Page:Speeches and addresses by the late Thomas E Ellis M P.pdf/143

 ontbuilding generally over the stable or cow- house. In other parts of Wales, they are given a bedroom in the dwelling-house, but owing to the limited accommodation of many farmhouses, their room is not always effectually partitioned off from the sleeping accommodation of other members of the family, possibly of the other sex. The sleeping places are often cold, badly lighted and badly ventilated. Add to this the constant references in Mr. Thomas's Report to the fact that throughout whole unions there is not a single instance of a club-room, village institute, library, or reading room. It has been well said that one of the most important parts of popular education is to put people in the way of amusing and refreshing themselves in a rational rather than an irrational manner. If it is the duty of the State to attend first to the wants of the most necessitous, and to see that the poor at least are virtuous and comfortable, then it is high time that some of the fruits of the land and labours of Wales should be devoted to make the housing of the rural labourers of Wales