I have been delighted to hand so many prizes to lady pupil teachers, and I recall the philosopher who once said, "All that is necessary is that a girl should have the morals of an angel, the manners of a kitten, and the mind of a flea." But after this distribution one cannot go away with the impression that the female mind is only the mind of a flea.

Pupil Teachers' Prize Distribution,
January 16th, 1903.

We have been informed, to-night of different foreign educational systems, the German, the French, and the American, which we are generally told in this country we ought to copy. In the French system there is too much centralization. Every teacher, whether at a university or at a small elementary school, is simply a Government Official. The German system is a splendid one, but it is all subsidized by Government. The English Government is not generous enough to do that for English Schools, so we can hardly hope to copy the German system. Then there is the American system. That is also certainly splendid, but unfortunately we have no great millionaires in England who will help us to copy the American system. It has been said that when an Englishman becomes a millionaire, and he feels that he is nearing his end, he thinks—to use a sporting expression—that it is time to "hedge for a future state." Then he builds a Church. The American millionaire founds a university, or leaves large sums of money for a training college, and I think he is right.

Technical School Prize Distribution, Newport,
December 3rd, 1902.

Sir William Preece has said that there were five new elements discovered within the last century. There were others undiscovered, and it only remained for some student to discover one of them to make himself famous, and, like Xenophon, return to find his name writ large on the walls of his native town. A celebrated poet once declared—

Some people may be able to live without books and only with cooks. But without science and books we should not have had our Empire. Books and science help us to keep up the Empire. It is for these reasons that I do what I can to encourage technical and scientific education.

School of Science and Art Prize Distribution,
December 4th, 1901.

You can be quite certain that no hooligan ever attended an art school. The intelligence and refinement of manners brought about by the study of sculpture, painting, and architecture have more to do with the stopping of drunkenness than any other teaching you could think of.... The charm of these art schools for me lies in the fact that we are always expecting something great, just as a fisherman at a little brook, where he has never caught anything much larger than his little finger, is always expecting to hook some big monster. In these art schools I am always expecting some great artist or sculptor turned out—somebody from Newport Schools—not only a credit to himself but to any town, somebody who will become a second Millais or a great sculptor.

Newport has improved a good deal of late years, and I am sure the study of painting and architecture has had much to do with it. In looking over some old papers in the Tredegar archives the other day, I came across a description by two people who passed from Cardiff through Newport about 100 years ago. They said: "We went over a nasty, muddy river, on an old rotten wooden bridge, shocking to look at and dangerous to pass over. On the whole this is a nasty old town."

School of Science and Art Prize Distribution,
December 5th, 1900.

Sir John Gorst has made reference to the indisposition of the territorial aristocracy to encourage high intellectual attainment. I think "territorial aristocracy" is rather an undefinable term, and perhaps school children will be asked what it is. I do not think that those who own land are as a class opposed to high intellectual attainment. The County Councils to some extent are representative of territorial aristocracy, and 41 of the 49 County Councils of England and Wales have agreed to spend the whole of the Government grant in education. That is a sign that the territorial aristocracy are not averse to intellectual attainment.

Perhaps Colonel Wallis will ask some of the children in the school what the meaning of "territorial aristocracy" is. I read that when a child was asked what the meaning of the word Yankee was, the reply was that it was an animal bred in Yorkshire.

Opening of the School Board Offices, Newport,
March 11th, 1898.

Victor Hugo once said that the opening of a school means the closing of a prison. That is very true, regarded as an aphorism, and I wish it were true in reality, because there would not be any prisons left in England.

Opening of Intermediate Schools,
October 29th, 1896.

I am pleased that technical schools are taking such a firm hold in the town. I feel more and more that the teaching of art is doing a great deal of good. There is a great improvement in the tastes of the people, shown by the architectural beauty of their residences and in decorations generally.

I was very much surprised a short time ago at reading a strong article by "Ouida"—whose novels I have read with a great deal of interest—on the ugliness of our modern life. She certainly took a very pessimistic view of the matter and seemed to look only at the workaday part of the world—at the making of railways, the knocking down of old houses, and the riding of bicycles. I do not see that those things come under the title of art. One of the objects of instruction at the art schools is to induce students to create ideas of their own. At the same time I do not think you could do much better than study the old masters, than whose works I do not see anything better amongst modern productions. The great silver racing cups given away now, worth from £300 to £500, do not compare with the handiwork of Italian and Venetian silver workers. I have some pieces of plate in the great cellar under Tredegar House which I do not think it possible to improve upon.

School of Science and Art Prize Distribution, Newport,
January 24th, 1896.

One or two little incidents in my own experience lately shew the value of studying some particular trade or science or some form of art. Only the other day I met a young lady at a country house. Before I had seen her a few minutes she remarked: "I suppose you don't remember me, Lord Tredegar?" If I had been young and gallant, it would have been natural for me to have replied: "Such a face as yours I am not in the least likely to forget." But I thought I was too old for that, and merely said that I did not remember at the moment having met her previously. The young lady then informed me that she had received a prize at my hands at a great school, and that in handing her the prize I had remarked, "You have well earned the prize, and it is a branch of art that, if continued, will prove very useful in after life." That branch of art had enabled her to take the position she then occupied.

The other incident was that of a young man who had been left by his parents very poor. He had the greatest difficulty in getting anything at all to do, because he had never made himself proficient in any particular trade or science. I agree with the man who said one should know something about everything and everything about something.

School of Science and Art Prize Distribution, Newport,
December 17th, 1894.

It has been well said, I forget by whom, but I think it was Dr. Johnson, that you can do anything with a Scotsman, if you catch him young. I think you can say just the same of the Welshman or the Monmouthshire man.

Newport Intermediate Boys' School,
November 4th, 1910.

One day I accompanied a young lady to her carriage on leaving a public function at which I had officiated. The band struck up a martial air, and I stepped actively to the time of the music. Remarking to the young lady that the martial air appealed to an old soldier, she said, "Why, Lord Tredegar, were you ever in the Army?" That is the reason why I think we should have memorials and why I shall be very glad to have this picture in my house.

On the occasion of the presentation of a Portrait of his
Lordship's Statue in Cathays Park, Cardiff,
September 19th, 1909.

The commander of the French Army said of the Balaclava Charge that it was magnificent, but that it was not war. I do not know what the French general called war, but my recollection of the charge is that it was something very nearly like it. I have to thank the Power above for being here now, fifty-five years after the charge took place. Whether this statue will commemorate me for a long time or not is of little moment, but I know it will commemorate for ever the sculptor, Mr. Goscombe John.

Unveiling of equestrian statue of Viscount Tredegar in Cathays Park,
Cardiff, on 55th Anniversary of the Balaclava Charge,
October 25th, 1909