Welsh Journals

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Girls had been known to travel by the last train and make for the docks, and eighteen had been found dressed as boys. A search at Swansea for a girl charged with theft led to her discovery among 20 girls on board an American steamer, though the officers had denied there was any girl on board. II. — Educational. (i) Some interesting facts were revealed by the depu- tation from the Cardiff University College, which waited upon the Cardiff Property and Markets Com- mittee seeking an extension of the present site of the College in Cathays Park. The number of day students had increased from 150 in 1884 to 945 in 1919, and the annual expenditure of the College in the same years from £ 5,784 to £ 32,561 Principal Trow said that at the moment there were 409 ex- service students in the College, whose maintenance grants amounted to £ 39,700. He further stated that the levy of a penny rate by all the local authori- ties in Wales, together with the equivalent subsidy promised by the Government, would place at least £ 100,000 per annum in the hands of the University Court. Bangor, a town with only 12,000 inhabitants, had provided a site worth £ 15,000 for the College, and on that basis Cardiff should assist to the extent of £ 250,000. The Chairman of the Markets Committee remarked that the site asked for was a portion of that which had been reserved for the Welsh Parliament. (ii) On March 19th the Prime Minister received a depu- tution from the Welsh University on Government grants. The Prime Minister undertook that a grant should be made by the Treasury, which would be equivalent to the proceeds of a penny rate by the local authorities if and when the County Councils levied it." On certain conditions he further pro- mised the deputation that the Treasury would be prepared to allow pound-for-pound grants in respect of subscription by private individuals or to income from endowments made or given after August, 1918. (iii) The latest education estimates adopted by the Merthyr Education Committee involve a rate of 6s. 2d. necessary to meet the demand. The South Wales News states that this is the highest rate reached by any authority in the kingdom. III. — Housing. (i) Ceremonies connected with a start in Housing have been frequent throughout Wales. A French bayonet beaten into a spade was used by the Chairman of the Mountain Ash Council for the cutting of the first sod at Penrhiwceiber. Aberdare, as usual, is a pioneer. The Council possessed already the Cwmneol site of 81 acres and it is intended to build at once 72 houses in pairs and in blocks of four. The houses will be of concrete, and the rental will work out at 50s. a month. (ii) The Public Works Loan Board has agreed to advance the sum of £ 30,000 at 6 per cent. to the Holywell Urban Council for housing developments at Holy- well. (iii) Sir Charles Ruthen, a well .known Welsh Architect, disclaimed being a pessimist at a building trade dinner at Swansea, but this is the way he spoke While Dr. Addison expected 200,000 houses in his first year, he had not got 5,000. Even if the Ministry had got all those it had approved, it would take nine years to wipe off the arrears. They were floundering on what seemed an unfathomable morass." (iv) There are 167 local authorities in Wales; and the task which awaits them is the building of 85,000 houses at a cost of about £ 60,000,000 IV.— Rural. (i) The peninsula of Gower has been much disturbed by designs of the Glamorgan Small Holdings Committee. It was first suggested that the colony of ex-service small holders should be planted in Mid Glamorgan, but fear of a revolution in that area sent the committee to Gower. The Gower farmers urge (1) that the land in Gower is generally unsuitable for the purpose (2) that the farms are already too small; (3) that if a committee composed of men largely ignorant of agriculture is to be allowed to go round and pick out the best fields on various farms, what is left would not be worth the while of the practical farmer to cultivate. (ii) The Agricultural Wages Board fixed new minimum rates for farm workers in Denbigh and Flint as follows :­-Workmen wholly or mainly as team men, cattle men, cowmen, shepherds or bailiffs, 54s. per week overtime Is. Id. per hour Sunday pay Is. 31d. per hour. Other classes of workmen 42s. per week with same rate of overtime and Sunday pay. Pre-war rates of pay in Denbeigh and Flint-ordillary labourers 20s. to 23s. horsemen 21s. to 25s. per week. (iv) Students of local government in Wales-if there are any-must be haunted with fears that Wales is not yet ripe for self-government. For local author- ity after local authority is confessing that efficient local government is almost beyond its powers. (i) In Merionethshire the Treasurer of the County Council is of opinion "that the financial position of the County is appalling, and it was time the Council should revolt against administering costly Govern- ment schemes unless given adequate aid from the Exchequer." (2) In Carnarvonshire, Mr. O. T. Williams, presenting the estimate of the County Council dealt with the expenditure on small hold- ings. Commitments of the Council would ultimately reach the figure of £ 92,800. At the end of six years the County would have to bear that burden, and Mr. O. T. Williams shuddered at the prospect." (3) In Flintshire, Mr. J. P. Jones complained that the Council were losing £ 200 a year on each small holding. It would be cheaper to give each ex- service tenant £ 50 a year and tell him to go about his business." (iv) During 1919, the Angelsey Egg-Collecting Society collected in the county 2,092,852 eggs as against 1,863,644 for the preceding year. A dividend of 10 per cent. has been declared. V.-Social. (i) At Porth, on a Sunday afternoon in March, 70,000 men and boys (and some women) processed through the streets of Porth accompanied by 15 brass and silver bands demanding the old-time facilities for beer, and protesting against Prohibition in general and Local Option in particular. (ii) On Friday, April 2nd, Mr. Sidney Robinson, M.P., moved the second reading of the Temperance (Wales) Bill. Mr. Herbert Fisher, on behalf of the Govern- ment administered a cold douche, and Mr. Herbert Lewis stated that had Mr. Lloyd George been able to attend he would have spoken in favour of the bill. The second reading was carried by a majority of 2 (86 to 84), and then Mr. Pemberton Billing moved that the Bill be committed to a Committee of the whole House. The motion was carried by 77 to 76- the figures being received with laughter and cheers. (iii) The Pontypridd Bench decided to impose the follow- ing conditions on the renewal of cinematograph licences in their area. (1) All parts of the premises must be so lighted as to give a view over the whole building; and (2) No children under school age were to be permitted at the shows after 8.30 p.m. (iv) On March 12th, the latest date for which figures are available, there were in Wales 7,318 ex-service men in receipt of out-of-work donation and 918 disabled ex-service men on the registers of the employment exchanges.