsh amendment to the Address shows that of. .t(le five Welsh Labour members four did not vote and none of'the four was paired.. A youtfi. of 18 astonished the Cardiff Bench on Saturday by admitting that he could not read, although he had been at school until be was 14. There have been similar cases at IJ Swansea, and yet In the parish of CUrhedyn, Llanfyrnach, there is a puWic-honse known as Eden. Near it.is a wald track of land called Egypt, and a cottage called Canaan stood there till quite lately.—And Swansea has its Jericho! Lecturing at Swansea Library on Saturday, night, Mr. Moses Hoskina, speaking on "Celtic-Folk Lcre," said that Swansea was in the-heart of the fairy oountry. Now we know why op, rnimy, fairy, tales come from the døqk The idea ol' making caskets for tWs n&w Swansea freemen is unlikely to be persevered with. Considerations of expedition in ob- taining them and of economy, as well as others, indicate the expediency of purchas- ing them from recognised manufacturers. The fact that a scientist has been dis- coursing learnedly on the discovery of the brain of a womaii who lived 200,000 years ago has left the Swansea, "nuts" quite odd. As one remarked, "The 'bloomin' cheek' of the 20th century 'flapper' is good enough for me. 1\1 It was a "brave" day for Swansea foot- ball last week-end, for the All Whites got home against Neath by eight points the Swans captured two points in the Southern League competition by beating Mardy away, and the A Loam at home defeated Wal- sall Town. Of the thousands of football "supporters" of both codes, who on Saturday after Satur- day pour through the streets of Swansea, it is the Neatli "fcllower" alone who does not carry his club colours. Certainly he is not to blame, as a black rosette is not a very joyous emblem. Cardiff journeyed to Twickenham and there heat the vaunted Harlequins by three times over the line to once, while Newport at Gloucester took the home team's ground record by ten clear points. Not a bad Sat- urday afternoon's w-ork for decadent Welsh Rugby, was it?-("Prospero.") The Campania. Sansinina de Carnes Can- gela-dos" proved a bit of a mouthful in the Swansea Police Court on Saturday, but Mr. A. H. Thomas, the chairman, stuck up man- fully for Spanish, as well ail Welsh, saying he thought it qu-te as euphonious as the language reputed to have been spoken in the I Garden of Eden. The first" police dog imde its appear- ance in the Swansea Police Court on Satur- day. Leastways it qualified for that de- scription by putting in an appearance. It was not, however, sworn m "to obey the lawful commands oi the magistrates and superior ofnoers" on the other hand, it was promptly chucked out. ?- "Old Reader tf-an the first copy" (Neath) ,rites -Shrove Tuesday, next Tuesday. There was a tragedy in our town last year. The gii>od wife had forgotten it was Shawe Tuesday, and the youngsters were inad- vertentav-reminded of it at bedtime. The howl for the lost pancakes was heartrending. So we should imagine A visitor to Swansea one day last week saw the Swans win a Southern League game in the afternoon, then did a music hall, later had a run around the docks in the morning, going on to a olub "smoker" in time to par- tieipate in the rousing reception given to Mr Paton, th Swansea cueist and amateur billiard champion of Wales, by his fellow- members, and finished up at a ball in one of the big hotels. Next day 'he proceeded to Cardiff for a rest cure. Since the previous visit of the All Whites to Pa-ris there have been various changes in the Customs formalities incurring divers pains and penalties. Bt that as it may, the Swansea trainer. Bob Dowdle, who has I an open mind on the matter of tobacco, oiears, and cigarettes, avers tl-at if there is anv question of holding up his vaseline or embrocation then the Concert of LuroPe will be a "Ragtime Band" before next Saturday'(' 'P¡,ospero.") 'T "I sa\" how did you old birds manage in ancient days? Wliy, when the Whites played away you were absolutely storey beached' of a "Saturday afternoon."—"Oh, we lived through it. By the way, with the All Whites at St. Helen's, the Swans at the Vetch Field, a matinee at the Grand Theatre, and more picture showjs running than there is space to mention, how did you spend last Saturday afternoon ?" What.. I? Well er—um—let me see. Oh, I went and had my hair cut." i Little fish are sweet. At least the West Pier angler thought so on Monday. !:> Sign of the times.—An old Liandebic chapel is being turned into a cinema. 4- :$. Who paid for that band 1 And for those torches? Ah, wouldii't you like to know I saw him strike her on the spur of the moment," said a witness at Aberavcn on Monday. The weather menu for early Saturday morning Thunder, lightning, hailstones— and cold feet. The Swansea party travelling to Paris nrxt Monday to see-the football match includes two ex-Mavors .æ What's tha,t?" asked the small boy on seeing three discs "up" at the King's Dock entrance. Is it a pawnbroker's?" Annie Breeze, a Port T-e-nnant resident, was fined 40s. and oosts ft Neiith on Friday for coal stealing. It was a How." The old gateway to the now, defunct Jeffreys Arms in Oxford-street its forming part of the hoarding at Castle-street corner. I 1 Compared with the last Conservative gathering at the Swansea Albert Hall last night's Liberal effort was a very poor affair. One day last week a fisherman at Swan- sea Went Pier caught a dog in throwing his line. The dog soon had something to say. My learned friend's earlier effusion. One of Mr. Henry Th ompson s sly little digs at Mr. Rowlands in I a- Swansea affiliation case. ■ ¡, ,I A' Swansea Tory remarked on Saturday that the' result of the last of the thite- bye- • elections' wiafe not Poplax with either side ? <a..?.«' ? o. di,.rlilg tilt sl The nashes of lightning during tb? storm I eriy on' Saturday morning were very vivid. ?Lany a man got .to work early for the first. 1,ime this season. ..at"fI. I- It was an old joke, but it actually occuired at High-street Station the other afternoon How long will the next train l: 7" Candid friend: "About as long as this." Capt. Heneage'a speecli at the Salisbury Club on Thursday evening was jointed, clear and coucise, and every one admitted the subjoct of the Navy could not have fetn fyandied better. 1. The streets of Swauset presented a pretty sight after the heavy shower of hailstones on Saturday morning, but there was a sudden .1: come-down in the world for many people on their way to work: their way to work. Th 8&n.conquCO-+ g.& $l:'b': G;l,Ub'Ø,irij' team pro?eda m it* vtcton??o!??:'    b?mcu?tt ? -??t?! th? thev .ZjgteWMi Li?..?!' C?? ?ut t '!oil""    y ■ /oft ??. Ojf'j, .u.u. :J h'¡' '.h"' heartless PA all that! -4-0. Swaps' supporters were a little "bothered" to-day as to which match to concentrate most I' attention on, the Mardy or the Walsall one. One thing, the environment of the Vetch Field is a bit batter that of Mardy t>— Now that the Swansea Police, it is pro- posed, shall "dog" the footsteps of evil- doers in the most literal sense of the .void, the small boy is bursting to whistle, "Oh where, oh where is my little dog gone?" at their heels. a.e.a "Miss Fletcher," who sang at the Salisbury Club smoker on Thursday evening, fairly took the audience by surprise. After listen- ing to a fine soprano voice, the artiste took "her" hair off. Then the audience taw "she" was a mere man. A Swansea defendant, charged with the heinous offence of leaving his horse and vehicle unattended at Re?olven, exclaimed I did not think I was worthy of being summoned." How modest these Swansea people are.(" Hotspur.") The Cardiff Radical organ on Saturday states that the procession down High-street on Friday evening from Greenhill to the Albert Hall was "greeted with the utmost enthusiasm."—For enthusiasm read bewilderment," and you have it correct. A couple of months ago a new lamp-post was erected in one of the darkest parts of Sketty. Rumour hath it that folks may shortly expect the post to be surmounted by a. lamp, and if all goes well the lighting-up | ceremony will take place on Midsummer Day. There was one old lady on the platforVn of the Home Rule meeting who must have come from the Emerald Isle. Every time men- tion was made of some Irish Nationalist up would go a white handkerchief which she waved vigorously. It seems, to be the policy of the Customs' • anch of the Civil Service to move the chief officials about fairly frequently, for one speaker at the presentation to Mr. A. C. Sanders oil Friday had served under no fewer than iwenty collectors! The Church mifct be a real living entity at Briton Ferry. Tha.t splendidly unani- mous meeting of 1.200 grown-up persons this week should make local Nonconformity lift up its head and won d rT. Anyhow, fuch facts cannot help but tell in the present controversy. An elderly gentleman, charged at Neath with leaving his horse and cart, unattended at Seven Sisters, said he had only gone into the public-house to have a glass of Iter. He had never done such a thins bofore, I and was 64 years of age. Of course, lie didn't mean the g lass of beer. Sir Henry Lewis, of Bangor, calls atten- tion to the fact that the founder and en- dower of Llandovery College stipulated in the endowment deed that the Welsh lan- guage fchould be taught during an hour everv school day, and that "under no pre- tence or plea" should this provision be dis- regarded or neglected; "but that the same shall be *t all times religiously and faith- fully observed as the primary and chief ob- ject of the institution." Mr. Ifaaio Jones writing of the college, says that when the present Bishop of St. Asaph became warden he mad e Welsh an optional subject. It was customary at a little West Wales chape], which was noted for its lack of "fire." for the &enior deacon to spsak word.? of welcome to any prospective new member and point out the advantages of being a member of this particular chai a On a certain Sunday a witty old villager- named "John the blacksmith" remained behind at the "seiat" and the senior deacon ap proached him and said at the end of his welcoming speech, Yon can see we have the cream ol the villa" here? e; said John, "the ice-cream!" j Overheard on the Blackpill links :—"Jac: will ne\?r make a-golfer."—"Why?"— 'Hf WiiL 'iievu nia k-e a.O l fe r. N v, hv?" H o I' a A definite decision one way or another respecting the proposed Temple-street im- provement is expected within the »e$t week or two. Whether they aw worth it or not, tie exhibits a-t the forthcoming Swansea Aart Society s exhibition must not be priced at leas than one guinea. Nothing like eolev- ing art. It turns <!>-?-4x:?a??> of the c,?nt0a It turns out tha? the name of the forward fr&m Manchester secured for the Swans is named not Cashman, but Cash- more. Punsters will therefore. have to re- ad j ust their bearings. No less than ten accidents to Swansea school children sustained during school hours ore the subject of claims against the local Education Atithority. Meantime aren't the school playground surfaces to blame? $' An up-\ alley County School junior scholar recently produced a bit of a "bloomy" which must have somewhat amazed his su- porior. When asked by his teacher: "What is the plural of radius?" he answered, Diia meter The following little tale was narrated at a Sketty social gathering:—A half-a-crown and a threepenny-bit were quarrelling, and the former said, "Warn bigger than you." "Thrt is very true," replied the smaller coin "but, you know, I am better than you because J am more often 'in church." These bedays of records. For a long jieribd the music-hall artiste who boasted that he made the Shah laugh" held pride of place until another perfcrmor proved that iii, a Yorkshire town he made the band laugh. Now come the '"GTo.??uM" to the Swap- sea E?mp<iM. who, one ?.?? <?i.s wæl, mad* gm F,;npdre? rvjlo., oll?A i is A visitor to the Glynn YVmi Art Gal- lery the other day entort»»i .d a small but select aiirlionc»» with-a short gymnastic dis- play. After impting., D re maste-rpiecs at close quarters, he was ?.eppin? ??ck- wafd? to gt the ah<tdo'? vaht&b. when he glipp?j on the -?H-poliah?d noor, ?d ,c ii^ .vijiggjw paj-It?c?, ??bea-u?ui cropper. -A? h? its drawbacks/ eMM)er. h?-a it?s Llanelly has pfcyed its part during way time (in the manufacture of missiles. Dar- ing the Peninsular r-trugTile-vast quantities were turned out br Mi Ribv. During the Crimean War the late" "Mr. Ridmd Nepali manufactured hundreds oi. ferns of f-hot and shall at the Wei Ironworks. SMri year* afjjjsr the wa.r over several cargoes of thefee returned to Llanelly and wpre made I into tinplat.e bars. *»' ■» It is t'h? cu&tom in b.¡' h cl .c i C14i,n?i "or a' physician to tnke '??e 'Srs? d-M?? ?o t?t his iHus!t.nou& ?ti?t?!?.? !:?w th? iji?rc i? n?t.hM? ? <?& Bcr?" M?nt rh? 'And the c^&torn Mn be .ppH? 'M??0a  r?'ot:<Ti.fo?Mi ? v.'?o hypwr-rJoally "'J <}<?t 'H'.? ?'???.? -? ? aJ t.? ?He'" wwv.v.riiit Ivc^i-udowivc.Ht ^ev'i .rt><v by disendowing themselves, take dose Abertillerv subjected 1he supporters of the Swans to soir.-e anxious moments in the closing stages of the match on Thursday. The locals gave incomparably the better ex- hibition oi iootnall. but the visitors were younger and faster, and their backs made Swansea's seem poor, with the result that the fight iva-F, between the Swansea forwards and the Abertillerv backs—plus an uncom- monly clever goaiie—and it might easily have terminated in a draw, despite the countless unutilised chances offered for netting the bali in the "Tillery goal. They were gathered together on the plat- form of the G.W Railway Station, a crowd of sturdy "dockers." There was excitement among thorn as the Newport train steamed in, and hearty greeting and the shaking of old Swansea dockmen stepped from the twin. Where's asked one of th > new arrivals, eagerly. "I haven t seen him since I went away four yeairs ago. ."He wouldn't come up, mun; we left him standing under Wind-street bridge." expla,ine;d one of the party. '"Left him un- der Wind-street trrrvwlpirl arrival. "Hang it, that's where 1 left him when I went away. Has he been there ever since?" -< $ To the Stade Fritiezis this season has not been kind; nevertheless the All Whites" should beware of the danger-of treating the fixture, lightly. For French j football has emerged from the comedy stage, and is now to be considered seriously. A Swanseaite who has been a resident of 1 ranee for the last three or four years de- clares that the way French Rugger players, have come on and mastered all the tine points of the game is absolutely mar- vellous. They seem to have a special apti- tude for football. Iheir triumph over the Scotch and narrow defeat by the Irish- who should have lost—denote the rapidity of their progress. The Parliamentary correspondent of the "South WTales Daily News is very rough on the Welsh Home Rulers. He says: Mr. Edgar Jones would have moved a mo- tion in favour of Home Rule for Wales, but as that could have really no practical effect there was a danger arising from difficulty to, keep the House together on a subject that might not be felt to be of general interest. If such a thing as evident general indiffer- ence did occur, it was felt it would do con- siderable harm to the cause of Welsh Home Rule." —"Not of general interest!"—a topic that is likely to drive the House of Com- mons to the smoking rooms and libraries! Useful hints for Swansea men who antici- pate witnessing- the match at Paris :—If you meet a fellow who asks you to have, a drink and can't pay for his own, he is a hail fellow well missed. If you encounter a chap who claims your acquaintance on the ground that he sold onions at Swansea, and that he is now "Minister of ze Marine," kick him and run. If you see a gentleman who had ze honour of having "been introduce at /e grand Kardiff match" and wants to in. troduce you to his beautiful sister, send for a gendarme, or, in other words, the biggest policeman you can see. In conclusion, the only stranger to trust is the Frenchman, who tells you straight that he was born. in Cork- Captain Heneage told a good story at the Swansea Conservative Club on Thursday night and one which wag going the rounds of the Fleet a little time ago. There wag a new class of reserve formed and a certain amount of kudos being taken the First Lord of the Admiralty decided to inspect them. Anyone who had a grievance wat! a.t t'nc iri ,?--te d t- I the inspection invited to prepress it. Every- thing was going all rigSit when suddenly '():;e man said he had a grievance. "I went." h" slid, "to the paymaster this morning and asked him, 'Can yon tell me who is go- inj to pay for my stamps for the Insurance Act?' And the paymaster said, 'Get out of the c-bin. I don't care a hang for you jor the Insurance Act, or Lloyd George.' ■ I "1 '5