HARMONY AND DISCORD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 229, 28 September 1931, Page 10

HARMONY AND DISCORD

WELSH MUSICAL FESTIVAL HOWLING (DOWN A PROFESSOR A stormy scene interrupted the Welsh National Eisteddfod at Bagnor on August 7. Professor T. Gwynn Jones, of Aberystwyth, who presided over the morning session, found his audience unwilling or unable to appreciate his address, and he was not permitted to conclude. He was assailed with catcalls, whistling and stamping of feet. “The strength and sense of this audience have gone to its boots, ” observed Mr John Owen Y. Fenni, the day’s conductor, as he led the indignant prof* sor away. * ‘ Gwynn Jones has too honoured a name to be insulted by his fel-low-countrymen. ’ ’ Two or three untoward events had contributed to the incident. The professor could not be heard at the 1 far end of the pavilion, and possibly his speech we too “highbrow’ l for some of who could hear him. The women’s choirs at the time were preparing for their contest, and the partisans of the choirs became impatient. Professor Gwynn Jones had dealt with the value uf tradition in the life of the Welsh nation, and condemned the habit of placing English signs outshops in thoroughly Welsh towns. He said that for. Welsh towns to use English street names was entirely alien to the spirit of nationalism. “Things have not changed much since I won the chair at Bagnor 29 years ago,” the professor said, “except that women show more of their heads and their legs. I consider that to be a good change, for there is nothing more beautiful than the human form.” ; It was at this stage that the stamping of feet began, and continued for some time. “If you have something more sensible to say than I have,” said the professor indignantly, “then say it with your mouths, and not with your feet.” This added to the fire. There was even greater disturbance and shouting as the professor left the stage.