Welsh Journals

Editorial. The Slide-car or Car Cefn. — The frontispiece is reproduced with the kind permission of the Manchester City Art Gallery Committee from a photograph of a picture in the branch art gallery at Heaton Hall. It is a view of Penrhyn Castle, which was painted by David Cox (1783-1859). The picture is interesting to historians for the representation of a slide-car shown in the foreground. This wheelless vehicle is adapted to rough country, before the construction of good road has encouraged the use of carts or waggons. The slide-car is still used in parts of Ireland, Scandinavia, and even further afield, but it appears to have been forgotten in Montgomeryshire. Sir Cyril Fox figures an example from Brecknockshire (v. Antiquity, June, 1931) and says that this type of vehicle is freely in use to-day on Welsh farms, e.g., around Builth Wells in Radnorshire, to bring down fodder, etc., from the mountains, and in the Glyncorrwg district of Glamorgan, where it is used for harvesting hay." The car cefn, as it was called, was quite common in North Wales until the end of the 18th Century, and possibly later (v. Walter Davies: General View of the Agriculture and Domestic Economy of North Wales, 1810). We should welcome any information from members of the Club concerning its use and survival in Montgomeryshire. Policy.-In spite of the war and its just claims on all the services that we can render, the Powysland Club is endeavouring to maintain its activities, and we believe that in doing so it is rendering some service to the community. It is important that our culture should be carried through these critical times with as little loss as possible, and, therefore, without any break of continuity. Like the land it needs constant effort to keep it in good heart and free of weeds. It is gratifying to see the interest that is being taken in the Club and the support which members are giving with their subscriptions and with contributions to the Montgomeryshire Collection8. Local Studies.-A new development of local studies has just been reported. In 1940, His Majesty's Inspectors of Schools emphasised the need for laying more stress on the teaching of local history. The Montgomeryshire Teachers' Associa- tion appointed a committee which has already drawn up a syllabus that should be of great help in forwarding this aim, and the committee is to be congratulated on the work it has done. There is some danger under present conditions of people