Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

14 articles on this Page

Family Notices

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

J0 £ al JitUUigetm.

[No title]

TO THE EDITOR OF " THii ABERDAKB…

ANNUAL SALE IN AMERICA 3,600,000

LLYFRAU CYMREIG,| AR WKBTH…

THE FORMATION OF A SCHOOL…

News
Cite
Share

THE FORMATION OF A SCHOOL BOARD AT ABERDARE. OB Tuesday morning a second vestry meeting was held at Aberdare, for the purpose of passing the requisite resolution under the 12th section of the Elementary Educatiou Act, 1870, calling upon the overseers to apply to the Education De- partment for an order for the formation of a school district and the election of a School Board. There was, as on the previous occasion, a numer- ous and Influential attendance. The Rev. Canon Jenkins, vicar of the parish, took the chair. The Chairman having read the notice convening the meeting, which had been duly advertised, aaid it was for the purpose of carrying a legal resolu- tion that was morally passed at the earlier vestry, and any person was at liberty to put forth his sentiments or move a resolution in accordance with the subject. Mr R. H. Rhys: I am not going to raise any objection to what was done before, but I ap- prehend that it is quite competent for any man to move any resolution he thinks proper on .the subject. Chairman: Quite. Mr Rhys He is not bound to move a resolu- tion in accordance with that passed last time, The vestry is quite open. Dr Price said he rose to propose substantially the same resolution tlat was carried at the former meeting, and that would open up the who e question to the vestry. It was an open vestry, and any ratepayer might say what he Jiked; but the resolution which he had to pro- po e would bo submitted for legal form's sake, more than aoything else, and he should not make a long spcesh. Be had no intention of making I any lengthy remarks after what he had before said, but one or two matters ha'V arisen out of ths proceedings at the former meeting which he desired to correct. The figures given there were given after a very careful examination a great deal of care- had been taken in getting them to- gether by friends interested in the subject of education. In taking the measurement of school buildings he should state that there was nothing at all in the Act directly bearing upon that- point; and they were obliged to take as a guide the declaration of the Education Department in the various minutes issued during the last twenty-live years and according to those min- utes it used to be taken for granted that the amount of accommodation afforded by a school building was to be calculated at 80 cubic feet of space for each child. Since then they had had from time to time directions that that was not the only matter of consideration. The council would not accept merely 80 cubic feet of space, but some regard must be had to the superficial area of the room-the shape of the room itself- the position of the doors and fireplaces-eo that ultimately, instead of 80 cubic feet per child, they came down to eight square feet for each child. That would make a considerable differ- eace, which might be illustrated in this way the 80 cubic feet of space would do very well in a low room, but it would not do in a building like the church in Maesydre and an instance was afforded in the town not long ago. A branch- of the Trecynon schools was held in the Taber- nacle schoolroom, near the station. According to the 80 cubic feet^atandard, that room was cal- culated to accommodate 183 children, but the last time the inspector was there he knocked off 13, reported that the children were packed like pigs in a pen there, and the room was unfit for more than 150. Mr Rhys It depends upon the height Jofj the room. Dr Price said that was what he was going to point out. With regard to the statistics given by him in his speech at the last vestry, and which had been called into question by correspondents in the newspapers, he should state that in that state- ment he excluded the Duffryn Schools at Moun- tain Ash for the reaoon that though the buildings were erected in the parish of Aberdare, yet the great mass of the scholars attending them re- sided in the parish of Llanwonno, and he pre- sumed that the inhabitants of the district of St. Margaret's would establish a School Board of their own—at least that was what he should project if he were a Mountain Ashman. The omission of those schools would account for a large portion of the difference, but the measurement of the clasa rooms, which he had given at the meeting, did not appear in the reports of his speech, though he could not understand it, as the press, as a rule were exceedingly accurate in theirtreport(ol pro- ceedings in this neighbourhood. But after taking the accommodation of all the schools in the parish-except the Duffrya —according to the measurements of the overseers whether they al- lowed 80 cubic feet to each child, or the actual eight feet of superficial area, they were still de- ficient of accommodation for 2,282 children. With respect of the 80 cubicallfeet standard, practical teachers told him that it was a matter of impossibility to work a large school at that measurement, and they must come down to the answer given by the Department to; the Mayor of Newport-nothing less than eight superficial feet will do. But even were tlu re no deficency, even if they had plenty of room, and more than enough, he contended that they should require the vestry to establish a School Board—(hear)— on the same principle as he would require them to establish a Local Board of Health, or a Burial Board, or Water Works-it would have been a matter of rejoicing to him had such Boards been established *15 years earlier than they were (hear, hear) it would consolidate all| the |schools>f'.the parish, and give them a system of "education better than any one which they enjoyed at pre- sent, and by and by he hoped they would have a degree of compulsory power to exert upon parents to induce them to profit by the expenditure of the ratepayers. He therefore moved a resolution in accordance with the 12th section of the* Act re- questing the overseers to applylto the Education Department for an order for the election of a School Board for the parish of Aberdare. Mr R. H. Rhys seconded the ^motion "with great pleasure. He felt|that a School Board for Aberdare was inevitable, and 'therefore it was much the best course to elect onel voluntarily than to wait until they were coerced. He was not going to enter into a controversy with Dr. Price over hia figures-but: he thought as Dr. Price had omitted the Duffryn School from his calculation, so also he ought to have omitted that part of the population of Mountain Ash resident in the parish of Aberdare. There must be about 2000 of the inhabitants of that place:in Aberdare parish. He merely wished to put the doctor right (laughter). With :reference:to the gross population of Aberdare again—he be- lieved the doctor had made a slight 'mistake. The number of houses in the parish was 7,100, but he believed it would be found that instead of giving five and a half persons Zto each chouse a census would show that the average was five and an eighth as in li6I. That would give a gross population of about 36,500, and he did not think they would be found to exceed that popu- lation when* the next cengue0was taken. He iuite agieed with the general opinion of Dr 'rice on the subject, and cordially seconded the resolution. The resolution was put and carried unani- mously. Mr Rhys suggested that the vicar, as chair- man, should certify that the meeting was duly convened and advertised, which was agreed to. Mr. D. Davis, Maesyffynon, said he should like to say just one word, and it was this, that as soon as they knew from the Education Depaitment the number of member they were to elect he hoped they would meet and'endeavour to elect a School Board without a contest (hear hear). A Gentleman asked whether any person present had seen the return made. The chairman said no, but there was beyond all doubt a deficiency of accommodation more or less than what Dr Price had stated. Mr Rhys said they had scarcely an aption in the matter, for if they refused a School Board to- day to-morrow any school in debt might shut its doors and refuse to continue operations without the aid of a School Board. Mr J. Johns moved a resolution calling upon the overseers to state in their application to the Education Department that in the opinion of that meeting the population of Aberdare was so scatter- ed that to secura an adequate representation of all the inhabitants it was desirable that the Depart- ment should order the Board to consist of as many members as possible, if possible the maximum fifteen prescribed by the Act. He had no doubt himself that the Act would ba productive of immense benefit, and that whatever additional rates bad to be paid would be more than counter- balanced by the general improvements, of the public mind and morals. It would be exceedingly desirable in his opinion to have each centre of population directly represented. The Rev. J.J. George dissented from theviews of Mr Johns on representation. It was not localities that they wanted to have represented so much as the various tones of thought. It was desirable that the Board should be a faithful reflex of the various shades of moral and religious thought in the parish. According to Mr John's system, they might get a Board of one class of per- sons and one tone of thought, and in assigning a member to a district how did th y know that there was a man in the district capable of acting efficiently on sueh a Board ? (Laughter.) Mr Morgan Edwards seconded the resolution, which was carried The Rtv. D. Price, Siloa, moved a resolution to the effect that it was desirable as soon as the number of the Board was known to have a meet- ing and eodeavour to elect a Board without a contest (hear, hear). A contest would be pro- ductive of personal feeling besides being expensive and full of turmoil. It would also rouse a feeling of denominationalism, and he jcished that to be entirely sunk. They should .forget the sects in their regard for the general objects of the move- ment, and elect members for fitness alone (hear). For his own part he would not care if a man were a Turk so that, he was capable of becoming a good member of the School Board (bear, hear). Mr David Jones seconded the resolution, which was carried by a large majority, a few hands only being held up against it. A vote of thanks to the Chairman concluded the proceedings.

ABERDARE POLICE COURT.

MR HENRY RICHARD, M.P., AT…

MOUNTAIN ASH LOCAL BOARD.

^btt0rial Cffrresjjffitfreuce.

WAR AND RELIGION.

Advertising