Welsh Journals

The various Associated Societies which have grown around the Eisteddfod, and which now constitute an essential feature of the educational side of the festival, must be so organised that their meetings, so far from clashing, as at present, may be each and all attended by the same audience if so desired. To ensure this they must all be made amenable to one supreme Eisteddfodic authority. The University, and other National Institutions, should, where possible, be brought into closer touch with, and made more directly helpful to, this People's University. This again opens too wide a field to be more than mentioned here in passing. Literary, and musical compositions, to be of real merit and permanent value, should be announced two years in advance, so as to afford competitiors reasonable time for research and doing justice to the subjects chosen. Here again the Carnarvon Committee has shown the way, by being prepared to announce at Corwen in 1919, subjects for musical, and literary, as well as dramatic competitions for the 1921 Festival. IN connection with the Eisteddfod I will en- deavour to state some of my reasons for giving at Neath a notice of motion, to be submitted to the United Meeting of the Gorsedd and the National Eisteddfod Association at Corwen. In the first place I propose to call attention to the serious irregularity connected with the present method of choice of subjects, and with the conditions of competition. With reference to the choice of subject there is often an utter lack of sense of proportion. The competitors are frequently asked to do more than can possibly be done satisfactorily in the time and space allotted. This applies specially to the prizes offered for essays by the National Eisteddfod Association. The result is that when the competitions are sent in, the adjudicator states that the contributions are incomplete, and he advises that the same prize should be offered again, as the competitors show great promise that, if given adequate time, they will pro- duce masterly essays. This is done, and then the adju- dicator (another appointed) speaks highly of the essays, but intimates that the theme is so vast as to be positively beyond the scope of any single essay he, therefore, com- mends the payment of an honorarium, and the offering of another prize for an essay dealing with only one aspect of the many-sided question which the competitors have struggled in vain to deal with in a single essay. Result- The National Eisteddfod Association has figured as offering £ 40 on two distinct occasions, making £ 80 in all but has rounded off the transaction by paying £ 20 in honora- ria. This has recently occurred and there are many similar instances. How can these salient features in a reformed Eisteddfod be secured? Not by dethroning either the Gorsedd or Eisteddfod Association. There must be a Central Authority absolutely supreme in all matters pertaining to the Eis- teddfod. Anything less than this means chaos and spells disaster. How such an authority may be evolved from the existing organisations is matter for careful enquiry and consideration. There is much in the present methods which may be, and should be, improved-but though changes may be effected by ill-considered onslaughts, whether on persons or organisations, permanent im- provements cannot. Still the reform and the improve- ments are obviously overdue. That they have not long since been forced to an issue is due in part to the personal popularity, and length of frequently unrequited services, of those who have been in authority for a long generation past. Let the reforms, when they come, be the fruit of either ripe experience, or careful deliberation, or both, and be introduced with a single eye to re-enthroning the National Eisteddfod in all its pristine glory as the highest manifestation of national genius in every department. THE NATIONAL MAUSOLEUM Something rotten in the State of Denmark." By Rev. David Davies. On other occasions this absurd demand is aggravated by limiting the essay to a certain number of words. We have a striking instance of this in the prize of Y.100 offered through the liberality of the Western Mail for the best essay on the most important and comprehensive subject of The Contribution of Wales to the British Empire." It is stipulated that the essay is to consist of about 60,000 words." Can anyone, who has any knowledge of the subject, imagine that this great subject can be adequately dealt with in a crown octavo volume of less than 200 pages? A great opportunity of producing a work worthy of the enterprise and generosity of the donors of the prize, is practically thwarted by this absurd and utterly unnecessary limitation. Last year's prize for a War Poem was hampered also by another condition as to the number of lines which, according to the adjudicator, rendered success well nigh an impossibility-hence the farcical result. The conditions of competition are also in some respects very unsatisfactory, especially with regard to the copy- right of successful manuscripts. I had something to do in connection With Cadrawd in obtaining the present con- cession, viz., that if the Eisteddfod Committee and the National Eisteddfod Association do not publish the successful productions, within eighteen months, the right of publication reverts to the author in common with them. But even now, when, at the close of the eighteen months, authors send for their successful productions to the National Eisteddfod Association they are either treated with silent contempt, or, if they persist, are explicitly told that the right of publication does not involve a right to