Llangollen Advertiser Denbighshire Merionethshire and North Wales Journal

The Future of the Welsh Church. The Bishop of St. Asaph (to whom we take this opportunity of offering congratulations on his engagement) natnrally seized the con- venient occasion of the meetings of the diocesan societies, last week, to refer in some detail to the future of the Church in Wales. The Church, like so many other institutions nowadays, is faced with urgent problems of reconstruction. Freed from the trammels of State patronage, it has to buildup for itself a new life and to seek a new place in the national heart. The Bishop spoke of this task as without precedent of any kind. That, however, is surely hardly correct ? The Church in Ireland passed chrough just such a crisis nearly lialf-a-century ago and discovered in the result, as the most illustrious Church- man of St. Asaph diocese reminded us, "relief to a fie Voted clergy from a false 4 position, and the opening of a freer career to "their sacred ministry." Possibly, however, his lordship meant that the Church in Wales would have to undertake the work of recon- struction at a time when the whole nation was in a state of social and economic flux, and in that respect, at any rate, it is without historic parallel. Nevertheless, we do not know that this is altogether to the Church's disadvantage. Its fresh start will come at a moment when very section of the community is most ready fu forget old controversies and to sink old differences on internal politics, and to begin again with a clean slate. In these circum- stances we certainly think the leaders of the Welsh Church have a strong claim for public sympathy, and one which, if wisely urged, will not fail to gain adequate recognition. We have previously declared and we do not hesitate to repeat, our belief in the reasonableness of II the recent plea of Sir Watkin and other influential persons closely interested in Welsh ecclesiastical polity for a postponement of the operation of the financial arrangements of the Act for twelve months, provided, of course, that the general principles of the measure are accepted as the final verdict of Wales on the fundamental issue, and that the delay is not to be used as a means of re-opening the whole controversy at a future election. That plea has, in fact, already been met in that spirit by the Prime Minister, and we have reason for believing that his attitude is shared by many of the more influential members of the Welsh Parliamentary party. Certainly, if the spirit of compromise can be accommodated to the essential principles for which Wales has fought so long and finally won, we, hope it will be effected, for no one, we believe, would care to see the Welsh Church make her efforts at reconstruction under any lingering sense of grievance. That being so, the Church's future strength and national power remains largely, almost entirely, in her own hands. We agree with the Bishop that, wisely controlled, it will be "more and more in the years to come the "centre of religious teaching and influence in Wales, the main centre, the most hopeful "centre, the most increasing centre." But to secure the fullest advantages of her new freedom it is very important tliat the Church's adminis- trative machinery should be as democratic as possible. The Bishop says that disestablish- ment robs them of reliance on the precedents of historic unity but if the reconstructers are wise they will not forget such lessons as Welsh ecclesiastical experience still has to teach. It is a striking fact that where the Church in Wales has given greatest evidence of its moral Aid social power are those large industrial parishes where the spirit of democracy enters most distinctly into the lives of the people and has been most largely reflected in the life of church govern- ment. In framing the new representative and governing bodies this factor cannot advan- tageously be ignored. They will be the trustees respectively of the temporal and spiritual interests of the Church, and it is, we thiuk, no exaggeration to say that on their constitution and the spirit in which they are j set up and proceed to carry out their highly responsible duties depend the practical i realisation of the Bishop's hopes for the Church's future influence on the national life of Wales. So critical an issue, therefore, surely calls for the fullest and frankest con- sideration and the encouragement of the utmost freedom of expression of the views of the rank and file of the clergy and the laity. For nothing could be more prejudicial to the Church herself cr to her power to enlist the sympathy of a liberty-loving people than even the appearance of any cutting and drying of administrative machinery, or any lingering exhibition of the spirit of official autocracy which has ever been the bane of ecclesiastical establishment. But this, as we have said, is a matter which the Church must decide for herself, and we can only leave it to the conscience of those who controlled the pro-I ceedings of the private" diocesan conference at Wrexham last week to determine how far the mere passing of the Joint Committee's resolution vesting the delegates to the Cardiff Convention in October with plenary powers to pass schemes for the Representative Body and the Governing Body apparently without further referenoe to local clerical and lay opinion in the four Welsh dioceses, .can be said to achieve the ideals of democratic church government. Teachers' Salaries: A Suggestion. The threat of a strike of teachers m Mont- gomeryshire, following the recent disposition m Denbighshire to bring renewed pressure on the County Education Authority to augment salaries, has, no doubt, helped to force this very urgent problem of the remuneration of the profession upon local public attention It is certainly a question which cannot safely be indafinitely shelved. The teacher demands his or her "right to live, and, though the results of our public elementary and secondary school systems may leave much to be desired in the way of the equipment of boys and girls. for the practical work of life, these defects cannot fairly be laid upon the staff. Teachers' carry on their labours according to their lights and, we presume, according to instruction, and, viewed from their standpoint, it must be admitted that the rates of pay, compared with those prevailing in industries requiring a far less expensive training, are extremely meagre. This in itself is, no doubt, a sufficient cause of grievance, but that sense has probably been aggravated recently by the alarming increase in the cost of living. It may well puzzle many of them to know how their domestic obligations are to be. met, and that serene mental outlook, so essential to their work, is to be maintained under these harassing circumstances.. If the com- paratively well-paid miners at their recent Federation meetings attribute the "preoailing 1 unrest to "the high food prices, the unequal distribution of food, and the fact that skilled men are not paid according to their skill, and "the delay in? settlement of disputes," and consequently demand as much as 25 per cent. increase m wages to enable them to Madjust? ,their economic status, teachers, surely, have some excuse if they, too, are restive and plead that in their case also technical skill is worthy of commensurate financial reward. It is only fair, however, to our local educa- tion authorities to say that we believe they thoroughly appreciate all these facts. Their difficulty is to discover how such deftiands can best be met at a time when every section of the community is feeling the enormous finan- cial strain of the war, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer is appealing for the utniosfil administrative economy. To assist them in this problem the Welsh Department of the Board of Education invite the assistance of the I Press in making it known that, while they [believe local education authorities getieralli are desirous of augmenting the salaries of their teachers at the earliest possible moment, and have no disposition to delay the appropriation to that purpose of the supplementary grant for which an estimate is now before Parlia- ment, at the same time, in view of the recent appointment of a departmental committee to consider the principles on which salary scales should be constructed, it is possible that a new scale of salaries if constructed immediately might conflict with the principles which that committee will recommend. Their report, we understand, is not likely to be issued before the autumn, and that delay may be viewed with impatience by some of the teachers. But the Board of Education nevertheless suggests— I {]) That local education authorities should, pending the report of the committee., pro- ceed with the consideration of schemes t, for revised salary-scales. Their investigations may be useful to the departmental commit- te., itself, a.nd will in any case place author- ities in a better position to act promptly when the recommendations of the committee i are announced to the local education author- ities. (2) There is in most areas no reason why a substantial proportion of the new money, should not be at once appropriated' to the improvement of salaries and ex-pended., as soon as it has been voted by Parliament, pending a permanent revision 'bf the salary scale. So far as such immediate appropri- ation of the money involves a modification of existing contracts withteitchers it will of course be reasonable to attach to it a condi- tion t-hat such modification should only be regarded as temporary and. subject to revi- sion. (3) When the permanent scale is finally settled its operation might be made retro- spective as regards any balance which re- mains in band. The Board are assured by the Local Government Board that in the peculiar circumstances of the present time they will give favourable consideration to the representations of local education authorities if any question is raised by district .auditors on technical grounds as to retrospective ex- penditure on salaries. This strikes us as an eminently sensible solution of a very perplexing problem, and will, we hope, if adopted by our local education authorities, go far to meet the more pressing demands of the teaching profession.

I I Local; Wills, Mr. H. Horton, Upton Court, Tenbury, left I estate of the gross value of £ 68,238 19s. 3d., with C46,818 12s. 9d. net personalty. Sec.-Lieut. Robert Francis Soward, Border Regiment, of Whitchurch, Salop, killed in action on October 25, left estate of the gross value of £ 7,260. Sir Henry Aithur Wiggin, second baronet, of Garth Gwynion, Machynlleth, chairman of the North Staffordshire Railway Company and managing director of the firm of Henry Wig- gin and Co., metal rollers, Birmingham, who died 2nd May, aged 65 years, left unsettled estate of the gross-value of £ 142,557 in the United Kingdom, 'the net personalty being £ 115,597. The Rev. and Hon. Maurice Berkeley Peel, M.C., of Tamworth Vicarage, killed in France on May 14, while rescuing wounded, younger son of the first Viscount Peel, itnd the husband of Miss Emily Alington, niece of Mrs. Swann. Halston, Oswestry, who predeceased him, left estate of the gross value of £ 10,959. The testator bequeathed £ 100 to the incumbent of the church of St. Simon's, Bathual Green, for I parish purposes, and £ 100 to the incumbent of St. Peter's, Wrestlingworth, towards jfhe ex- penses of the restoration of ihe roof of the church..

I Shropshire Major and His r Bankers. I i JURY AWARD HEAVY DAMAGES If In the King's Beach Division on Monday Mr. Justice Bray and a special jury concluded the hear- i afteir an eleven days' trial. of ,an action brought by Major X. S. Wilson, of Ackleton, near Bfidg. north, Shropshire, and Mr. J. J. Arter, has trustee in. bankruptcy, I against the United Counties Bank, of Birmingham, and Mr. H. J. Roper, the general manager, to recover damages for a.Heged negligence in regard to his affairs VrhileLhe wae on "4AV4., ter- vice m France. The plaintiff's ca;se wa.s that the Bank undertook, by a -written agmemerlt-, to look. after his affairs, which consisted of a malsteTs's business at Ackfe, ton, while he was on active service. He was in the Warwickshire Yeomanry, and, being called up, became a major in the Army Service Corps. He alleged that, owing to the Bank's negligence, be had been forced into bankruptcy, tithougn at the time of his going to France he was in a prosperous position commerci&llT and wonk many thousands oj pounds. The Bwk, in thel? fiance, demim the .lUaged agreement to look dterthe plaintiff's affaire, and also denied any. negligence. They set up a counter, claim for an overdraft on. his aecoant. The jury found negligence by the Bank, and asses- sed the damages at and £ 7,500 additional as sustained by the Major personally. Judgment vas. d-eferred,

The Irish Convention met. on W ednesdiy, and elected Sir Horace Plunkett chairman and Sir F. Rgpyood secretary.

PERSONAL. Mrs. Thursby-Pelham, accompanied by Lady Macartney and party, has arrived, safely at a Canadian port en route for Nsw Zealand. Mrs. Bridgeman, wife of Mr. W. C. Bridge- man, M.P., has been re-elected to the vice- chair of the Political Committee of the Ladies' Imperial C-iib. His many friends in the Border district will be glad to hear that Brigadier-General Ford, whose home is at Oteley House, Wrexham, is recovering from his wounds. Lieut.-Geiieral Sir Francis Lloyd was among; those present at a memorial service for Lon- don Journalists who have fallen in the war at St. Bride's church, Fleet-street, on Sunday. The death occurred at the age of 84, at" York, on Friday, of Lady Emma Purey Cust, widow of the Very Rev. Dr. Arthur Percival Purey Cust, dean of York and doyen of the English deans, and second cousin of Mrs. Brownlow Tower, Ellesmere. Major C. R. B. Wingfield, mayor of -the borough when war broke out, now serving with the King's Shropshire Light Infantry, was at the monthly meeting of Shrewsbury Town. Council, on Monday, elected alderman in suc- cession to the late Alderman Thomas Corbet. At the Wrexham Borough Tribunal, on Wednesday, the Military Representative, Mr. H. Croom Johnson, The Elms, was cordially congratulated on the fact that his nephew, Lieut. Henry Croom Johnson, Worcester Regi- ment, has been awarded th« Military Cross for gallantry in action, announced in our last, issue., Vivift ii, Pi.erey, lieutenant- in the Roval Mr. Vivian Piercy, lieutenant in.the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, who has rust been awarded the Military Cross for gallantry, is the eldest son of Major B. H. Piercy, late of the Gerwyn, and grandson of the late Mrs. Piercy of Maich- wiel Hall. He is in England now recovering from his wounds, received in acti on., Mr. Vivian Piercy has been twice wounded, and was mentioned in despatches last year. Alderman E. Bremner Smith, chairman of the Oswestry Higher Education Committee, has been invited by the President of the Board, of Education to serve on the Departmental Committee to inquire into the principles which should determine the scale of salaries of teachers in secondary and technical schools, schools of art, training colleges, and other public .institutions of higher education other than university institutions, which he proposes to set up. Sir Arthur Jelf, who was a judge of the High Court from 1901-10, succeeding Sir John Day, died last week at Oak House, Putney, after a long illness. Aged 80, he was the son of the late Rev. Richard William Jelf, D.D., principal of King's College, London, and Emmy, Countess Schlippenbach of Prussia, maid of honour to the Queen of Hanover. Educated at Eton and Oxford, he was called to the Bar in 1863, took silk seventeen years later, and was Recorder of Shrewsbury for twenty-two years before his elevation to the bench, and his associations with that borough were always of the plea.santest character. One of his sons is a Master of the Supreme Court. Sir Charles Henry and Mr. Haydn Jonea are among the members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Finance.. The death occurred on Monday, at her resid- ence Glanrhiew, Berriew, of Edith Mary White, widow of the Rev. Prebendary Robert More White, vicar of Churchstoke from 1846 to 1906 and rural dean of Montgomery. Mrs. White was the daughter, of the late Colonel Agg, the Hewlets, Cheltenham, and was mar- ried in 1850. She was an accomplished musi- cian, and, for a long period her services as a soprano vocalist were much in demand at con- certs in the Border districts. She also ably superintended the musical portion of the ser- vices in the parish church at Churchstoke, and all through her married life she gave her hus- band most valuable assistance in working hia large and scattered parish. After his death she resided with her two daughters at, Welsh- pool and Berriew, and until the last. few months was wonderfully active despite of her eighty-five years. i • t

A telegram from Vienna to Copenhagen, states that the Siamese Minister has an-, nounced' Siam's declaration of war against Austria-Hungary. Arrangements are nearly completed for the » formation of a Jewish Infantry regiment. It is proposed that the badge of the regiment shall consist of a representation of. King David's shield. A railway traveller, while gathéring together his papers in a railway carriage at Rugby station, took up by mistake a bundle of cheques which had been left in the flomparfc- ment. One was for nearly £ 800. At the close of the Allied Conference on. the Balkans in Paris the members passed a resolu- tion that the Allies are determined only to lay. down arms when they have rendered impossible apv return in the future of acts of criminal aggression., such as those for which the aittffc cracy of the Central Empires has been respons- ible. In the annual report of the National Union, of Railwaymen for 1916, issued on Friday, Mr, J. II. Thomas, M.P., the general secretary, says the branches have risen in number fromj 1,240 to 1,270, and the number of members, in- elusive of those at present absent from the country, trom 307,035 to 340,511. The year's income, £ 264,180 15s. 7d., shows an increase of £ 13,166 lis. Id. Mr. Churchill,, shaking in Dundee 00, Saturday, denounced the pacifist propaganda of his "Leninite" opponents, and said DunV. dee must not be tarred with snch dirty and degrading doctrines. We should next year have shells, guns, tanks, and aeroplanes in numbers never before used. We should fight, and not cast aside the prize our men had so nearly won at the moment it was within our grasp. Answering questions, Mr. ChurchiIl said he left the trenches because he was ad, yiged he would J>e pi iq ;:weful in Parliament*