Welsh Journals

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On July 6th, Sir John Reith, Director General of the B.B.C., and Mr. E. R. Appleton, Director of the Welsh Station, met Sir Waltord Davies, of the National Council of Music, and Dr. Cyril Fox and Mr. A. H. Lee, of the Welsh National Museum. They discussed Sir Walford Davies's proposal for broadcasting instrumental music from the Welsh National Museum, in wihich haptpy national venture the B.B.C., the Council of Music, and the Museum will co-operate. EDUCATION. On Friday, June 24th, the President of the Board of Education received a joint deputation from the University of Wales and the National Union of Welsh Societies. The deputation asked the President to appoint a Departmental Committee to inquire into and report on the question of rural education in Wales in all its grades. The request was granted, and the terms of reference to the Committee would be made as wide as possible. Another deputation from the C.W.B. was received at the same time by the President, who was requested to put into oper- ation the recommendations of the Departmental Committee of 1920 for the establishment of a National Council of Education for Wales. In reply to the C.W.B. deputation, Lord Eustace Percy offered "the possibility of appointing a purely advisory council to which he could turn for advice on matters of national importance to Welsh education." At the annual general meetings of the Denbigh- shire Countv Association of Teachers, on July 9th, one of the speakers referred to the criticism that value for money was not being received by the country in the sphere of education. That kind of criticism, said the speaker could be summed up thus: — "Teaoh people to read by all means, so that they will be able to read our newspaper and swell our circulation. But do not teach them how to think, otherwise they will not buy it." Mr. J. C. Davies, the director of education for Denbighshire, advocated that the time had arrived for education to be separ- ated altogether from County Council work. It should be controlled by a body elected ad hoc, as in Scot- land. There did not seem to be much propect of progress until and unless that reform had been effected. For manv months there has been much discussion concerning the Welsh National School of Medicine. Ought it to continue to belong to Cardiff, or ought it to belong to the whole of Wales? That Toughly is the point in dispute. Lord Kenyon, Sir Harry Reichel, the Hon. W. N. Bruce, Chancellor C. G. Joyce, and Alderman William George represent the Welsh University Council in this long-drawn con- troversy. Their case is that it is not .possible to carry on a National School of Medicine in sole combin- ation with ia local college. Lord PontypTidd, Sir David Llewellyn, Principal A. H. Trow, Dr. Rocyn Jones, and Mr. H. M. Ingledew, the well-known Cardiff solicitor, acted for the Council of the Cardiff University College. Apart from the argument of the wisdom or folly "of trying to dismember" the Uni- versity College at Cardiff, it was urged, on counsel's opinion, that the thing was illegal. On July 18th it was reported that "a settlement" was in prospect. There were to be negotiations on new lines, and there was every hope of a peaceful solution being accepted by both sides at Aberystwyth. when on July 21st the Court of the University of Wales would meet. At a private mass meeting of the teachers under the Carmarthenshire Education Committee, held in Carmarthen on July 16th, it was reported that (1) the result of the preliminary ballot on the question of drastic action was considered bv the Executive of the .N.U.T. to be "highly satisfactory"; (2) steps would be taken immediately for the actual gathering in of the notices of individual teachers for use at the discretion of the Central Executive of the N.U.T.; (3) the firmness of belief of the local teachers in the justice of their opposition to the Authority's claim lor a separate arbitration upon the Burnham allo- cation ot Scale 3 to Carmarthenshire would be finally settled by "this very serious and vital procedure." The report of the Board of Education under the Welsh Intermediate Act of 1889 for the year 1926, signed by Mr. Percy E. Watkins, permanent see- retary of the Welsli Department, has been issued. The number of pupils in intermediate schools in 1925-26 was 23,757, an increase of 467 on the previous year; 2,750 boys left these schools during the year, and 2,745 girls; the number of pupils who left the schools during the year between the ages of 14 and 16 were:— Bo vs, 934 (or 36.9), and girls, 838 (or 33.3). "Wales," states the report, "has every reason to be proud of the facilities it has provided for the secondary education of its boys and girls. The num- ber of pupils attending secondary schools is also a matter of some gratification; but the benefit that should accrue from the provision of secondary edu- cation is to a large degree lost, if the pupils for whom it is intended are not enabled to spend at least four or five years in acquiring the sound general education for the giving of which the schools were called into existence." SOCIAL AND RURAL. No county fete ever held in Wales attracted so wide-spread an interest as the Montgomeryshire fete ior the maternity wards in the county hospitals, held in Plasdinam on July 26th, 27th and 28th. The ivoyai Agricultural iShow opened at Newport, in Monmouthshire, on Monday, July 4th, in the old deer park, generously placed at the disposal of the Society by Viscount Tredegar. In entries the total tor horses, cattle, goats, sheep and pigs stood at 2,871, the smallest since 1919, when the show was held at Cardiff. The drop in the attendance of the public at the show was attributed to the industrial depression in South Wales and to the rainy weather during the show week. Of all movements in Wales none is more full of life just now than that of the Women's Institutes. "Home and Country," a bright, well-edited journal, contains news of activities in various Welsh federa- tions. Monmouthshire has 32 Institutes, Carnarvon 32, while Cardiganshire is an easy first with 45. Of the other Welsh counties Anglesey has 12, Denbigh 19, Flint 9. Merioneth 19, Montgomery 29, Radnor, 22, Pembroke 22, Carmarthen 22, Brecknock 12, while Glamorgan so far has onb' 15. The result of this year's postal ballot for the Executive of the National Federation of Women's Institutes resulted in 17 candidates being declared elected, of whom only one Welsh candidate was successful — Mrs. Drage, of Criccieth. As yet, there is no Welsh National Council of the Women's Institutes, but the move- ment has its Welsh badge. POLITICAL. There is much activity amongst Liberals in Wales. Mrs. Coombe Tennant, J.P., writing in "The South Wales News," argued that it is only the Liberal Party which can devise a policy as a,n alternative "to the tyranny of Birkenheadiam and to tyranny of Cookism." Toward the end of July a Welsh Liberal Summer School was' held at Llandrindod Wells to study "present day conditions-e.specially as they apply to Wales." The beginning of the month saw Liberal leaders from all over Wales gather in strength at Carmarthen for the meetings of the Welsh National Liberal Federation and the Welsh Women's Liberal Federation. A scheme of re- organisation was submitted at the business meeting of the National Federation, and Mr. Lloyd George sooke at a mass meeting in the Drill Hall, under the chairmanship of Mr. John Hinds. The Federation resolved that "it rejoices in the manifold signs of a