Cylchgronau Cymru

STJPPLBMElsr'x TO■THE §i gabtb'0 College anb §thoaI (BmtiU. :Mi_^"ir, 188 8. peci/iit p©ciety. On Sunday night, January 29th, 1888, the first meet¬ ing of the Lent term took place in the College Hall. The Vice-Principal kindly presided. Mr. Edwin Wolfe, B.A., read a paper on " Our Sailors : how can we best improve them." The following is a short epitome of the paper : The sailors in the naval service of our country are as a rule well looked after, but very few take an interest in that large and deserving class of men, our merchant seamen, to whose exertions we owe most of the necessaries and many of the comforts of life A sailor's life is not an easy one, in fact it is generally a very hard and diffi¬ cult one; exposed to dangers from storm and-tempest, lire and foe ; badly housed and often badly fed, they have to undergo hardships at the bare mention of which a landsman would shudder. And what is done to improve the social, moral, and spiritual condition of sailors, by those who benefit so much by their exertions ? There are several societies which undertake the difficult task of ameliorating the conditions of our merchant seamen, chief among which is the Mission to Seamen Society, which has chaplains and workers of various descriptions, established in most of the large ports of the United Kingdom, and also in several large foreign ports. This society helped by such societies as the Thames Mission, the Deep Sea Mission in the North Sea and others, is .endeavouring to do a great work of rescue. There is no doubt that these different societies are gradually but surely improving our sailors ; and if they were adequately sup¬ ported, they vvould.be enabled to enlarge the sphere of their labours, and to do what is so necessary should he done amongst the maritime population of our country. The discussion which followed was a proof that the subject was one of considerable interest to those present. The following spoke : Messrs. A. Wolfe, G. R. Jenkins, H. T. Millett,' W. T. Williams, A. L R, Howen, E. Arnott, T. Reynolds, Jenkyu Davies, H. Eaton Thomas, E. H. Bailer, V. J). Pierce, A, Illingworth, G. Price. When the discussion had finished, Professor Scott pro¬ posed and Professor Felloe seconded a vote of thanks to the reader of the paper. Mr. E. Wolfe replied suitably, and thanked the mem¬ bers for taking so much interest in the subject Mr, G. H. Price then proposed, and Mr. T. R. Rees, seconded a vote of thanks to the Vice-Principal for pre¬ siding. Mr. Davey replied, and the proceedings ter¬ minated. The second meeting of the Society during this term, was held in the College Hall, on Sunday evening, Feb¬ ruary 19th. The Principal occupied the chair. Mr. John Williams, (Llangeler), read a very exhaustive and exceedingly interesting paper on -' Religious Edu¬ cation in our Elementary Schools." The important question of public Elementary Education is not older than the present century. Its scientific treat¬ ment belongs entirely to this age, and there are hundreds still living-who remember the time when it was thought unnecessary to diffuse the most rudimentary knowledge among the labouring classes of the country. In the year 1811, a remarkable change in public opinion was felt to be approaching. Two societies were created which did much good work afterwards,—" The British and Foreign School Society," and the " National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church." These two societies had la¬ boured for nearly a quarter of a century, when the Committee of Council on Education first came into existence, and Government Inspection and Payment of Grants was established. This was in 1832, and the benefits of the new system were extended to the schools of religious denominations, provided religious instruction should form part of the work of the school. The attendance at day schools rapidly increased up to 1861, when the Commission which had sac for about three years made up its report. So impressed were these Commissioners with the importance of Religious Instruction, that we find continued reference made to it in their report. From 1861 to 1870, education rapidly progressed under this system, In 1870 we come to another step in Public Elementary Education. In that year a new Education Act was passed, which gave power to create School Boards, etc. This Act removed Religious Instruction from the Government system of Elementary Education. The power of giving instruction, or prohibiting it, was left in the hands of the governing bodies of each school. The Act has however, in what is called the " conscience clause,"