Welsh Journals

THE Annual Conference of the Welsh League of Nations Union will be held this year at Wrexham in Whit-week, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 21 and 22. Amongst the chief speakers will be Professor S. de Madariaga, the late head of the Disarmament Section of the League of Nations at Geneva. The full pro- gramme of the Conference will be available in the near future. The Welsh League of Nations Union offers two Geneva Scholarships again this year, to be com- peted for by pupils of Secondary or Central Schools in Wales and Monmouthshire who are al- so members of a Junior Branch of the Union. Full particulars have already been circulated to the schools. One hundred and seven candidates entered the competition for the 1928 Scholarships. NORTH WALES. Before this issue of the Welsh Outlook appears a very interesting meeting, arranged by the Llan- dudno District Committee and their indefatigable secretary, Mr. W. R. Brookes, will have taken place. Having the same object in view as the great Public Meeting at Port Talbot, reported on this page in last month's issue, it takes the form of a Rally in the Llandudno Town Hall, at which Mr. A. M. Fletcher, J.P., will take the chair and speeches in support of the League of Nations will be made by representatives of the three political parties. Labour will be represented by the pros- pective candidate, Mr. T. ap Rhys, and Council- lor Albert Hughes and Captain R. T. Evans, of Llanelly, will be the respective spokesmen for the Conservative and Liberal parties. It is good to see all parties uniting in support of "the greatest reconstrucive force in Europe." The Rally also supports practical reconstruction in another sphere for the collection, after deducting expenses, is to be given to the Cottage Hospital. Children in various Junior Branches throughout North Wales will soon be at work on items which they will contribute to a Welsh Peace Exhibit, which will be shown at the first Children's Nation- al Eisteddfod at Corwen on June 1st. The Eistedd- fod is promoted by Urdd Gobaith Cymru Fach, who are pledged to use the Welsh language, and Welsh only will be employed in the titles and ex- planations attached to the exhibits, whether illus- trating the work of the League or the part Wales has played in the Peace Movement. The Abergele Town Branch, inaugurated early last autumn at a meeting presided over by Lady Clwyd and addressed by the Union's ex-President, Elfed, will be addressed by Major Wheldon in February. Abergele is not content with merely listening to two such noted advocates of the ideals and methods of the League-it has distinguished itself by sending the largest amount of subscrip- tions for any town in Denbighshire, except- ing Colwyn Bay, which is after all the largest town in North Wales and scarcely a fair compari- son. Mr. Price Roberts, the Hon. Secretary, gained his experience as a branch secretary in Anglesey. Upholders of the fame of Mon will no doubt appreciate this fact. Through the kindness of the Editor, news of the League is published in the Abergele Visitor, and the Junior Branch formed at the County School simultaneously with the Town Branch is fully as active; so that Aber- gele fulfils the Branch ideal of doing continuous educational work In its own district and at the same time by its generosity and thoroughness in collecting subscriptions helping the Union to car- ry out similar educational work elsewhere. When the question of whether the League has justified its existence was discussed at Ruabon by Mr. Fi^d Edwards, J.P., and Mr. Hubert Parry, B.A., the latter was so eloquent in the negative that the Secretary, Mr. W. E. Hayward, was al- most afraid of the effect on his Branch member- ship. Such debates within the Branches must be very helpful to members who try to combat the objections of outsiders, and it serves to remind us that we must not only support the League by be- lieving in it, but must also insist that its policy is formed according to the best ideals on which it was founded. The League will be what we make it. S.P.J. SOUTH WALES. The work of the Union varies with local cir- cumstances; the following are a few instances, taken at random, of activities in districts, which differ considerably. It is an interesting revelation of the grasp which the Peace Movement has on men's minds to find branches in Ferndale, where industrial condi- tions are really bad, holding their regular meet- ings. In December they were addressed by Mr. T. W. Gillinder, of London Headquarters, and in January a social united all the nine Church Branches. In the neighbouring valley, the Rhondda Fawr, one of the most flourishing branches is that at Bethesda, Ton, their activity for January taking the form of an inter-debate with Jerusalem, Ton, the subject being "That the League cannot pre- vent war." Coming to the civic centre, Cardiff, a very in- teresting and fruitful Conference was held here on January 12, when all the societies affiliated to the Cardiff Trades Council, the Branches of the Union within twenty miles of Cardiff, branches of the Labour Party and lodges of the Miners' Feder- ation, were invited to send delegates. Mr. E. L. Poulton, the British Workers' delegate to the I.L.O. Conference, and Mr. T. W. Gillinder ad-