Welsh Journals

only 70 per cent of the corresponding amount for the United Kingdom. In the interesting section on the distributive trades it is shown, for example, that average retail sales per establishment in Wales in 1950 were considerably lower than those of the United Kingdom. It also emerges that there is "surprisingly little wholesale trading in Wales." For preparing his chapter on "Population" — which is mainly devoted to recent demographic features as shown by the 195 Census Mr. Parry Lewis had more satisfactory statistics. Death rates are shown to be higher in Wales than in England both for men and women and for infants "in every social class." So also are the standardised mortality rates for males in all the major occupational categories. (In showing this in Table 85 the counties aggregated in "Wales I" and in "Wales II" should have been named.) Judging from data on illegitimacy and "early" first maternities, sexual morality in Wales did not differ much from what it was in England- though "the chance of the parents marrying before the arrival of the baby was greater in Wales." Information on such marriages has been collected recently in the sample survey (of marriage in Britain during 1959-60) conduct- ed by the Population Investigation Committee and the Gallup Poll. The book, in which various aspects of the modern economic history of Glamorgan naturally loom large, is lucidly written, without jargon. The University of Wales Press are to be congratulated on the excellent appearance of the volume, and the authors on a most welcome contribution to the study of Welsh affairs. R. O. ROBERTS THE GARDEN OF WALES. Edited by Stewart Williams. (The Vale Series, Vol. III). Cowbridge, 1961 pp. 129. 18s. Mr. Stewart Williams' volumes in the Vale Series grow more substantial as, one by one, they appear. This, the third volume, contains eleven essays with forty-three illustrations, and a survey of Glamorgan containing sixteen photographs with a commentary. In addition, most of the essays have short bibliographies appended to them, and there is a useful index. Al- together, it is a rich volume, delightful to read and to browse in. The illustrations are particularly good, and the editor is to be congratulated on producing such a delightful book at a price which will deter no one with any interest in the history of the county. Seven of the essays are studies of parishes or well-defined localities. Of these, the two outstanding contributions are by Mr. T. J. Hopkins, whose knowledge of the Vale is unrivalled, and who takes us on a quiet perambulation of the parish of Welsh St. Donats, and Mr. Brian Ll. Jones, who conducts us in and about the parish of Llantrithyd. Both these essays carry their learning lightly. Their charm lies in their ability to respond to the historical associations of the commonplace, and to evoke in the reader that sense of piety to place which is the mark of the local historian. Mr. Thomas Bevan writes entertainingly about the history of Coity Castle and some of its more colourful possessors. He ends with some lines of