Welsh Journals

This volume is of course a Report. It is not made to any particular body, its recommendations are not mandatory. It is a report to the public on a problem which is one of public concern, particularly in south Wales. In the penultimate page of the main Report concern is expressed that "these pages should not be its epitaph" but rather that they should lead to specific action undertaken jointly by local and national government depart- ments. This Report demonstrates the need for such action, it indicates in a realistic fashion how such action could be undertaken and what its specific aims should be, and above all it points the way to a system of constructive collaboration between national and local government agencies and University institutions in Wales. It is to be hoped that this Project and its Report will be the first of many which will emanate within Wales in the fairly near future and that this one and its successors will lead to specific action. J. GARETH THOMAS. GLAMORGAN HISTORIAN, Volume IV, edited by Stewart Williams. Cowbridge, 1967. pp. 252 (illustrated). 35S. This volume in the well-known series on the history of Glamorgan is further testimony to the enthusiasm of the editor, Stewart Williams. It is attract- ively produced and profusely illustrated by a variety of photographs, re- productions and facsimiles which generally relate to the subject matter. The major part of the volume is devoted to aspects of Glamorgan history in the nineteenth century. Ieuan Jones produces an excellent essay depicting social life in Merthyr Tydfil; the late Thomas Bevan contributes another detailed section on The Railways of Mid-Glamorgan; Tom Ridd supplies an interesting survey of the inadequacy of educational provisions in the county during the middle years of the century, and the Rev. Ifor Parry engagingly informs the reader of the social background of Aberdare during the period of industrial change. Of a more biographical nature are the following contributions. Charles Shepherd examines the career of Admiral Sir Thomas Button, that hardy and adventurous mariner of the late-Tudor and early-Stuart period Roy Denning produces ample material to describe the activities of the Rev. John Montgomery Treharne, scholar and gentleman Froom Tyler writes an amusing and colourful essay on the famous operatic soprano Madame Adelina Patti of Craig-y-Nos, whilst Dr. Peter Thomas's examination of the medical family of Vachell, associated with Cardiff, is a meticulous and schol- arly contribution. T. J. Hopkins's study of David Jones, Wallington, a local historian and genealogist of the later nineteenth century, is equally noteworthy. These contributions are interesting and valuable for they provide the reader with an abundant variety of material which is generally stimulating. The remaining articles vary in their scholastic attainments. Leslie Illingworth, the celebrated cartoonist, supplies an entertaining account of his own personal memories during his formative years in the vale of