Welsh Journals

"Glamorgan is not only in difficulties-it is in extremis"SIR RHYS WILLIAMS. "Catholicism is gaining ground in Wales, and Nonconformity is losing"REv. Iorwerth EDWARDS, North Cardiganshire Monthly Meeting. He feared that the language would become the language of professors instead of the lan- guage of ordinary communication amongst the people Nonconformist though he was, he would like to see the Welsh edition of the Com- mon Prayer Book placed by compulsion in every Welsh home, in order to place at the service of all a fine sample of Welsh and to develop amongst their people a sense of style and a feeling for pure language.-From report of speech by MR. J. C. DAVIES at the meeting of the University Court of Governors. POLITICAL. Mr. Winston Churchill (Chancellor of the Ex- chequer) refused to receive a deputation from the Welsh Parliamentary Party to discuss the pro- cedure by which Wales could be represented on the new silver coinage. Mr. Neville Chamberlain (Minister of Health) received a deputation from the distressed areas in South Wales. The main requests of the deputation were for the treatment of the question of unemployment as a national problem, for the waiving of the Health Department's claim for interest and capital on loans already granted, and for the establishment of a committee to in- vestigate the whole position and to make recom- mendations as to the best methods by which the distressed districts could be relieved, to none of which the Minister could accede. At the mock Parliamentary election conducted by the Debating Society of the University Col- lege of North Wales, Bangor, there were four student candidates representing the following parties-Conservative, Liberal, Socialist, and Nationalist. The election was carried on with seriousness and enthusiasm, and the "candidates" had the support of the following speakers-Co!. Emmott (Conservative), Capt. R. T. Evans (Liberal), Mr. Pethick Lawrence, M.P. (Social- ist), and Mr. Saunders Lewis (Nationalist). The result of the voting was-Nationalist, 131; Liberal, 107; Socialist, 91; Conservative. 81. LANGUAGE. A strong protest was made at the Aberystwyth Rural Council against the Government's action in sending three auditors who could not speak Welsh to audit the Council's accounts. It was decided to ask the Government to send at least one auditor who could speak Welsh. The report of the Court of Governors of the University of Wales was published in both Welsh and English. The report is usually in English, and the Chairman (Hon. W. N. Bruce) said it was the first time it had been issued in the two languages. He stated further that it was the first practical step on the part of the University to carry out one of the specific recommendations of the Departmental Committee on Welsh. For the first time the Medical Officer to the Dolgelley Rural Council submitted his report in Welsh; the sanitary inspector and the surveyor did likewise. EDUCATIONAL. Viscount Burnham gave his arbitration award in the dispute between the Carmarthenshire Education Authority and the National Union of Teachers in connection with the salary of the public elementary school teachers in the county. Carmarthenshire is the last of the 318 local education authorities to acknowledge the scale recommended by the Burnham Committee. The Caernarvonshire Education Authority has adopted a scheme under which it will be neces- sary for elementary school teachers in future to have obtained the certificate of the Central Welsh Board with Welsh (after 1929) as one of the subjects. Some members felt that it was not fair to give only eighteen months' notice to an Eng- lish child to learn Welsh. The Chairman (Mr. William George) said the Authority was deter- mined to show that it was in earnest with regard to giving effect to the proposals oi the Depart- mental Committee on Welsh. The Court of Governors of the University of Wales, held at Colwyn Bay, was presided over by the Acting Pro-Chancellor, the Hon. W. N. Bruce. The Court adopted the suggestion of the Central Welsh Board for the formation of a committee representative of all phases of educa- tion in Wales to examine and act on the report of the Departmental Committee on Welsh. Sir Walford Davies said that in view of the pre- sent unsatisfactory state of the local eisteddfod movement in Wales, mainly in the direction of choice of test pieces and general. organisation, the Council of Music felt the moment had come when it might offer to co-operate with eisteddfod organisers throughout the country, with a view to ensuring- that local eisteddfodau should func- tion more effectively as a medium for advancing musical culture in Wales. The establishment of a permanent salaried orchestra for Wales, in collaboration with the British Broadcasting Cor- poration, to give performances at the National Museum, was approved. Mr. John Ballinger, chairman of the Press Board, announced a pro- posal to produce a series of graded up-to-date readers in Welsh for the use of primary schools