Welsh Journals

A Conference called by the Student Christian Movement took place at Aberystwyth in the second week in September, particulars of which will appear in a later issue of The Welsh Outlook- — The travelling secretaries for Wales of the Student Movement are Miss Hilda Griffiths, 3. Malvern Terrace, Swansea, and the Rev. Owen Griffith, B.A., Drefach, Llanarthney, Carmarthenshire. Official magazine Yr Efrudydd, edited by Prof. D. Miall Edwards, M.A. Religious. The Welsh Archbishop, speaking at the St. Asaph Diocesan Board of Finance on July 28th, seemed to be of the opinion (1) that it was rather early to maintain that his Easter letter to the Rev. T. Chas. Williams would not bear fruit; (2) that in the controversy about religious teaching in schools, Dr. Clifford-a very able man-was no longer a force; and (3) that Nonconformists in Wales were seriously anxious about the religious instruction of their children. The Diocesan Inspector reported that there were 230 Church Day Schools in the Diocese, and 20,000 children were receiving daily reli- gious instruction. Many Nonconformists sent their children to Church Schools. The Baptist Union of Wales held its annual session at Penuel Chapel, Carmarthen, on August 23­28. An oW St. Peter's boy, now the Lord Lieutenant of the County-Mr. John Hinds, M.P., was in the chair as President of the Union. Principal Edwards defined the attitude of Welsh Baptists to the Lambeth proposals for Re-union-Re-ordination was an insuperable barrier. Mr. J. R. Clynes, M.P., spoke on the League of Nations, and also at an over-flow meeting. Lord Pontypridd and the Rev. W. A. Williams advocated the claims of the Sustentation Fund, which, after seven weary years of continuous effort, has resulted in the total of £ 45,000. Principal Edwards, who has saved the denomination from the disgrace of miserable failure, said that the English Union aimed at raising £ 250,000 in one month The Penuel Union meetings will long be remembered as a triumph of efficient organization, thanks to the willing band of workers under the leadership of the Rev. Waldo Lewis, B.A., the minister of Penuel. The Nonconformist denominations are drawing closer to- gether. Welsh Wesleyans are asking why should they not join with the Calvinistic Methodists? And the C.M.'s broke new ground in arranging for a remarkable public meeting at the Carnarvon Sassiwn to discuss the general question of union. At this meeting there were four speakers-Dr, John Williams (C.M.). Rev. Tegla Davies (Wesleyan Methodist). Rev. E. K. Jones (Baptist), and Principal T. Rees, Bangor (Independent), who, in his closing paragraph, put the case for closer co-operation in one sentence-" Yn bennaf oil rhaid inni gudweithio yn awr i achub Cymru neu fe'n collir gyda'n gilydd." Canon Barnes British Association sermon on the futility of the Doctrine of the Fall has so far created no flutter in theological circles in Wales. On the whole, as yet, the Principality, like the Earl of Beaconsfield in the controversy as to whether men were descended from apes or from angels, prefers to be on the side of the angels." Public Health and Housing. Dr. D. A. Hughes, the Carmarthenshire M.O.H., has pointed out that in Wales cinemas and public halls enioy total exemption from supervision by health officers. Why should Welsh children of five years and under be admitted into badlv ventilated, sunlight-excluding places of amusement? The M.O.H. has been asked by the County Council to make a report as to the sanitary condition of all Carmarthenshire cinemas. Those who were present at the Industrial Affairs session of the 1920 Welsh School of Social Service, will never forget the effect of the speech of Mr. Malcolm Sparkes. It was the first peep that many of us had into the new world To Readers and Contributors.-The publication offices of The Welsh Outlook are at 8, Broad Street, Newtown, whither all contributions, advertisements, and orders should be addressed. about which we had heard so much. 'The Guild of Builders seemed to be the modern Mayflower," and the members of the Guilds so many Pilgrim Fathers on their way to a new land of freedom from industrial unrest. It may come as a surprise to some of us that there are Guilds in South Wales. One of them is at Tredegar, and we hope to give later on particulars of this most interesting experiment. The Tredegar Guild has entered into a contract with the Council for the building of a large number of houses. Industrial. Advanced Labour in the Rhondda and in Merthyr is busy clearing the decks. In both districts "Councils of Action have been formed with the purpose of complementing the work of Trade Unions by preparing an extra arm for times of crisis." By the end of October the Council of Action" is to be ready for any emergency. The following committees are to be set up at once (1) Transport, (2) propaganda, (3) finance, (4) social welfare. At last the struggle is upon us. The London press, for the most part, insists upon coupling the South Wales miners with Mr. Robert Smillie as The villains of the piece." It is in South Wales that Karl Marx has the largest number of hard thinking disciples, and it is in South Wales that Mr. G. H. D. Cole and Mr. R. H. Tawney enjoy the biggest following. The point of view of some of the young intel- lectuals of the South Wales coalfield has been admirably put by Mr. R. H. Tawney in his little classic, The Sickness of an Acquisitive Society (George Allen and Unwin, 1/-). Meanwhile the ostensible reasons for a strike are two :­ (i.) To force the Government to take 14/2 per ton off the price of the householder coal. (ii.) To force the coal-owners to grant in wages an increase of 2/- per shift. The whole to be net out of an estimated profit of £ 66,000,000 upon the sale of export coal. On September 3rd figures of how districts voted were given out at a Miners' Conference in London, when, after half-an- hour's discussion, it was unanimously decided that notices should be handed in on September 25th. Figures for Wales For Strike. Against. Percentage. South Wales 141.721 40,047 77.96 North Wales 9,195 2,586 78.05 Social. Amongst items of interest affecting social life in North Wales the following may be worthy of record in the Diary- the statement by the Master of Llanfylfin Workhouse that in the month of June, out of 88 casuals, no less than 23 were ex-soldiers; that at Llanberis on one day in July there were sixty-seven charabancs; that the Rhyl magistrates granted a license to two village ;nns in Newmarket to continue open from 2-30 p.m. to 6 p.m., on the occasion of the Newmarket Annual Eisteddfod (where was the Eisteddfod Committee that an application of this kind should be needed?); that the Chief Constable of Carnarvonshire reported an increase in juvenile crime; that the Abergele magistrates, Lord Clwyd (better known as Sir Herbert Roberts), presiding, have granted a Sunday license to the Empire Cinema so that presumably its receipts may not suffer owing to the competition of the other Abergele Cinema, to which a Sunday performance permit had already been given. Tendencies. Slowly there is emerging a New Wales Movement-non- political, non-sectarian, — of which the organizations mentioned in the first chapter of this month's Diary are some of the con- stituents, and for which, if appearances are not deceptive, the Welsh School of Social Service in annual session will afford the common rallying ground. No poetry MSS. that has been rejected will be returned. Authors should keep copies. Only a few short poems can be published in each issue.