Welsh Journals

There are already signs that reconstruction is going to proceed on the old imperial lines, as the significant facts given in Lady Boston's letter show, and we maintain that at the moment the Welsh party are either not alive to the fact, or, being alive to it, consciously neglect their duty and their opportunity. Some of your correspondents declare that the article gave too important a position to a party while the first need is for an agreed programme, but surely political experience tends to show that the function of a party is often, if not generally, necessary before a nation can unite on a policy, or at any rate before its demands and aspirations can be registered. United Italy was a great idea it had behind it through the ages the heart of Italy, but as a political aim it was the conception of a few exiles of whom Mazzini was the chief. Many more instances could be given to show how necessary it is for the politician to devote his attention to such an uninteresting and irritating task as the creation of an organisation which will be capable of making articulate the sentiments of a people. Even at this early stage one other misconception must be removed. The article was not intended to suggest any cut and dried programme-but merely a basis for dis- cussion, in the belief that by such means the clear views of Wales would not be difficult to discover-a belief of VIEWS OF WELSH LEADERS OF THOUGHT We publish below, in summary form, expressions of opinion received from Welsh leaders of all sections with reference to the article in our February number by A Welsh Nationalist on "The Political Future of Wales." Our correspondents, it will be noted, include Liberals, Labourites and Conservatives, Free Churchmen and Anglicans, Members of Parliament and County Councillors, Capitalists and Workmen's representatives ANGLESEY. Lady BOSTON, Lligwy, Moelfre, Member of Anglesey Insurance Com- mittee, President Anglesey Branch of Welsh Industries Association, Deputy-President of the Welsh Housing and Development Associa- tion. All who have the true interests of Wales at heart have for some years been aware that something has gone wrong with the Welsh Parlia- mentary Party, and will therefore cordially welcome the proposals for reform made with such vigour and skill by a Welsh Nationalist." Changes are absolutely essential. At present there seems to be no live coal in the Welsh Parliamentary group who has the inborn capacity for kindling others into passionate and untiring zeal. Surely many men capable of this are hidden away somewhere in Wales ? Perhaps one of the most perplexing features of the inertia of the present Welsh Parlia- mentary Party is the supiness with which its members let slip one oppor- tunity after another of enlightening the nunds of English Public Officials and Departments as to the urgent need for special treatment in regard to Welsh affairs. The two following instances out of many may suffice as examples. A Committee is at present advising the Local Government Board on the drafting of the forthcoming Housing Bill for the whole of England and Wales, but there is no one to represent Wales upon this Com- mittee, although the housing difficulties and needs of the Principality are well known to exceed in urgency those of England, and include such special problems as the reform of the living-in quarters of agricul- tural labourers. There is also at the present time a Committee consisting of ten persons preparing a Government Report upon the Production and Distribution of Milk. Included in the ten are two representatives for Scotland and two for Ireland, but not one for Wales. A re-formed Welsh Parliamentary Party would surely resent and combat such neglect, until such time as the long-desired autonomy for Wales has been secured. which the correspondence is strong confirmation. But, surely, it will be said, the Welsh party by means of inquiries and sub-committees will have been keeping in touch with the developments of Welsh opinion on these matters, and will now be ready to give us some guidance as to its trend. Let the party answer as to what it has done in the past, and what it is ready to do in the future. One other matter only -some of the most enthusiastic of your correspondents have dwelt on the prospects of a possible conflict between Labour and Nationalism in Wales. This question, so full of difficulty, can only be dealt with in careful detail later, but the following con- siderations are at any rate hopeful (i) Irish Labour has definitely allied itself with the most advanced form of Irish nationalism, (ii) the Scottish Labour Party has on the whole accepted Scottish Home Rule as one of its aims, and (iii) your Labour correspondents from Wales have shewn a greater readiness to accept the new Nationalist programme than any other official representatives of the old parties. The correspondence is hopeful; it is inspiring and it is sufficiently unanimous to encourage anyone who has put his hand to the plough, to persist. The furrow will not be a lonely one. A Welsh Nationalist. Mr. W. EDWARDS, Gaerwen, Chairman, Anglesey County Council Chairman, Anglesey Liberal Association. I have read the article with somewhat mixed feelings. The results obtained since 1 906 have been meagre and disappointing but I do not agree that this has been due to the failure of the Welsh Members of Parliament. It is quite clear to me that Wales has suffered politically since 1906 from the phenomenal success of our fellow countryman, the Prime Minister. The gain of the Empire has been the loss of Wales. Mr. Lloyd George has been the leader of the Welsh people, and any Member of Parliament who would have had the audacity to go against him and attack the Government of which he is a member would have fared very badly indeed at the hands of his constituents. The rock upon which the Welsh Parliamentary Party has been wrecked, is not the failure of the Welsh Members, but hero-worshipping on the part of the Welsh people themselves. But what of the future ? Y mae trwst amlwg ym mrig y morwydd: The Welsh people will demand self- determination," demand freedom to develop in their own way in education, and in regard to all social questions including the land question. I assert with confidence that no evidence, worth a moment's consideration, can be found among the Welsh peasants of a desire to buy their holdings, except under the dire necessity of preventing their homes being sold over their heads. One of the great social problems facing Wales is the hopeless position of many of the peasants, who have been compelled by our insane land laws to pay a competitive price for land made productive by their own industry. The great difficulty in the way of the formation of a real Welsh Party is the chasm existing between industrial Wales and rural Wales. It will be difficult to detach industrial Wales from the great British and international movements; but industrial Wales has a way of its own of looking at matters, and we are not without hope that the chasm separating it from rural Wales can be to some extent bridged over so that Wales as a whole can attack the great social problems facing the nation.