ment there were only 14 British Schools in South Wales; when he retired ten years later the number had increased to 164. Such was the second result of the introduction of Graham's Factory Bill-an attempt to establish Voluntary Schools in South Wales, an attempt which covered a period of ten years (1843-1853) and which eventually resulted in the appointment of Nefydd to organise British Schools in that part of Wales, as John Phillips had already been doing so successfully in the North.
THE THREE COMMISSIONERS WHO HAD BEEN APPOINTED IN 1846 TO inquire into the condition of education in Wales had all been educated at English public schools and at either Oxford or Cambridge. They were able men but they were hardly the most suitable persons to undertake an inquiry of this sort. They knew very little about even the English working classes and still less about the peasants of Wales. Still more important, they knew no Welsh and had strange ideas about the language and its literature. They and their assistants consulted chiefly the local squire and the local clergyman. This would have been an obvious and suitable approach in many parts of England, but these persons at that time, and with some notable exceptions, were not the best qualified to give a true picture of conditions in Wales. In spite of these limitations, they did their work diligently and thoroughly. They did their best to be fair. They criticised the gentry when necessary; they castigated the great industrialists even more severely; they raised their voices against the Church at times, even though they were Anglicans themselves; and they praised the Welsh Sunday Schools and the intelligence of the people. Nevertheless, their Report roused the anger of the whole nation. Where, then, did they go astray, if they went astray at all?
In the first place, they stated that there was a considerable amount of ignorance in Wales, and that in itself annoyed Welshmen. They then went on to say that there was a great deal of untruthfulness, deceit, idleness, drunkenness and loose living in Wales, and this angered Welshmen even more. But when they attempted to explain this sad state of affairs they only added fuel to the flames. To them it appeared that Wales was sunk in ignorance and sin for two main reasons: one was the Welsh language and the other was Welsh Nonconformity. The Welsh people, they said in effect, were ignorant and immoral because they spoke Welsh and attended chapel rather than church. It must be remembered, moreover, that far more people, in proportion to the population, spoke Welsh then than now, and far more people
