Welsh Journals

aggregate of about 341d. for insured persons an- nual in discharge of their bills, whatever the amount of those bills might be. As the average cost for England in 1926 was 36.4d., and the cost for 1927 is expected to be still more, it is clear that the English Chemists' accounts cannot be paid in full, but will have to be discounted by at least 3s. in the £ In Wales, however, such economies have been accomplished by the co-operation of the Insurance Committees and their well staffed Pricing Department in Cardiff, that the cost of drugs has been consistently kept well below the annual 341d. The figures for Wales in 1926 were only 32 Jd., approximately as much below the money available as the English figures are above it. It has been decided in Whitehall, how- ever, that the funds for England and Wales must be pooled, and a Drug Fund Distribution Com- mittee for England and Wales has been set up to advise as to how the arrangements are to be carried out. The proposal is that all the Chemists' bills shall be discounted and the effect of this will be to reduce the amounts payable to Welsh Chem- ists below their present comparatively low figures. The Committee consists of five English A CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY FOR WALES §43- THE last paragraph closed with a brief enumeration of what, in the writer's view, should be our attitude towards political institutions. The matter requires further con- sideration. The first point noted was that Nationalism in Wales cannot, if it be true to Welsh history, be anything but a supporter of monarchical institutions. The story of what Wales has suffered in the past in support of monarchy needs no re-telling. She has stood for the monarchy at all times she has championed it when all others have deserted it. She has paid heavily for her loyalty, but has never regretted being loyal. There has been no person of outstanding importance in the past of Wales who has been of republican sym- pathies there is no one to-day who professes them. The most loyal part of the Empire at the present moment is Wales, though she may not parade the fact. She is content to know that she is so, without blazoning it. The only complaint Wales has is that her potential loyalty is not used as it might be used and it would be well for Wales and the Crown if they came into more frequent and regular contact than they do. In Chemists and one Welsh Chemist elected by the Pharmacists Union, four English officials and one Welsh official, and one representative of the English Association of Insurance Com- mittees. A request for the appointment of a re- presentative of the Welsh Association of Insur- ance Commitees has been turned down. Had the Welsh Insurance Committees been extravagant, or had their administration been defective, some reason might have been found for refusing them recognition, but their record in the interests of economy and efficiency certainly entitles them to representation. The policy of the Ministry of Health, as ex- emplified in the two instances given above, is to be regretted. If prompted by a deliberate desire to extinguish the national entity of Wales, it is futile and short-sighted, and will probably have its inevitable re-action. A request for represen- tation would seem to be a simple and reasonable one, and the granting of it would not have affected seriously the predominance of the senior partner. It is due to an unsympathetic and un- compromising attitude of this nature that the broad-minded are alienated and the hands of extremists are strengthened. by T. P. Ellis. any development of Welsh political nationalism, the residence of the Prince in the land for a part of the year should be insisted on. This may seem a small matter. It is not. It is of great importance to Wales herself. It is only necessary to recall the value to Scotland of the late Queen's constant residence there to realise the like value it would be to Wales, if the Prince devoted some of his time to the land from which he takes his title. It is of equal importance to the Crown, which, in all times of stress, has found its last champion in Wales. Apart, however, from the cultural and economic value of closer contact, Wales must give no cause to be even suspected of any republican sympathies in her Nationalism. To entertain such sympathies would be not only to be untrue to the Welsh past, but it would cause a sharp division between the peoples living in the land to-day, whose coalition, not estrangement, is so needed. It is necessary to insist on that fact because of the danger there may be of some being led away by the republican development of part of the Irish Sinn Fein move- ment. Wales cannot afford the luxury of a De Valera and she does not want one.