Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

West Wales Associations of the teachers at Carmarthen and in North Wales, and finally there will be a general conference at Shrewsbury. At a Conference of the Central Wales Federation of Evangelical Free Churches at Welshpool, the Rev Richard Jones, Llandinam, urged that rural de- population was bleeding the country, morally and materially. Organised games were a fundamental need. "It is time we faced the fact that if we are to have cleaner rural life in Wales, organised games and recreation must be the safety valve." The Rev W. Allen, Montgomery, said churches need to be the centres of social life. This work was now undermined by institutes with dances and whist drives. The Rev Amos Ryder, Welshpool, asked what they meant by the church? Did they mean chapel tea rooms? That was how some regarded churches. "I would rather they played games in institutes than desecrate church buildings, as they do," he added. Criticising the num- ber of churches in small villages, he remarked that while they had three chapels in a little village, there was no scope for pastors, and it ended in their going about sheep stealing from one another's flocks. INDUSTRIAL. There has been a decided improvement in the coal industry in North Wales. The figures of the district board independent accountant's joint report just issued for the first few months of the year, show that on the Reviews. The Welsh Housing and Development Year Book, 1923. Edited by D. Lleufer Thomas. (The Welsh Housing Association, 38, Charles Street, Cardiff; 136 pp. Is 6d net.) Year after year, the Welsh Housing and Development Association strikes a sound human note; its sustained idealism, based on a thorough scientific investigation of human problems, is a national asset. This Year Book is remarkable for its plain presentation of attainable ideals by men and women who have given their lives to their furtherance. There is not the remotest suspicion of undue concentration on any one aspect of the problems of society; it deals on broad human lines with almost every department of social develop- ment. The average reader will, however, I imagine, turn to its pronouncements on the vexed question of housing, and the agencies to be employed for the abolition of the present appalling shortage. Nor will he be dis- appointed. Mr Edgar L. Chappell, who incidentally remarks that he has now been engaged in the agitation for housing reform for 21 years, examines dispassion- ately, clearly, and with a wealth of knowledge and experience "The Case for Municipal Housing." He most assuredly has demonstrated conclusively that State aid is absolutely essential owing to the breakdown of ordinary private agencies. In a further article he deals with the field for these agencies in the provision of dwellings for sale to persons who possess a small reserve of capital and who are in receipt of fair incomes. This authoritative treatment of schemes under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts, together with the description of Building Society arrangements, cannot fail to enlighten those very numerous persons who "do not seem to realise the possibility of their handicaps being overcome by a little judicious negotiation." Another article which should make an even wider appeal is an account, abounding in first hand informa- tion, of Public Utility Housing Societies from the pen of Mr E. Hall Williams, the energetic secretary of the Welsh Town Planning and Housing Trust. Ltd. He calls attention to the undoubted truth that "these societies prove that the housing problem is not solved basis of returns, supplied to them by the collieries, representing 99 per cent of those in North Wales, there is a surplus of £ 14,169 which falls to be deducted from the deficiency of £ 94,469, brought forward from the previous ascertainments, leaving a balance deficiency to be carried forward as first charge to be met out of any surplus in subsequent periods. The proceeds of the pitheads of collieries who have made returns were £ 403,410, and the total wages paid £ 292,028. The Mines Department has issued a summary of dis- trict allocations made under the Miners' Welfare B'und up to April 30th, showing the total statutory alloca- tions to be £ 1,664,586; grants allocated, £ 837,347; grants paid, £ 267,419; net credit to the fund, £ 1,397,166. The figures for Wales are as follows:— North Wales: Statutory allocations, £ 16,920 Is grants allocated, £ 13,000; grants paid, 98,000; net credit, £ 8,920. South Wales: Statutory allocation, £ 332,769; grants allocated, £ 136,025; grants paid, £ 79,603; net credit, £ 253,166. Y.W.C.A. Much enterprise is being shown in the working of the Young Women's Christian Association in Wales. The Divisional Council met at Porthcawl on April 24th, when Dame Margaret Lloyd George was inducted as president. by mere attention to the material aspect and extensive housing schemes will be a failure unless and until a new spirit is fostered through associating the tenants in the tasks of the control and management of these new communities." It is greatly to be hoped that relief will be forthcoming to those soceties which were induced to undertake very heavy responsibilities in the immediate post-war period. There is no reason under present-day conditions why the communal effort embodied in these Societies should not, under proper guidance, make an effective contribution to the solution of the housing problem. For, as the Editor rightly points out in his valuable notes, "no one method or agency can be adequate for many years to come to make good the long-accumulated shortage in our housing accommodation." In "Communal Living," Mr Trystan Edwards protests against the tendency to extreme individualism in hous- ing reform, and in view of certain social changes suggests that a limited number of dwelling places of a type alternative to the self-contained house would make life more tolerable to women engaged in industry, to those who have no aptitude for domestic work, and to mothers of large families. Professor Scott's account of the "Homecraft" Movement in America is interest- ing, though opinions will differ as to what prospects of success await the experiment in this country. A further group of articles deals with Town Planning, Civic Societies, and the necessity for the redevelopment of civic and regional traditions as opposed to an aggres- sive Nationalism. Professor Fleure, dealing with French ideas on Devolution, maintains that for the pur- poses of internal organisation, the Government unit should be a biological unit. It is the necessity of defence and the fear of external interference which lead to the highly centralised system of government­ the people making a willing sacrifice to the paramount need for security. But it remains a sacrifice. The article closes with a suggestive discussion of "Accelera- tion" or "Maintainance" in relation to the reserve of human vitality in our rural regions and its bearing on a World Society. In the Editor's note on the "Development of Rural Industries," the value of eo-operation is emphasised and Miss M. F. Rathbone gives a most readable and