Welsh Journals

Y.M.C.A. workers on "The Y.M.C.A" in industrial areas. Mr W. J. Pate, B.A., the educational secretary, has been appointed the Welsh National Secretary of the Y.M.C.A. At the half-yearly meeting of the Court of the Univer- sity College, Bangor, at Blaenau Ffestiniog, on April 25th, Sir Harry Reichel said he regarded the establish- ment of the theological faculty as the greatest contribu- tion which the College would make to the thought and life of North Wales. Lord Kenyon called attention to the action of the Montgomeryshire County Council in voting a half-penny in the pound instead of a penny for University Education, and said the Council would receive a deputation from the University on the matter before the end of the year. He was exceedingly anxious as to the effect of Montgomeryshire's decision upon other Welsh County Councils. If rate aid were halved the equivalent grant by the Treasury would be likewise halved and the example of Montgomeryshire might mean a loss to the University of 950,000 a year. As an indication of the sympathy between the ex, service students of Aberystwyth College and the staff, the former have engaged to raise a fund called "The Ex-Service Students' Scholarship Fund." They con- template raising from amongst themselves £ 300 for placing on record a permanent expression of their grati- tude to the Governors, Council and Senate of the College for the benefits received during their graduation courses in the College. The object of the fund is to render financial assistance during graduation and research courses in the College to the children and lineal des- cendants of those ex-service men who have been students in the College since its foundation in 1872. The trust has been drawn up and executed and handed over at a public meeting to Principal J. H. Davies. The Welsh Department of the Board of Education in its report for 1922, states that the number of pupils in the Intermediate Schools in 1921-22 was 24.489 — an increase of 1,340 on the previous year. A total of 2,805 full-time boy pupils left school during the year and 3,473 girls. No less than 2,963 pupils out of the total of 6,278 leavers, or 47 per cent, left before they attained the age of 16; the figures for the girls were a little better than those for the boys, the percentage of girls leaving under 16 being 42.5 and of the boys 53 per cent. The position was slightly better than in the previous year. Stress is laid on the problems of Welsh Secondary Education yet remaining to be tackled and how urgent is the need for a thorough overhauling of the native system. "Meantime, however, it has been deemed well in this report to direct attention more particularly to the matter of the inspectorate and its bearing on the general educational situation of Wales." The total amount produced in each county and county borough by the £ d rate levied under the Welsh Inter- mediate and Technical Education Act is £ 28,025 18s lid. Of the counties, Glamorgan paid the highest with £ 7,770 19s 1d and of the boroughs Cardiff paid £ 2,525, Swansea £ 1,575, and Newport £ 1,023. The total number of secondary pupils in Wales as recognised by the Board of Education is 31,643. HOUSING. Complete unanimity in condemning the housing policy of the Government, especially in reference to the pro- posed flat rate grant of £ 6 per house to be erected by local authorities, was shown at a conference of repre- sentatives of South Wales local authorities held in the City Hall, Cardiff. After discussion, Sir Walter Nicholas moved and Mr M. Moses, Newport, seconded, the following resolution which was carried unanimously:- "That this Conference protests against the proposals of the Government to establish a flat rate grant as a basis of their contribution towards the finan- cial loss which will be incurred in providing houses in the future, and feels that such a system of grants will operate to the disadvantage of the highly rated and also the smaller authorities, and instead of being an encouragement to the building of houses will have a contrary effect, and that no grant can be regarded as satisfactory which does not take fully into consideration the special circumstances of each local authority,; further, that there is not the slightest justification for paying Government grants where they are not required. "That this Conference feels very strongly that the action of the Government in proposing to limit the grant to non-parlour type houses is a step in the wrong direction. There is no market for this type of house and experience shows that working men living therein do not purchase, whereas, on the contrary, working men have shown every evidence of their desire to become owners of parlour type houses." AGRICULTURE. Some time ago the Labour Party set up an agricul- tural Advisory Committee. This body has been engaged in framing an Agricultural Bill, and Mr R. T. Jones, M.P., is understood to have advocated the inclusion in the Bill of provisions for a separate wages board for Wales. Provisions to this effect wll be inserted in the Bill. In answer to Captain E. Evans, M.P., Sir R. Sanders said the area of land in Wales returned as under crops in 1922 was: — Wheat 35,656 acres; barley 61,413 acres; oats 202,508 acres. PENAL. In the report of His Majesty's Inspectors of the Con- stabularies of England and Wales for year ending Sep- tember, 1922, it showed that the total police strength of the 19 forces in Wales and Monmouthshire was 2,404. Glamorgan County Constabulary was the largest with 740, Carmarthen town being composed of a dozen, including the Chief Constable, an inspector and a sergeant. Glamorgan had tne heaviest bill, the figure being £ 278,574, while Carmarthen's was £ 4,336. The amounts falling on local rates were — Anglesey £ 6,528; Breconshire £ 11,517; Cardiganshire £ 8,202; Carmarthen £ 19,996; Carnarvon £ 16,165; Denbigh £ 16,617; Flint £ 12,292; Glamorgan £ 122,229-, Cardiff £ 19,197; Merthyr £ 11,997; Neath £ 3,796; Swansea £ 32,872; Merioneth £ 5,576; Montgomery £ 6,372; Pem- broke £ 13,226; Monmouth £ 43,522; Newport £ 20,986; and Radnor £ 3,364. Sir Leonard Dunning remarks that "Modern crime is civilised and educated because the criminal of to-day knows that it is far safer and more profitable to swindle hundreds than to rob one by knocking him on the head." Dealing with the income and expenditure of police pensions, the report states that the only Welsh forces with an excess of income over expenditure for 1921 were Cardiff £ 1,857, Carmarthenshire £ 589, Flint £ 27, and Radnor £ 5. TEMPERANCE. Figures just published show that in 1922 the total drink bill for the United Kingdom amounted to £ 354,131,000, as against £ 402,726,000 for the previous year. For England and Wales only, the amount was £ 295,000,000 or £ 7 15s per head of the population. The figures for South Wales are as follows :-Cardiff £ 1,550,000; Swansea £ 1,224,500; Newport £ 713,600; Merthyr £ 620,000. There were 119 convictions for drunkenness at Cardiff, 273 at Swansea, 266 at Newport, and 106 at Merthyr. RELIGION. A joint Conference between the representatives of the Joint Committee of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales, the Evangelical Churches of Wales, the Federation of Local Education Authorites, and representatives of the Glamorganshire and Monmouth- shire N.U.T. Associations and the Welsh Federations of Class Teachers has been held for the purpose of considering the proposed religious concordat in the School. Similar Conferences will be held with the