Welsh Journals

crying need of Welsh drama to-day is a producer of genius. A Welsh Nugent Monck or James Gregson would work miracles in the standard of amateur performances. All the rough edges would vanish, the little details now left to chance would be thought out, and in the thinking out would become an integral and vital part of the production. The soul of a great production is its unity-the unity of the staging with the theme, the unity of the speech and action with the spirit of the play. To achieve this the producer must have that nobility of mind which we call sympathy combined with a rare executive gift. The producer must know how everything is done, from painting the scenery to "making up" the crowd. It is feeble to say, as do some, that the fine staging of a play is a matter for professionals. It is being done by others. As an example of this I cannot do better than to mention that the finest book yet written on Practical Stage Lighting has been issued by Mr. Harold Ridge, whose knowledge has been THE Welsh Pioneers of Patagonia. By J. E. Evans B.A. THE town of Northampton, though a con- siderable distance from the Principality, has a very strong Cymric Society. Its members meet periodically for Celtic fellowship to catch again the inspiration of the hills whence they came. At a recent gathering they were favoured with the presence of one of the oldest emigrants of the Welsh Colony in Patagonia, Mr. E. F. Hunt, who gave a very interesting account of the origin and progress of that colony. The story of the Welsh emigration to the Southern Argentine and of the heroic struggles of the early colonisers, is full of romance, and worthy to be placed amongst the world's great enterprises. It had its rise in an attempt to escape intolerable injustices, and was inspired by an ideal of nationalism which is ever dear to the hearts of true Welshmen. In the early part of the nineteenth century Wales suffered from a three-fold oppression- the injustice of the landlord, the harshness of the capitalist, and the exactions of the Estab- lished Church." By the middle of the century, religious revival and education had combined to rouse the people from their torpor. A new and powerful national sentiment was created, out of which arose a strenuous propaganda to reform abuses. The difficulties encountered in that effort gave rise to the idea of forming an exclu- sively Welsh colony. Professor Michael D. Jones, of Bala, noticing, on a visit to America, that the Welsh emigrants there, lost their Welsh gathered by experience with amateur societies at Cambridge and in the North. Last year a summer school of Drama was held at Oxford. America and Germany sent their full quota of two hundred delegates each; the representatives from Wales could have been counted on the fingers of two hands. This was a great opportunity lost to young directors of Welsh companies. At the school they would have received instruction in every phase of dramatic art from such experts as John Masefield, Gilbert Murray, Herbert Norris, Elsie Fogerty and Maud Scott. One of the foremost Welsh dramatists wrote to me recently: What a pity the Welsh societies do not take a serious interest in the study of production. Such a study might reflect with advantage on the practice." This is a serious problem which lovers of Welsh drama must face. If the drama is to occupy its due and lofty place in the national life, efforts must be made to find and to train producers, skilled craftsmen with the minds of poets. characteristics in the second generation, formed a Welsh Emigration Society, which had for its object the establishing of a Welsh colony where the colonists could thrive and prosper without losing their language and customs. After several unsuccessful attempts to secure a place for such a colony, Patagonia came into purview, an extensive territory over which nomadic Tehuelche and Pampa Indians roamed. This seeming to be a suitable tract of land for the purpose, the committee approached the Argentine Government through its Consul in Liverpool, and the proposal was looked on with favour. Two delegates were thereupon appointed to inspect the Chubut Valley. These were Mr. Lewis Jones, of Carnarvon, and Mr. Love Jones Parry, Madryn, who soon returned with a favourable report. Some five hundred from different parts of Wales volunteered to go out to form the Colony, but owing to delays and financial diffi- culties only one hundred and fifty-three set sail from Liverpool on May 28th, 1865, in the good ship Mimosa. These, after an eventful voyage, landed at Port Madryn, on the Patagonian coast, on the 28th of the following July. Port Madryn, however, is forty-five miles from the Chubut Valley, the intervening space being a tableland covered with shrubs from two to six feet high, and is a waterless tract. Over this the emigrants had to carry their belongings, marching on foot, one wheelbarrow being their only vehicle. After a dreary march they arrived in the Chubut Valley, and found that their future home was to be on an arid tract of land, with no vegetation except that of a few straggling bushes, apart from the willows and pampa grass which grew on the river banks. Here, however, undaunted, the Welsh colonists began to settle down, by