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Some'S wansea Welshmen on Thursday met Owen Rhoscomyl" to consider what might be done to secure a fair trial and sympa- thetic and adequate audiences for the new dramas which are believed to represent a beginning with the creation of a Cymric national drama. The purpose of the gather- ing implied on the part oi those piesent a conviction that a national drama is desir- able, and can be created, and that it is a patriotic duty to encourage the plays now touring the principal towns of Wales as pioneer efforts in a direction hitherto ne- glected by the Welsh. Lord Howard tie Waldea has taken the lead in a movement designed to greatly influence the moral and intellectual development of the Cymric people; it was by means of his bounty that substantial prizes were offered for original plays concerned with Wales it was he who selected the adjudicators, and mainly through his influence and by his generosity that a company has been formed to finance and manage a systematic endeavour to popularise a drama claimed to be national in character and worthy ot support, whether viewed from the standpoint of art, or as an ethical agency, capable of stimulating thought and action. Save "Owen Rhoscomyl," who is a kind I of general manager of the band of young people interpreting the p];.ys, no one had Been the latter produced, "llt two or three had read all orfta-rt oi a ( -irticular play, so that, in a sense, they were accepting on faith the "merits attributed to the produc- tions, or dee.ued the testimony of Lord Howard de Walden, Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. Llewelyn Williams, iiid others sufficiently convincing. It is easy to misjudge the dra- matic possibilities of a play in merely read- ing iWotherwise there would not be so I many wrecked tage ventures-and until "Change." "Ephraim Harris," Ar y Groesffordd," and the others have been seen, it would be inexpedient to express an opin- ion regarding their quality. Thanks to the I kindness of Sir George Riddell, w ho ar- j ranged a dinner in London, bringing to- gether the authors of the plays and a num- I ber of representative Welshmen, including I the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the principal supporters of the movement in- itiated by Lord Jr the writer has been enabled to realise how ear- nestly?r. J. 0. Francis, Mr D. T. Davies, <hc Rev. R. G. Berry and the other prize- ^viiaiers regard th.i mission to which they '???)!??? ??atlttaeL.??????. ??,, ? The pre\?iiing ,té of tbe ttpceches which J .4 t-l?e d- nn,?r was that not the r<?-, uaissanc?. but the birth of Welsh national drarna was being celebrated. It is top soon as yet to say how far this view was justified. Writing confessedly with imperfect know- ) ledge, ano is disposed to be sceptical regard- ing thep8ibi.1ity of dramatic masterpieces worthy of taking rank forthwith with the best work of experienced and gifted play- wrights being produced to order for a prize- j competition. And nothing is more likely to defeat the end in view than extravagant eulogy exciting expectations tending to in-j dude disappointment and consequent failure. We have a fatal weakness for concluding that our geese ar* swans and for itsiiig extravt- gant language both in praise and dispraise. The writer wme years ago found himself W,Mnr,ciou r'ly illustrating this trait in the Celtic character. He made the round of the hfest pl&Tt-g then on the London stage in company with an English friend, who BetmM most anxious to have the impres- sions they yielded to the Cymric visitor. Be- fore parting he said. "I have been greatly in- terested in your criticism. Every play was eiither poor.' very poor,' or magnificent.' ThhlS so like you the Kelts. You have no miBdlte note in your judgment of men and things. Some of the plays were neither r nor magnificent,' but moderately jSjood, though you did not find them so. For you belong to a lace of extremists." And he was right. We are too emotional to exereitt restraint in .criticism. The week to be given presently to Welsh national drama at the Swansea Grand Theatre, will bring this characteristic con- spicuously to the front. There will be the section proud in the knowledge that they have Hot read, seen or heard the plays, de- nouncing the authors, plays, players and promoters as factors engaged in a corruptive 4ad demoralising venture. The sincere amongst these deserve respect. They may ke narrow of vision and intolerant to a de- gree that is becoming incomprehensible; out, nevertheless, they stand for the old £ uard of, the army of Puritanism ,hieb swept the lajid clean of tlQwhoIe50me putrefactions, made it 14weet and stimulated into activity the best of:, the latent impulses of the nation. We e much to them. The Puritan, whose lie attests to the honesty and reality of hu. ,represive creed, calls for gentle treat- Blent ;even when he attempts, with a futility that is pathetic in its helplessness, to keep k the irresistible forces of the modern spirit. These are invading everywhere, peeping aside barriers, overwhelming re- *&tance. And there is the other section, aglow, with "ope, who foresee Wales emerging from the sleep of centuries to take the place in Art Iqpg'dfenied to her, but due in virtue of the flate capacity of her sons and daughters. T-O theae the promised national drama is an talment of the deferred inheritance of y? Cymro. The plays of Messrs. Francis, .?es and Berry are the heralds of the .?o-—the opening in a new direction of flood kept sluiced for centuries. With- "^r^there can be no nation in the full sen %e the term, and its need 's greater ?wh? ? the materialistic tendencies of the age tb?-ai" to stifle every spark of idealistic ?spirit?Ihght. "ft T3et9v- een the two extremes may we hope that 4 great body of moderate, reasonable P'-?PI6 hall be disclosed who. whether ^elal bY blood or by association with wal" ?'? co-operate in practical fashion to ?. t, give  new dramatists and the new plavf-rS cha.nce. In the Metropolis of Wcl3h Xu ?Valez?, which is preening itself just now 'o Ve'r the generous measure of support le??.re?l ?? a "Bath and West of England &how'" ? should be enough and tc s^ta»I ? as well as of national p?triot- Thmto? ??? "Welsh week" at the Grand Tbltr, Jr "?"?Phant success so far as au- diences ar ^^cemed. If there be unavoi d diences are concerned If there be unaN?0io- at'se defects theiii ? connned to the Plavs and thi? PI a 7ers> Swansea's duty to ™" ? ??- » is ? ="?e WuS?. ????!M?t patriotic in its <?<na. and impulse is not chilled by indifference in the most Cymric of the big towns of Wales.

Within the last three weeks there has been a remarkable development in Ireland, tho movement to establish a corps of Nationalist VOlunteers having spread rapidly until it is now reported that fifty thousand men are under arms, and a force of thrico that strength is aimed at. The movement I lacks arms, leadirg and organisation, such as have made the Ulster force so formid- able, and in addition the Northern Protes- tants have substantial superiority in point of training that cannot be caught up. The dangers of the situation, always critical, are seriously enhanced by this movement, which the Government is taking no steps to suppress—as it could not, with any sense c-ri logic. If it bo statesmanship to find a country at peace, and so act as to divide it into two armed camps set against each other, the Government's achievements are entitled to the fullest recognition. It is droll that whilst pursuing a policy abroad that seeks to diminish armaments, cutting down the army by thousands, and keeping Ill;) Navy within the most narrow bounds, it .should have promoted at home a policy that has given rise to two most formidable popular military movements; to say nothing of its endeavours to set the country ablaze by the effort to concentrate a naval and military expedition against Ulster, which Happily miscarried.

The epidemic of suffragette outrages in T/ondon and the provinces brings ap- preciably nearer the time when the lynch Law applied by an infuriated mob will wreak vengeance upon the almost de- mented womon who are destroying property, much of it priceless because irreplaceable, in the most wholesale manner. The spec- tacle of the arson of such venerable and j beautiful buildings as Wargrave Church, the mutilation of pictures that are amongst the most precious heirlooms of fAe past, is workirg up public indignation to a pitch that may speedily become uncontrollable. A London crowd,, the most familiar with suffragette acts, is normally good natured and humorously tolerant, but, like all other crowds, it can be provoked into savage re- taiiation in the htfat ancl fury of the moment. The weakness of the Home Secretary in dealing with the women is to be unre- servedly condemned. Public opinion gene- rally supports measures adopted and t^ien j abandoned by him to defeat at- tempts at suicide intended to evade the punishment that had been earned. But the law continues to be defied and rendered im- potent by women who may be viragoes, or may b. emulators of Joan of Arc—as they certainly are in their own estimation— braving ridicule and obloquy to further their cause. That depends upon the individual point of view. A man cannot venture to speak confidently upon such a question, but*] 1 womanhood ?eais to be incen? in its judg- in"? y?on ?e fanatical propag?hdi?.s ??p? in d?l't Agitation, apa« from their er; miti- &JIty. ahow their s?x under repulsive and ignominious conditions. I —————

Whatever may be the ultimate effect upon the Times itself of the step recently taken in seeking to popularise the London journal by cheapening it-and regarding this the sagacious are by no means agreed- there can be no question that the wider scope secured for the influence not so much of the opinions offered as of the facts col- iected and presented, is a factor of con- siderable national importance at a time like the present, when the world is hastening towards one of the critical and decisive I periods at which the fate of nations and the coarse of history are determined. The peril is great that, distracted by internal controversies, such as Irish Home Rule, labour unrest, and eveil the excesses of the "wild women" who are employing, s-cch desperate methods of promoting (or retarding) the propaganda for female suf- j'frage, we may fail to realise until too late that matters of infinitely more moment, since the larger comprehends the lesser, are being overlooked and neglected. The hour is j swiftly approaching when the political structure of the British Empire must be re- cast, and its resources both for peace and war developed and organised unless this conglomeration of scattered States and di- pendencies is either to collapse under the weight of difficulties within or fly asunder as the result of blows struck from without. Efficiency in warfare, offensive a.nd de- j fensive in tho circumstances, is absolutely essential to the safety and even to the exist- II ence of an empire incurring such -orierous responsibilities distributed over the whole surface of the globe. There are amongst us young men who see visions, old men who dream dreams," prepared to contemplate the In.mediate future with serene confidence be- cause either of their faith in an assumed growth in the spirit of pacifisiism or hrmanitarianism capable of preventing war, o their belief that scientific discovery is making the means for destroying life and property so terrible as to virtually render war unthinkable to a civilised people. It is I to be noted that neither in the one respect nor the other are these amiable visionaries relying upon anything that is new. The hope of perpetual peace is nearly as old as human warfare, and has proved persistently iliusionary during the ages. And every great change introduced into the methods and appliances of warriors has been productive of predictions of peace being enforced by the awesome efficacy oi the new agencies about to be operated. The invention of gunpowder. which ren- dered archerv obsolete, and caused the sub- stitution of the lance and bayonet for the spear; the change from loading from the muzzle to the breach, in the base of guns and muskets, and the rifling of the bores. tSierebv increasing the rapidity, range and accuracy of fire; the introduction of quick- firers of the Mitrailleuse or Maxim pattern; the control obtained over high explosives, were each accompanied by prophecies that war was being made impossible by reason of the deadliness of the instruments oecom- ing available. But in fact mankind has •juickly adjusted itself to the altered condi- 11ition, and in proportion to the number )f combatants engaged the percentage of killed and injured has actually declined and not increased as weapons have grown in power. Hence tihe invariable confound- ing of each generation of prophets who have based their expectations of sustained peace upon the assumed effects of improved war means and methods The latest example was afforded in the k-arned Russian banker De Witte, who. on the eve of the great struggle in Manchuria, wrote a book in which it was most con- vincingly demonstrated that modern appli- ances bad made warfare impossible. Prac- tically every, one of the conclusions so con- fidently put forward by him was proved to be unwarranted when the practical teat wa-s applied. It is well to keep this in mind when asked to believe that the extraordinary achievements of an Italian engineer in firing explosives miles away by means of a ray capable of penetrating mountains and all known insulating and protective substances —which he sends into space in the same way as the operator of a wireless telegraphy in- stallation sends his message—will induce nations to disarm and abandon war. More likely is the speedy discovery by seme other inventive genius of an appliance either neu- tralising or modifying the effect of the ray. It is thus that science provides the antidote as well as the poison, and the '.ru^g'e be- tween the power of attack and the power of defence goes on, the balance of victory inclining now one side and now the other, but never remaining long with either. More practical and useful than surmising about the possible but unlikely consequences of changes in the mere riiachinerv of war, or of fluctuations in the influence of humani- tarian ideas, is to consider how we stand in a world feverishly engaged in adding to its armaments as if convinced that at any moment the great Armageddon may be upon it. A few days ago, under the appropriate headline, "Europe Under Arms," the mili- tary correspondent of the "Times," whose anonymity docs not conceal the identity of a highly competent and experienced soldier, passed under survey the efforts that are being made by various nations to perfect their military and naval arrangements. He suggested with reason that the infor- mation might serve as a useful prelude to the speech which the Prime Minister is about to make announcing the decision of the Government concerning the Defence Committee report upon attack from oversea. Mr. Asquith, it is suggested, will deal with one particular aspect of defence, and prob- ably with one only; but "the time is at hand when we shall have to call India and the Dominions to our councils, to survey the whole field of Imperial strategy, and to es- tablish a defensive system adequate to the needs cf an Oceanic Empire." What is the present position as revealed by facts and fignres accessible to the gen- eral public? "We naturally take stock in Germany first, because this Power is always forward in armaments and on the whole sets the pace which other Powers have to live with, if they can. Now, as always, the aim of Germany is to obtain the largest pos- sible numerical values consistent with qual- ity, and to secure the utmost fighting effi- ciency at the shortest notice. The per- sonnel of the German Navy has been doubled in the last ten years and continues to expand. Three new ships of Dreadnought type are to be commissioned this year, and by the autumn Germany will have in full commission a great fleet of battleships and battle-cruisers, of which only a very few will not belong to the. Dreadnought type. The destroyer and submarine flotilla con- tin-0 to grow, and the former develop Itiah speeds during their night attacks. The wjtngay- pOKterfu! .-war$^ajL4iL.til6. latest German torpedo adcl to tne effKigfccjr <6f torpedo attacks. Considering that the German coasts are well protected, that aer- onautics in all its forms has made great strides in advance, and that the German Navy in commission is not only strong but highly trained, there is nothing to afford I British economists any grounds for consola- tion or for hope." As for the German Army, by reason of the new law to which effect is now being given, "by the spring of 1916. when the second increased annual con- tingent will be not only incorporated but mobilizabie, the German peace establish- ment will nearly have reached the figure of 870,000 of all rniiks; the Reserves will grow annually until they ultimately number 5,400,000 fully trained men." And still ,toine Germans of influence are not satisfied. Then France "has done all that is human"' possible to maintain her military T ú5i; and looks confidently to her allies I "d friends to support her in pre-, t "ving the balance of power not on*, 6I.t1 lanj but also at sea. The covering troops on the German frontier I are now sufficient to meet, any kind of sr den attack, and the peace strength of the French Army as a whole no longer presents that dangerous inferiority to the German figure which formerly caused such serious anxiety. At, the same time France is still much inferior to Germany in peace strength and has considerable forces tied up in North Africa. She is also beaten in the battle of Reserves, for the French system will eventu- ally result in 1,200,000 fewer Reserves than the German." Furthermore, "she possesses s h e pos-,e.ies no very marked superiority over the Austro- Italian Navies in the Mediterranean. and the permanent presence of a strong British fleet in this is one of the necessities of the time. In regard to the maintenance of the bal- ance of power between Entente and Triplice the dominating factor is Russia, which is making such increases in her Army as will bring the total peace strength to about 1,700,000, or approximately double that of Germany. Russian figures have to be dis- counted to oonit; extent on account of the size of the Russian Empire, the "loinparative poverty of communications, and certain diffi- culties which training enoounters owing to climatic and other causes. But even with all due deductions made, the Russian reply to Germany is next door to a mobilisation in time of peace, and it quite accounts for the embittered outburst of the Cologne Gazette and for the German. pot calling the Russian kettle black. There are signs that Russia has done with defensive strategy, and the steady growth of her naval power in the Baltic enables her to act with vigour at sea. It is possible that Rus- sia is not bnilding Dreadnoughts for ac- tion in the Baltic and the Black Sea alone. The increased number of guns in the Rus- sian Army Corps, the growing efficiency of the Army, and the improvements made or planned in strategic railways are, again, matters which cannot be left out of ac- count." .The "Times" expert shows that the growth of armaments has not been restricted to the leading military States. "Austria steadily adds to her effectives on land, and is committed to an ambitious and costly naval programme, which is already paral- ¡ leled, and will probably be surpassed, by that of Italy. The Turoo-Greek rivalry adds to the number of accountable battle- shipe in the Eastern Mediterranean, and there has been one more refoi m of the Turk- ish Army. The Balkan States are borrow- ing a,4 much as they can get, and are or- ganising iVelfh forot*!—for example, the 121 divisions of ServJii—as fast as their state of exhaustion permits. Spain has plans for an Army of 450,000 men and a field army ) ?15,0!>0 strong- Sweden is developing her ) defensive preparations. The Netherlands, Hankering after Dreadnoughts, are also busy with their ooast defences and anticipate higher expenditure upon their field army. Finally, Belgium is working tip to a field army of 178,000 men. Look where we will, armaments are growing, and there is no symptom anywhere oi a change of course." But, comparing thw results of this world- wide activity in their bearing upon the re- lative position of the two great combina- tions of the "Enteate" and the Tnpjjoe, he arrives at the conclusion that the Rus- sian reply to the German Law, combined with the sacrifice* of France and the growth of the Blitish Navy, completely re- verses the results which Germany expected from her naval and military laws. Neither in peace strengths, ror in aggregate war strengths, nor in numerical strength at sea, will the Triplice have any advantage over the Entente when existing laws and build- ing programmes have worked themselves out. It is a question on which side quality will rest, for the navies and armies opposed to Germany have longer service than have hers. Had the German Government been wise enough to foresee the action of the En- tente Powers in reply to German Laws, would these latter ever have been drafted, and would the German Government have imposed upon their people, and upon all people, such great sacrifices? We may be permitted to doubt it. The German people are left worse off in a military sense than they were before, aild their ambitions have caused some resentment, of which the echoes have recently reverbe.rated through the Russian Press. But he warns ns that such security as may be derived from alliances or understandings involve responsibilities. The oommu- iijque published after the recent visit of the King to Paris laid stress upon the duty of the Entente to contmue their efforts to main- tain peace and the balance of power. The great sacrifices which have been made by France and Russia to maintain this balance cannot leave us unmoved. We cannot reasonably expect to enjoy for long the ad- vantage of association with any great mili- tary Slates-and not- the least advantage of such association is the preservation of peace -without making constant efforts to support, .¡hen necessary, diplomacy by arms. We have lost beyond recall our old-time supremacy at sea against any combination, while the failure of our people at home to train themselves to arms ties the Navy to our shores, endangers our Oversea Domi- nions, and feittrs tho freedom of our strategy." In reference to the failure of our people at home," to which such grave, consequences are attached, its, completeness is vividly brought out in a thoughtful article by Earl Percy in the National Review dealing with "The Territorial Army in History." The fundamental idea of our Territorial scheme was in case -ei war the duty of home defence would be assumed by a force of amateur or partially trained soldiers. Ihese men would not be fit at once for duty, but by the time that the country was practi- cally denuded of Regular troops they would be capable of defending it against any force yhich ooufd invade; these shores. The time it would take them t|> acquire the necessary efficie-ncv was ori^iriatly estimated at six this estate subsequently wwttcea. "Thus' Sir-Jan Hamilton formed us that if they were to fight to- i morrow, were they in a superiority of tili-ee to one, they would fight well enough to give tlie best of enemies a bellyful.' and effter six months they would, with a 25 per cent, superiority in numbers, have a fair fighting chance.' and with a superiority of lmif as many alru;n.thev would have a good chance of victory.' Sir Ian Hamilton, how- ever, makes one condition, The fate of Eng. land must not be staked upon a great battle fought over open ground.' Earl Percy successfully assails each of the propositions stated or implied in the foregoing. He shows that superiority ih numbers docs not consist in the men under arms, but in the capacity (which implies good generalship at the head, marching power, and the qualities of regular soldiery in the ranks) to bring the numerical super- iority to bear at the right moment at the right point. The avoidance of a pitched battle would require the same qualities and a degree of cohesion and uniformity in re- gard to the efficiency of units rarely present in half-trained forces, however excellent the material in the rough. And the advantages of the irregular style of fighting behind hedgerows suggested by General Hamilton would be entirely lost unless the fighter had been accustomed, like the Boer, the Arab, or the Afridi, to such warfare. With the outbreak of war practically all the officers of the Regular Army attached to the Terri- torial Force would be recalled to their regi- ments, where they would be wanted at once because of the chronic shortage. Thus at the very time when the Territorials would want experienced guidance they would be deprived of it. Good officers are capable of counteracting some of the defects of raw troops, but the latter indifferently led are apt to melt away. "I would rather have an army of deer led by lions than all army of lions led by deer," summed up the opinion of the greatest soldier of all tinies. In the ea.rly stages of the Franco-C-tiorman War the French people, accustomed as we are to consider fighting the business solely of professional soldi em, merely looked on, whilst the national armies were being de stroyed. It was only when these had dis- appeared, and want and suffering had made themselves felt, that the genius of Gamfoetta was able to effect- that general rising against the Germans which was productive of so much individual heroism and coil&ctive failure. On the whole the Garde Mobile was somewhat, better siiusaited than our Ter- ritorials, but* li,ko the latter, suffered from the inequality In the degree of efficiency attained by particular units, and in the varying quality of the leading;. In the hours of strain the chain invariablv broke at the weakest links. The iU-offioetred least disciplined, and trained battalions collapsed, aaid their failure involved disaster for the more efficient. Nominally, 2,000,000 of these Territorials were brought together. As a class they usually went hopelessly to pieces under the influence of cold, privations, a.nd the discouragement oi unsuccessful engagements. "My Army," faid Faidberbe, one of the competent ,gene-rolls engaged in the oamnpaign of de- spair, ''numbers 35,000, of whoan only half light; the rest is only useful to make a show on the field of battle." In nearly eveiy contact with the trained German forces the Mobiles failed to secure effect from even overwhelming numerical superiority. In the fight with the Bavarian Army besieging Orleans, "the Germans were to be over- whelmed by a force six times their stiieaigth, and the city relieved. The French corps with any «oinbiRa.tion should have annihi- lated the enemy- Out oi 120,000 men, how- eror, oniv some 80,000 actually arrived on the scene of action." "At t.he battle of the Lisairte the Germans held a position 121 Miles in extent with only 42,000 men for three days against the attacks of at k*v?t three titoes t-hat number. After this the French Army simply broke up in attar demoralization, %ind were driven over the Swiss frontier aoid disarmed." With slight variation;, these two ep weivs l-apeated in all the encounters between the Geniutn iosrocs mid the bostve but half- trained French Mobiles. A course of study confined to the records of the second and final stages of the Franco-German war would yield the saddest kind of reading for the French, and for us lessons of profound significance and gravity. For the failure of our people at home to train themselves to arms ties the Navy to our shores, endangers our over-sea Dominions, and fetters the freedom of our strategy."

Mr. Abel J. Jones in this month's "Welsh Outlook" e;ir- mvours to furnish an answer to .the question "Does Wales need the drama?" He dissects in detail the reason for and against with knowledge and ability, and the enly reproach that might reasonably be levelled at the process is that it is mi- croscopical rather than comprehensive. The wood cannot be seen because of the promin- ence yielded to the trees. The purpose of the drama, according to him, is that it is an aspect of art, and that the study of the drama means the pursuit of art for the sake of art. This surely is an inadequate definition. The drama I in its relation to the people provides- so far as it is worthy the name—for not only the expression of thought but also the visualising of* the latter in such a fashion as to render its conclusions cr suggestions so convincing as to ensure the maximum effect ethically and otherwise. The dramatic in- stinct is inherent in all mankind, though more fully developed in some races than others; the love of make-believe manifests itself in a child as SOOn, almost as it is able I to think. More than half the joys of child- hood directly flow from crude and simple ) practice of the dramatic art. And the higher the standard of civilisation the more assiduously the art is cultivated, Mr. Jones's article is confessedly written for its bearing upon the effort that is being made to create for Wales a drama that shall be Welsh in its themes, "true to nature" as Will Bryant would have said, and de- scriptive and analytical of psychological problems, which, whilst not peculiar to Wales, are affected by the condition of the latter and the inherited or acquired idiosyn- crasies of its people. He marshals in care- ful array the conventional objections to the drama, most, of them d^ie not to the use but the abuse of the stage and the absence of a wholesome and informed public opinion which the good and the pure-minded might create if they made their support indis- pensable to theatrical enterprises instead of permitting deleterious influences to acquire undue weight. On the other leaf of the ledger we have set out in d.'taii the moral effect of the drama in depicting vice :n an odious a.nd good in an alluring light the quickening oi the imagination the suggestion of praiseworthy ccurses, the widening of sympathies, the strengthening and purification of language; the teaching of national history—these are numbered amongst the possibilities of a drama rightly conceived and rightly directed. ADd the outcome of the laborious weighing d h I. I" c(,ns is the usion, If &r.c- lNS8.iršz-riIJii'" c? H* jf? doubtful plays are indispensable. then it 1 would seem better to give up the drama; I if. on the other hand, our dramas can bè: written by true artists of clear vision, j worthy mission and high ideals, and played by amateurs of a similar type under the supervision of the best people of the land. the drama can then justify It-self as a worthy pho- of our national life." y Xo drama, has been, could be created, or I sustained, under the conditions formulated an the foregoing. Amateur actors by no manner of high ideals could atone for de- ficiencies that sterilised the best work of the dramatist, and repeijed the public, whose support is essential to the existence of an art and artists which require means of sustenance. The drama outlined by Mr. J"on,es e-ould never advance beyond that of the Band of Hope and the Village Literary Society, which does inspire real thinkers to v-rite plays or real actors to interpret. The greatessHof all Englishmen was a professional actor, and the most precious of the intellec- tilal assets of the country would have been ve loot if the drama. of ;-he Elizabethan period had been fettered and shackled to conform to the requirements of Mr. Abel J. Jones. It iR hardly too much to say tha.t the richest ^possessions to-day of the civilised world are the thbughts cast into dramatic, form bv I' giant minds from the i emote days of Greek ascendancy. Dramas and comedies enshrine -anev eii,?4 ) ir i riie the best remnants that survive of the In- tellectual wealth of the ancients just a* the works of Shakeispeare, Goethe, Moliere, and, to come to more modern times, those of Ibsen and Maeterlinck contain the best gleanings in the jharvMt. of thought in mode-rn times. The plays, three given in English and the like number in Welsh, to be staged at Swansea, do not represent the national drama, in full fruition, but .merely the first yield of new seedlings. They \are all physoiogical in nature, and. incadentallv. descriptive of present environment. There will be a more fruitful harvest when Welsh I history, abundant in fascinating mysteries, and the play of human ambitions and pa*- Mons is ransacked for subjects. The world has received and accepted the Shakes- pearean conception of the history of Eng- land at an adventurous period, and of the distinctive qualities of the English people— greatly to the advantage of the latter. The overpowering genius of an actor without conscious aim achieved that end. There would be ample recompense for Lord Howard de W alden, and his fellow-workers for Wales, if, as the result of their bounty and unselfish labours, a dramatist were dis- covered capable of using effectively the his- torical matter lying xeady to hand for re- vealing in a suitable and sympathetic li^h* Cymric strivings against long odds during the centuries. Properly treated this might fundamentally alter the position whicli the WeWh occupy in the esteem of the world. So that those who, in small or large degree, help to make a success of the Welsh drama week at the Grand Theatre, may each be building better than they know, and prov- ing themselves, as measured by the ulti- mate results, the-best of patriots.

The Borough Treasurer reports a 'deficit of £1,423 in the accounts of the Municipal Housing Schemes at Swansea. These figures are not so serious as they seem because the hulk of the deficit is due to the unavoidable fact that the capital outlay has to be made before the house is ready to earn tent, s.nd the expenditure in 'interests, etc,. during the time of building is in reality a part of the capital cost. So that if it be taken into account when the rent is fixed, the deficit will melt awav. Bat for the present the rates are being drawn upon to make up the difference as if it represented a real loss. ft. is the duty of the Council to ensure that the tenants of municipal houses pay rent adequate to make ends meet. The tenants even in that case would be a privil- eged clabs since they profit by the ability of the Corporation to borrow nioney at a low rate of interest, acquire land forming part of thfe Corporation Estate on favourable ij I not preferential terms, the reduced cost of I construction by the elimination of builders' profits, and the gratuitous services of soli- citor, architect and c!erk of works. In these circumstances they should not grudge paying a rent to yield only a bare return upon the outlay. The overwhelming demand for Corporation houses clearly shows that potential tenants recognise that the rents are considerably below the level of those obtaining for privately owned pro- perties. There is no reason, therefore, why the community, which includes thousands poorer than the Corporation terients should contribute to the payment of the rents of the latter by allowing avoidable deficits being charged to the rates. If the Council has not j the courage to insist upon the occupiers of Corporation cottages paying rents equal to the discharge of all the charges in respect of the properties, we shall have in Swan- sea a small favoured section subsidised from the rates without any reason whatever being shown for it. I It is claimed for these that they should not be subjected to any inquisitorial inquiries into their circumstances. The claim implies that they seek no favour and do not plead poverty. Hence they should pay not the letting value of the houses I they oceupy--fc)r that would be substanti- ally more because of the dearth of houses— but such a rent as will not involve rate-aid for them. Later we shall probably have provision made for another class—the slum- dwellers, whose capacity to pay is limited. These are on the poverty line, or even be- low it, and if for their own sakes, and for the sake of the community, they are placed in wholesome, sanitary dwellings, few will be found to grudge them rate-aid in the form of rent adjusted to their means. But I the latter, in -their case, will demand inves- tigation, and they cannot reasonably resent it. But tenants of Corporation houses who challenge the right of the Corporation to inquire into their means—thereby implying tiiat they are free agents in a position to pay for what they w.nt—-must, as a mini- mum. pay rents equal to the outgoings of their landlords, -,ite ratepayers. They can- not be permitted to have it both ways—pose as people of fine, independent spirit, and at the same time insist upon a subsidy from he rates for ihe payment of their rents. Any deviation from the principle that Cor- poration cottages obtained in open competi- ion shall yi-eld an adequate rent so that no •art of the latter becomes chargeable to I he rates, will not only be fatal ultimately t > municipal housing, but must also be con- lemned as an insidious form of corruption.

According to the "Daily Express," the British Government has intimated to the President of the United States its deter- mination to avenge the murder of Mr. Beli- ton, cither by the hand of General Villa or j in circumstances to which the latt.er w&s I privy, in the. feveiitiialiiy of General Villa L0:<,miI:, t,ht'Oh, the jt\<P,it.ltJ'oe ÁJi President "Ruefta a" holder of ^lace or power in Mexico. It is sincerelv to be trusted the r he raport is well founded. The altar of Anglo- American friendship surely does not need human <>iKrifices, upon our part'. And if the alleged complicity of a 5lexican President in -) I ex icill Presi d ent, in the murder of another. Mexican is held suffi- cient justification for the intervention of the I United States, the alleged complicity of a Mexican general in the murder oi a British subject is sufficient for the interverition of ¡ the British Government.. Some, indeed, I' may argue further that the United States had no business to meddle in Mexico at all upon the account in question. The point, however, is that President WIison and his II Foreign Secretary, M". Bryan, are doing then best to bring about the accession of ViHa, who is now recognised as the real leader of the Mexican insurgents, to oower in the capital of Mexico, and that it :s ripe I time fc-r Britain to remind them that Brit.ain I has u very weighty debt to settle with the j gentleman in question. j The complicity cft Mr. Wilson and 31 r. Bryan in the insturrcciion cf Villa and Car- ranza is shown by the circumstance that they have permitted a vessel laden with arms and ammunition for their partv to ) leave an American port ixiund for Tampieo, which is now in the hands of Villi's General Huerta thereupon directs his gun- boats to intercept the arms. and the American President intimates that the I American warships will escort them to their destination. Mr. Wilson's treatment of the Mexican question has long '?f? perplexing; I  amounts to a. violation but the latest action amnunta to a vio'atMn I i u discing OvMi.ween the American troops at Vera Cruz and President. Huerta, a truce called for the purpose of attempt- ing to settJe te problm of Mexico amicably by ttle conference now in progress at Niagara Falls. Villa's party has refused to recognise the tr-ti&, and' the American Government is openly implicated in a breach ct it. With every desire to give Mr. Wilson With f;very ilesire to gh'e :\lz-. ""¡I son credit for the most idealistic motives, it is difficult to follow the tortuouE reasoning WhlCh leadi him in such circumstances 8;0 op-sniy to champion a man whose career has t;&en the very embodiment of that spirit of barbaric civil warfare, wa-ged with ruthless ferocity, that he professes to desire to abo'- ish in Mexico. The whole reason for American interventlon in the first instance vaa that Huerta seized power by force; and that. it, was necessary for the order and prosperity or Mexico that this national method of holding a <?eneral election rfiou'd be discarded. But Villa and Carranza. are employed in doing exactly the 8ame thing and in the course of it they have, moreover, been identified with a campaign in which the slaughter of prisoners has been the least odious feature, of a career of outrage and murder. I

I nde>r the news Swansea poiioe regime, the gatei of the Guildhall Yard are closed when the" Black Maria" is brought in to take up or set down prisoners. Not long ago a gentleman occupying a high place in judicial circles came along to t? into the • Gntldhll by the private, eIltranœ at the back, but, owing to the Black Marja." be- ing inside the gates, he could hot gain a-I cess to the yard. Correspondence followed, and "explanations given, and there the mat- ter ended. It comes rather a* a shock to JeåJv:1 that gtrawb<MT?ea. now (rpling p?nt-ifuMy *o our! m;l.rk" arc classed among dangerous -I¡ goes. Th4? vessels cc't???g the berries I from Britanny to Plymouth refuse to carry l -a&sengejrs, and orders are issued to tha i crews 1.0 keep ¡,I,S much as possible on deck. The reason is that fumes irom the straw- berries caustc dizziness and a kind of in- texi-oation. As the berries, even tons of them, give no very strong small, theory has it that the intoxicating effects of a cargo of them due to the fermentation of the s-uigiair in the berries. The Breton onion boys, we..believe, on the passage over hold bouquet* oi roeiee fo their noses—rtbus ne pennons pats. ■

I The National Union of Railwayman are coming to Swansea next week. All linee will lead to Swansea—as usual. The battleship Commonwealth will be at Ilfracombe from June 5th to 10th. Who ia the locai Member of Parliament? Correspondence by the latest Canadian 'mail shows that 1;, Laurence Irving and Miss Mabel Hackney made their last 6tag appearance in "The Unwritten Law." Tho eminent preacher, Bishop Vaughan, who spoke to such huge congregations at St. Joseph's, Swansea, on Sunday, has as his official designation: "Bishop of Sebasto- polls." The unpalatcable truth cannot be evaded -cricket. is in a bad way in Wales. There is hardly a club aide capable by its record up-to-date of exciting popular enthusiasm or drawing a decent gate. A queer instance of the performances of cricket ball occurred at 'the Gorseinon Cricket Ground, where the ball first hit the batsman on the hand, then knocked his bat, and finally hopped into his trousers' pocket: I Now it has been decided that ten years will elapse before the Bath and West again visits Swansea, a docksman has com- menoed saving up already to meet the do- mands of the l'how caterers next time. The casual observation that everything Swansea undertakes becomes an overwhelm- ing success has brought forth the swift and forcible retort, and from the Swansea Docks, too WTot a bout that there 1"éo gatt-ei-. The first chance offered the Swansea Cymmrodorion to do something practical for the advancement of Wales—-the passing of resolutions calls for no special effort or sacrifice-find. them so divided as to be as an organisation demobilised. The Cardiff papers on Monday had photo-, graphs of a 15,000 ton steamer, "the largest ever docked" there. We get about a do/en in a twelvemonth of these at Swansea, and only ships' runllrs trouhifdo .go tto t:be King's to look at them. What local Nonconformist minister boo tha cojJrjlgA to emulate the example of the Rev. John Willi/tms, Btynsieneyn. the uwjfit i6fiverililai mernboer,. the "IAL ru Ni:vt«N Wales, and come ont franfclv into the as a supporter of Welsh national drimaf^•<•"•"• A tug of war ?twceQ the old !md the A tiig oi  l el a. -,t d t e new ?iitit of Nciv-ontornaity in thei' re- lation o4? Not??,onformity in thei-t- re- over the dramas bte.ssed by Mr. Lloyd George and the Rev. J. Williams, Brynsiencyn, tha temporal and spiritual leaders of the North, about/ to bo produced at the Swansea Grand heatie, It is a curioois thing that the majority o? the persons dealt with by the Swansea Bonch. for being on licensed premises .dur- ing prrshnbit'ed hours, stated that they came to Swansea from the outlying districts fee fresh airj" And stianger still is the fact that they have been caught in public-bouse* m the st-unh-st quarters of the town. A Swansea rag and bODe. collector says that when the docks are quiet it seriously affects his trade. "It's like this The dock- ers bay more meat; consequently more bones are about; more dresses for the wives and clothes for the kiddies; result, more rags. Bless you, sir, the only "thing that- don't diminish, is old hentpty. bottles!" < Female Iiii^ante find it "very ditficÙJt to confine their vocabulary within the cramped Mmits of the witness-box. When these dear ladies apply Tor swmmottses at the local •wort it takes the genial clerk Jenkin Jones) all his tilDe to find out what their complaint actua:!ly is. Some of them can trace a back street vendetta almost back to the Flood. .ta I A particularly agreeable way of showing 1 appreciation of tits good services of people I who, as organisers or artistes, contributed 1 to the success of the concerts at the Salis- j bury" and the Junior Imperial League Club was Thursday's picnic at Park-Ie-Breos. 1 About 250 accepted the invitation, and < a perfect day made it a treat worth having. Nearly all the popular favourites hi. last season's Swan team have dispersed. Thia annual immigration must tell against bero- I worship in Soccer.- By way of compensa- tion it is being predicted by those in the J know that the first team fielded next season in white will be a surprise packet. Well, we can. only "wait and see." I -<t. Bishop Vaugbaa,, v.,ho preached at St. Joseph's, GreenhilJ,-Swansea, is a "Dotnes- i tic Prelate to the Papal Court" and a bro- • ther to Cardinal Vaughan and Father Ber- nard Vaughan. He ij a doetor ot divinity and professor of inathcfnawcs, and -has writ* ten nuimerous brilliant Uieoln^jkaJ- works, one of wfc.c-h "was translated into Japanese. i In a Welsh village last week a workman, I seeking t job, was t-old that if he would ¡ fight the "gaffer" he couid have employ- ment. The workman fought and beat the gaffer." and secured his job. A local pcet has put his surprise into verse thus:- O'r pethau 'gyd dyma'r pen, Gael johyn am jwben." A job w:th a jab ig an English rendition of the second line. Punctuality is a virtue that can be over. done. A number of people were on the quay-side at Swansea in good t'm? on Satta, day to .board the Bri?htoa ct 2.30 for IUra.- eembe. They were just a week too soon, For the cross-channel boat had been char- tered to mako the morning trip with Bacup excursionists, and did net make the second --fr-oIn the Mumbles oiitv—until 4.45. Tito disappointed had obtained their information from the wrong week's bills. The world is very small alt-or alL A Swansea ladv noticed amongst the accept- atnee-s to the Mayor's reception and bail in connection with the "Bath and West" the name of a Birmingham friend, Miss Gaunt, On the evening of the event the latter was sought for in vain. A few days later the list ot the survivors from the Empress cf Ireland disaster included the name of Mkt Gaunt a*, well aisl those 0.: Mr. and Mts. Hayoe, with wii-jtu had. bean utayiatf a* Birroiiig-luiin,