Llangollen Advertiser Denbighshire Merionethshire and North Wales Journal

I LLANDYSILdO. DANCES.—The profits from the recent dance in aid of the Nursing Association amounted to 413 6s. 8d., which has been added to the funds. The pronto from the dance in aid of St. Dunstan's Hostel for the Blind amounted to F.15, which has been forwarded to that institution. PETTY SESSIONS.L-On gaturday, before Dr. Lewis. Mr. D. Foulkes and Mr. D. L. Bebb.— The Chairman extended a warm welcome to Mr. Bebb, a new magistrate, and also welcomed back P.C. Tudor, who ihae recently returned from active service with the Welsh Guardi.-David Thomas Roberts, Cefnllwyd, Cefnoood, Lianunt. ffraid, charged by P.C. Humphreys with riding a bicycle without a iiarht. wae nned œAnother case it reporwd ekeoer-r

igublic gotirts. COAL SUPPLY. TO LLANGOLLEN INHABITANTS. i ,M. j WE. the undersigned, wish to inform you that i on and after MAY 12th next, we are only propared to Supply Coal on the understanding { I that Gaah is paid for same when delivered. Signed. C. WILLIAMS & SON. H. PARRY. j o 9s. COWARD & CO. | WEST END STORES, J I I MARKET STRI;r.;ANGOLEN. j R. OWEN, j Saddler and Harness Maker, j BEGS to announce that lie hae opened a SADDLERY BUSINESS at the above addrese, and hope-3 that by doing good reliable work at reasonable charges to get a share of the trade of tha district. REPAIRS A SPECIALITY. e 9x.

Notes oi the Week. I The Labour Party and Agriculture. "S.L.B. writing in the "New Statesman," on Saturday, offers some very shrewd observations on the failure of the Labour Party hitherto to formu- late an agricultural policy. They are a s well worth studying by farmers as by Labour leaders in rural areas, as the can- did comments of one who is most sympa- thetic with Labour ideals in general, but finds himself drivenon to other platforms by the fustian stuff offered by Labour; "candidates to country constituencies. °, I Anyone can catch votes by promising ever, increasing wages, but, as "S.L.B." sug- gests, it is only by means of a constructive agricultural policy that you can discover where those wages are to come from, and that is a point on which the farmer is en- titled to particulars. The Government's; remedy, of course, is the corn subsidy, but I farmers are not satisfied as to its con- tinuity, and it is at best a make-shift ex- pedient is contrary to the interests of the manufacturing centres clamouring for the cheap loaf, and arouses the awkward com- ment that "while the British farmer can "get 75s. a quarter for wheat other coun- tries will be glad to deliver it on our shores for 45s. or even less." S. L. B. wants to know what the Labour Party is I going to do about this. If it is pledged to free trade in the great- est interests of the greatest number, will t agree to a subsidy or bounty on home grow n corn? If it is opposed to this, will it say precisely where the farmer is to find the money to pay the wages? It is useless to say that he mu-st master modern methods and « produce more food. These are mere gener- alities as nourishing as the east wind. Farmers reading these words will begin to think there is hope for them yet, even in the Labour Party., The possibility will probably be all the more suggestive be- cause, as S.L.B." points out with keen j knowledge of rural economy, experience has taught the farmer that each of the old parties of the State has neglected him in turn, and that the Liberal manufac- turer turned peer and pheasant killer is a far worse specimen of landlord than the old Conservative who,as long as his tenant went to church and d.idn't poach, would alwaysi give him a helping hand when one was needed. Moreover, he is so badgered about by the ever-changing behests of the Board of Agri-1 culture that he might yield a good deal in. political prejudice to secure settlement and security. Hence S.L.B. belietes, "if1 the Labour Party would take the trouble it ould capture the farmer and the land workers and form an agricultural party." But it will not be done without a thorough understanding of rural economics, or by ] "dragging rural interests in the wake of urban interests, or by ignoring the fact that the farmer must pay a living wage not only to his workers but to himself." The development of a real Labour agricul- tural policy, of course, would be a very novel departure in political adventure, and perhaps the time is not ripe quite yet. But it seems to us that the suggestion is well worth some attention from our local Labour leaders., _„ | • ■ hit the I Food Coupon. The food coupon having vanished,- since Sunday, from our domestic life (though ration books must still be kept for a while for purchases of &ugar, meat and butter) the ? ?ime seems opportune for offering a tribute to the I sagacity and courage of the late Lord Rhon- dda and Mr. Clynes in instituting the sys- tem and to those who have contributed to its smooth working in detail. Indeed, the only ground for criticism is that it took the Government so long to make up its mind to establish a scheme that was all along inevitable, if equality of sacrifice was to be obtained, or at any rate as great an equality of sacrifice as can be hoped for in a rather selfish world, ready to take advantage of any loophole in statutory, regulations governing the appetite. At we urged at the time, had compulsion been adopted earlier we should have been saved much time, trouble and expense spent in organising appeals to voluntary dietetic economy, only to discovthat those who responded were not so much benefitting the State as providing a larger margin of com- fort and convenience for the thoughtless and the greedy. Hence, when the ration- ing system did eventually come, however irksome, it was readily accepted as neces- sary, ati J though no one will regret the early dissolution of our local food control committees, that does not diminish our sense of obligation to them for the gener- ally effective way in which they have dis- charged a thankless and difficult duty. Though not always above committing some rather egregious blunders the work of the Food Ministry and its local administrators will linger in the public memory as one of the few real executive successive of war- time control. EArlior Holidays. Now that May is here it not too soon for the mind to turn wistfully to thoughts of holidays. There is special reason this year why we should be so inclined, because the, Cam- brian and other railway companies are making urgent appeal to the public, as far as possible, to arrange their seaside trips this month and next. There is a seribus shortage of engines and other rolling stock owing to those which were sent to France during the war not yet being returned, and if people wish to avoid the extreme dis- comfort of crowded trains in July and August, to say nothing of the not less acute congestion in the hotels and lodging houses at that season, they will wisely decide to travel earlier. The chief difficulty about this, no doubt, will be due to the schools, whose vacation necessarily largely governs the date of family holiday arrangements, but even in regard to this it may be pos- sible to arrive at some accommodation. In any case, the appeal of the railway com- panies is one which those of our readers who are unrestricted as to time and season should lend sympathetic ear, and we need hardly remind them that, in our fickle British climate, they can at least as reli- ably count on holiday weather" before Midsummer Day as in the weeks which follow that often illusive festival. Insanitary Staircases. Dr. J. D. Lloyd of Chirk had some characteristic- ally trenchant points to lay "before the Denbigh- shire Housing Conference, on Friday, con- cerning the need for stringent by-laws governing domestic habits. He fell with particular fury on the cottage staircase, which, as he probably only too truly re- marked, is often made, like Goldsmith's classical piece of furniture, a double debt to pay, k A stair to lead to bed by night, A rubbish-hole by day," •*—" the receptacle of such things as old boots, milk and meat left over from dinner," etc." and the Doctor's heroic remedy is an "outside staircase" and "built in a sort of turret." Whether .such an arrangement would prove popular we hesitate to say, but it would certainly be healthy, and our local authorities and the Local Government Board might bear the idea in mind. We are afraid that, in any case, it is no easier to make a house- j wife tidy by by-law than it is to make a man sob er by Act of Parliament, unless it is of the most repressive character, and hopes of a higher sanitary standard in future housing schemes must probably lie in education in house-pride rather than in any architectural trickery. Still, the architect has a large responsibility of avoid- ing temptation to put holes and corners to base uses, and on general lines Dr. Lloyd's warning about such important domestic de- tails is extremely opportune.

Military Appointments. Capt. J. I. Benson, M.C., Shrops. Yeo. T.F., is gazetted G.S.O., 2nd Grade, azd i-e. linquishea the temp, rank of major, Feb. 20. He is: a nephew of Mr. Lyde Benson, Larden, Much Wenlock. Capt. Thomas Pic?? ..e'J tW1jtJ. of the 117th .W.k. since his prom?tion at'Su?a Bay, has been appointed staff captain attach- ed to the 282nd Brigade, 75th Division, E.E.F. Capt. Picton is a son-in-law of Councillor Stanford, Wrexham. Major Percy E. W. Saint, eldest son of Mr. T. E. W. Saint, TM Clawdd, Ruabon, has been promoted to alieut..oolondoy in the Royal Engineers. He went out to France and Belgium in 1915 and is stiU in the Army.

r Local Wills. Major Sir Bryan Baldwin Mawddwy Lei?? Mat t d baronet, of Loton Par? SAtp, » • ] 8, Wellington Court, Knigbtsbridg, S.W., in command of the Westmorland • i Cumberland Yeomanry, left estate vlu4';d > £ 32,522. General Sir James Hills-Johnes, V.C 1, G.C.B., D.L., of Dolaucothy, Llanwrda, Car marthen, who served in tho Indian Mutinv and was treasurer of the JJniversity of Wales, who died on January 3, left 914,935, of which 9 M661 i& net personalty, •fc-