ST. DAVID'S DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1378, 2 March 1912, Page 6

ST. DAVID'S DAY.

REUNION OF WELSHMEN. St. David's Day was colebrated by tho Welshmeu of Wellington yesterday by a social evening at Godber's Rooms in Cuba Street. Addresses, songs, and supper were included in the programme, and about 40 guests assembled. Mr. E. Williams was in tho chair, and Mr. Owen C. Jones, a visitor to New- Zealand from Patagonia, was also present. During tho course of an address, Mr. Jones gave an interesting _ sketch of his thirty years' sojourn in the largo Welsh colony in the Patagonian portion of the Argentine Ecpublic. The speaker stated that, in 1881, ho left Wales with a number of other emigrants, and took up land at Chubut, some 800 miles south of Buenos Ayres. When they landed tho hardships were 6evore, tho greatest being tho absence of water. For two years tho littlo colony were occupied in digging canals to bring fresh water to tho settlement. Chabut, which is practically a Welsh settlement, has a population .of about 4000, but, of recent years, the population has outgrown the capacity of the district in respect to land settlement. Consequently numbers of persons there are looking to Australia and New Zealand as being countries in which they may have bettor prospects of mccess as farmers. Mr. Jones stated that ho had como to New Zealand for tho purposo of inspecting blocks of land suitable for settlement, and was being assisted in his mission by the Lands Department. If his report were favourable, it might result in a number of other settlers in Patagonia removing to tho Dominion. Tho class of people now settled in thnt part of the Argentino Ecpublic aro principally farmers. During the evening a number of toasts were honoured. The following contributed to tho programme:—Misses Malcolm, G. Watcyn, Mrs. Messrs. E. Williams, .T. M. Roberts, Lvan Parry, Simpson, Bishop, J. L. Jones, Fielding, 'I'. Emlyn James, W. H. Jones, E. M. Griffiths. ■ The accompanist was Mrs. Eassou.