Welsh Journals

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(4) In default of L.E.A. providing by instruction for religious education the School buildings to revert to present owners. (5) The Board of Education to decide such default. (Q) If provisions concerning religious education be abrogated by Parliament, the school buildings to revert to their present owners. (7) Buildings not maintained as schools when handed over, to revert to owners on terms of compensation. The Programme and Application Forms of "Urdd y Deyrnas have been issued. Its second Annual Conference will be held at the Training College, Caerleon, fi|om. April 3rd 7th, when the subject dealt with will be "Christianity, and the World of To-day." Amongst those who have promised to take part in the Conference are the Rev. Herbert Morgan, Professors David Williams, D. Miall Edwards, J. Morgan Jones, Dr. S. H. Watkins, Rev. R. O. Hall, Rev. Malcolm Spencer, Mr. H. A. Mess, Mr. George Davies and Miss Fairfield. The secretary is the Rev. Owen Griffith, 24, Llandough-street, Cardiff. WELSH HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS. In view of the continued need for housing and the urgency of town-planning and other development questions, the Welsh Housing and Development Asso- ciation are preparing to increase its propagandist activities. Mr. Edgar L. Chappell, F.S.S., Assoc. T.P.I., has resumed the office of secretary, and Mr. T. Alwyn Lloyd, F.R.I.B.A., has been appointed hon. treasurer. Mr. Lleufer Thomas continues to act as Chairman. Any information regarding the Associa- tion's work and housing and development problems generally can be obtained from the Association's Offices, 38, Charles-street, Cardiff. The Association has drawn the attention of local authorities throughout Wales and the public gener- ally to the fact that as from January 1st last, the preparation of town-planning schemes becomes obli- gatory on urban authorities with a population of over 20,000, and on the authorities of other areas which in the opinion of the Ministry of Health should be pro- tected by Town-Planning Schemes. In a letter to the Press, the Secretary of the Association draws the attention of the authorities of holiday resorts in West and South Wales to the desirability of preparing development plans for their areas in connection with the improvement schemes now contemplated by the Great Western Railway Co. The authorities of Correspondence. RELIGION AND THE ADOLESCENT. To the Editor of the "Welsh Outlook." Sir,-Mr. Jenkin James, Secretary to the Council of the University of Wales, lays it down in your January issue that universal education is essentially a Christian idea, and as such must be on the programme of every Christian Church." This is broad and sounds fine; but it is not true. There may be a very decided call upon the Church to resist universal education." Education is a form of conveyance, neither Christian nor un-Christian until it is narrowly determined what is conveyed and to what end; then the Church's blessing or anathema will be determined too. There is an education which the Church would encourage; there is also an education which the Church would condemn. We might have a universal education conveying Morning Post ideas to Morning Post ends; or Bolshevik ideas to Bolshevik ends; or Prohibitionist ideas to Prohibitionist ends. Even Mr. Jenkin James might demur. Universal educaflon" is no panacea for human ills nor even Christian, till we know the con- North Wales seaside towns have commissioned Pro- tessor Patrick Abercrombie, the well-known expert, to advise them on the development of their areas. Pro- fessor Abercrombie is also carrying out a survey of the Deeside region for the local authorities concerned. In South Wales action is being taken to establish Joint Town Planning Committees for the coalfield re- commended by the South Wales Regional Survey Com- mittee. In this matter the Ministry of Health and the local authorities are working in active co-oper- ation.- The great public interest now being evinced in the proposal of the Warrington Corporation for the appro- priation of the Ceiriog Valley for water supply pur- poses, has caused the Association to reiterate its policy in regard to water supply generally. It takes the view that piecemeal projects of this nature are in- jurious to public interests generally, and calls for the establishment of a Water Supply Commission for the country as a whole with a Regional Water Board (or Boards) for Wale* In America and in certain towns in this country considerable attention has been paid to problems of outdoor recreation, and some excellent surveys have been carried out showing the relation of parks and playgrounds to public health, crime, and general social standards. The Welsh Housing and Develop- ment Association take the view that a survey of such open spaces in Wales is, necessary and meanwhile have set up a small sub-committee to carry out an experi- mental survey in Cardiff. NATIONAL INSURANCE. Mr. F. Llewelyn Jones of Mold, the chairman of the Flintshire County Committee under the National Health Insurance Act, since its formation in 1912, sums up his ten years' experience of the administration of the Act as follows:- All hostility to the principle of the Act has now disappeared indeed on all sides there is a desire to enlarge and extend its benefits. (1) There has been a marked and continuous im- provement in the health of the community. (2) The service of the panel practitioners has been on the whole of a very satisfactory character. (3) The necessity for an enlargement of the scope of the medical benefit is now generally recog- nized, and there can be no greater tribute to the efficiency of the services given under the Insurance Act than the insistent demand for the extension of those services. tent and the object of the education. For education must convey something to some end. Perhaps Mr. James will flatter himself that anyhow the Church is bound to support, let us say, the teaching of Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. No, the Church is not bound, Reading, writing, and arithmetic, like good beer, have proved very bad things for some souls. It were better for many had they never read, written, or counted. Mr. James informs us that the adolescent have turned rebellious against the Church, that the Church does not understand the adolescent, who are normally religious by nature," etc. I admit that they certainly appear to have grown indifferent. Mr. James thinks it is because they are sensitive, impressionable, adventurous, critical." Sensitive and impressionable they are indeed, but that they are adventurous and critical I regret I see no signs. Mr. James is really too flattering. If Welsh youth were adventurous and critical, they would long since have turned rebellious, not against the Church, which, alas, does not bother them. They have become so broad, and are so advanced nowadays, that they simply ignore the Church. Besides, are they not (I mean the normal ones) religious by nature "? If Welsh