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MILITANT COMMONERS.

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MILITANT COMMONERS. -w- UNUSUAL SCENES AT GOURT LEET. I MUSICAL HONOURS ACCORDED I COMMONERS' CHAMPION. It was in unmistakably militant mood that I the Commoners of the Manor of Coity Wallia assembled in Couft L-et at Pencoed on Fri- day last to meet the representative of their liege Lord, the Right Hon. the Earl of Dun- raven, in ordet to enter their protest, in the manner prescribed and sanctioned by im- memorial custom, against what they consi- dered the attempt to deprive them of their ancient rights and privileges in Co:ty Wallia Common. In militant mood; yet also in high good- humour. as men certain of victory, and mean- while delighting in the approaching fray. In spite of the inconvenient day and hour at which the Court had been fixed, the Assembly Room at the Britannia Hotel, Pencoed, was fairly packed with his Lordship's Commoners and copyholders some time before the proceed- ings commenced. And there was no mistak- ing their attitude. The entry of Mr. John Evans, shortly after the opening of the Court. was the signal for a remarkable outburst of popular enthusiasm; cheers and shouts and hand-clapping greeting the hero as he h roii- h t h t- press, elbowed his way through the press, and took his seat at the top of the room be- hind the president's chair, the acknowledged tribune of the mople. Tb-at'.s him! "That's the boy!" "Good lad!" resounded through the room. It may be said at once that this was Mr. Evans' day. Gracchus was't in it with Mr. Evans. Almost from the moment of his dra- matic entry he was constantly on his feet, I pointing the moral, or asking questions in the smooth, ultra-polite way he has—like Rosa Dartle, Mr. Evans merely asks for informa- tion. There he stood, burly in figure, ora- torical not to say rhetorical, in manner, bland as oil, scrupulously courteous, and withal ironical, biting, cutting, tremendously elec- tive. Every smashing stroke, every sly side- trust, went home, to th-e "unconcealed exulta- tion of his followers, to whom this display of their champion's prowess seemed to afford the most unqualified delight. Though Mr. Evans was the chief, he was ont the only leader of the opposition. Scarcely less effective in a different way was Mr. Merryn Payne, a young chec-kwejigher at' a local oolliery, who from the body of the audience carried on a guerilla warfare against the enemy under which at times they chafed visibly. Mr. Payne's methods lacked the re- straint and finesse of Mr. Evans' but his blows, too, seldom failed to "get home." Damaging as these two were, each in his own way, the opposition found its statesman and its responsible mouthpiece in Mr. W. A. Howell. Mr. Evans and Mr. Payne may be described as the Loyd George and the Churchill of the opposition; Mr. Howell was its Ascfuith, responsible, grave, statesmanlike, and in the end quite as effective. He adopted none of the Puck-like tactics of his colleagues. He indulged neither in s.arcasm nor vitriol. He mid- no attempt to score, or to play to the gallery. He reserved practic- ally all he had to say for the speech in which he moved the big resolution of the day—the resolution calling for the total abandonment of the proposed Regulation Order. But this one speech was a genuine oratorical effort— grave and weighty in tone, yet vehement and even passionate in its denunciation of the obxnoxious measure, making no unnecessary charges, but sparing no condemnation where condemnation was due. It was, in fact, a powerful and exhaustive indictment of the action of the promoters of the scheme, and it is not too much to*say that when Mr. Howell sat dowr- the Provisional Order was dead. Neverthless—to come back to where we started from-it remains true that the day was Mr. Evans' day, and properly so. And the Court appropriately broke up to the sing- ing of For he's a jolly good fellow," and cries of "Good old Silurian." It only remains to add that Colonel Nicholl, who described himself as "one of the criminals responsible for the Order," faced the music as everyone knew he would—that is, bravely, modestly, and sensibly THE PROCEEDINGS. I The Court was presided over by Mr. J. M. Randall, Steward of the Manor. Colonel J. I. D. Nicholl was foreman of the jury. Mr. W. A. Howell, who had been named as a juryman, said he would rather not act, as he had a resolution to move, and thought he ought to do so as a member of the public. Mr. J. M. Randall: You cannot move a re- solution as a member of the public. It is for the jury only to make presentments, and you will have a better opportunity of moving your resolution as a member of the jury. Mr. W. A. Howell: In that case, I shall sit. A vote of sympathy and condolence with the family of the late Mr. J. Blandy Jenkins having been moved by Mr. W. Howell, J.P., and adopted by the Court, the Clerk to the Commoners Commitee (Mr. W. E. Lewis) presented a statement of accounts. There was a sum of £1,000 invested in Consols, and there was a balance in the bank this year of JE200 derived chiefly from the dividends on the invested money; JElOO had been spent in connection with the Provisional Order. Mr. Mervyn Payne was putting a question in regard to the latter item. when Mr. John Evans entered the room amid loud cheers. Mr. T. Morgan: On whose authority was this £ 100 spent in connection with the Pro- visional Order ? Mr. Jo- M. Randall: On the authority of the Court Leet. Mr. T. Morgan: No! The Court Leet gave no authority for the Provisional Order at all. (Applause.) Mr. John Evans: Cannot we have some de- tails as to how this 4EI00 went ? It is Com- moners' money, and the Commoners have every right to know how the money was spent. < Mr. H. J. Randall: I am afraid I cannot give details straight off. The accounts will j be presented in due course to the committee. Mr. Payne: Do you -surest, that five years ago this money was handed over to you, and that you don't kaow yet how it has been spent ? Mr H. J. Randdl explained that CW of the money went in a lump sum to the Board of Agriculture. He had received nothing as yet towards his own costs. M r. Payne: Will the Commoners have to I stand any additional expenses in connection with tills Provisional Order? Mr. J. M. Randall: I don't see where else it is to come from. Mr. John Evans: Was the money spent not on the authority of the Court, but merely of that ox the Comtaoneiv Committee P Mr. J. M. Randall That is so. Mr. Job n Evans: Then I .say. sir, that the Committee, whoever they are. have gone be- yond their powers. (Loud applause.) Colonel Nicholl said that he and Mr. Howell, senr., were the only remaining mem- bers of that committee. Mr. W. A. Howell I suggest that some at- tempt be made to put the committee in closer toucK with the people of this Manor. (Ap- plause.) Is the committee to be elected by the jury or by the Commoners at large? Mr. J. M. Randall: By the jury. Mr. John Evans: But it is not a Com- moners' Committee if it is elected by the jury. (Hear, hear, and applause.) Who are the Commoners? (Mr. Evans went on to ask). We have asked the question time and time again, and we can get no answer. We are told that it shall be settled after this Provisional Order business is settled, which is like stealing a man's horse and afterwards going into the question of whether it really belonged to him. (Laughter and applause.) Eventually the following were elected as the committee:—Colonel J. 1. D. Nicholl, Messrs. Evan Griffiths, Griffith Edwards, Thomas Morgan. William Howell, John Evans, James Wilcocks, and Mervyn Payne. At this point a written presentment was read praying the Court to undertake the im- provement of one of the footpaths across the Common at a certain spot. Mr. T. Morgan said that, while they were about it, they had better appoint a committee to look into and report on the whole question of the footpaths on the Common. Mr. J. M. Randall: It is not the duty of this Court to amend the footpaths. It is the duty of the Parish Council to do that. Mr. Payne: But you spent tIO0 not so long ago on improving a path that only benefited a few farmers. Mr. John Evans pointed cut that not ZCIOO, but £ 300 had been voted for the improvement of the roads in the past. It was ultimately decided to allocate t'-)O for the purpose. Next came the question of the composition of the Encroachment Committee. Mr. J. M. Randall explained that it was a joint body, consisting of an equal number of members appointed by the Commoners and by the Lord of the Manor. ¡ Mr. John Evans suggested that some "new 1 blood" be added to the committee. Some of the present members were getting old fogies. (Laughter.) Ultimately eight new Commoners' members were added, two from each district. They wre Bryncethin: Messrs. James Willcocks and David Bayliss; Pencoed, Messrs. W. A. Howell, and Evan Bevan; Coity, Messrs. Evan David and Jenkin Da vies Goyohureh Higher, Messrs. John Evans and George Warren. Mr. J. M. Randall: I can assure you that it is no soft job being on this committee. A Voice: There's some been on it long enough, anyhow. (Laughter.) Mr. John Evans: But they've done nothing, sir, and that can't be very hard work. (Loud laughter.) The Court having elrr-ted the "constables" and "haywards" for the ensuing year. Mr. Payne made a complaint about the time at which the Court had been convened. A more inconvenient time (for the Commoners), he said. could not have been hit on. Indeed, it required a considerable amount of ingenuity on the part of the convener to have pitched on a time when the bulk of the Commoners, both on day and night shifts, could not at- tend. There might be nothing in it-he ac- cepted Mr. Randall's assurance that it was not done designedly—but it was certainly sus- picious in view of this attempt to force the Provisional Order through the Courts. Mr. John Evans: There are scores of men here to-day who have had to make sacrifices to get here. WHO APPOINTS THE JURY? I The question of the appointing of the jury was raised by Mr. John Evans. Mr. J. M. Randall said he had already ex- plained that the jury was appointed by him- se lf. Mr. John Evans: Then you may as well come and hold the Court yourself without a jury. I say without fear of contradiction that the jury will do just what Mr. Randall wants them to do. You should have left the choice of the jury to the Commoners at large. (Loud cheers.) I should prefer you to sit without a jury so selected. If we had to do with you personally, we might get fair-play. THE RESOLUTION. I Mr. W. A. Howell now rose to formally move the resolution, namely, that the Board of Agriculture be asked to reject the Provi- sional Order. He said that the Order had been unequivocally condemned by a joint meeting of the Parish Councils concerned, and remiiided the Court that the Court itself had voted against it three years ago. There is no doubt about it," said Mr. Howell, "the great bulk of the people of this Manor are op- posed to the Order. The petition against it has been signed by 700 signatories. Why? Because there is one clause in it that will des- troy for ever the rights of the Commoners of the Manor. I refer to that clause in the Order by virtue of which the Boand of Agl'i- culture will determine who are and who a-o not Commoners. That is the poison in the Order. Why should people who to-day are enjoying Commoners' rights give their con- sent to an instrument which may take away thoe rights? In view of the opposition against it it is a wrong thing to try and force this Order through." He prophesied that, in fact, it would be impossible to work the Order in face of such bitter opposition. 'I should be very sorry for any Board of Conser- vators who tried to work it, and I hope this Court will ask the Board of Agriculture not to proceed with it." And there is another thing," proceedQd Mr. Howell; "this is a very inopportune time for bringing such a highly controversial matter forward. By proceeding with the Order we are doing our best—so far as our in- fluence extends—to divide the nation. let us remember that there are 400 men gone from this little place to fight for King and country and the least we can do is to ask the Board of Agriculture to hold its hand till these men come back 'that is, for the period of the war." (Loud ard continued apolause ) Mr. T. Morgan ,• in briefly seconding, said that 00 per cent. of the four parishes were dead against the Order. Colonel Nicholl, who said he was one of the criminals who asked for the Order. moved as an amendment the suggestion contained in Mr. Howell's last few words, -namely, that the Board of Agriculture be asked to hang. the scheme up till the end of the war. One of the benefits of the Order was that the Lord of the Manor had voluntarily given up a great deal of power over the Common to the committee. The only object the late Mr. Blandy Jenkins and he had was that the large Common should be properly regulated, that there should be no encroachments, that recre- ation grounds should be formed, and so forth. They thought that if some of the land could be sold-("Oh, oli")-nioney might be accum- ulated for the benefit of the Commoners. (Groans.) At the same time, he recog- nised that there was a tremendous amount of opposition to the scheme, and he would move that the Board of Agriculture be asked to hang it up till after the war. Mr. John Evans said that the Court ought to reject the Order bag and baggage. In fact, the Court had already rejected it by its motion of three years ago. The offence of proceeding with the Order in face of that re- solution was aggravated by the fact that Commoners' money had been used to promote it; that was, to promote the very thing that the Court had voted should not be promoted. What they wanted to know was, who was re- sponsible ? Mr. Payne: The fact of the matter is, the committee exists merely in the imagination. The whole thing is in the hands of Mr. Ran- dall. Mr. H. J. Randall repudiated the sugges- tion that he was working independently of the committee. The fact was that once having gone past a certain point, the matter pas.sed largely out of the hands of the com- mittee and into the hands of the Board of Agriculture. Mr. Payne: Well, if the committee has done nothing, somebody at this end has been very busy. There must have been someone work- ing things at this end. Ultimately Mr. Howell's motion was car- ried, for the total rejection of the Order.

! COWBRIDGE SIFTINGS. *

BHEUMATISM - KIDNEY TROUBLE

NO RELIGIOUS CEREMONY. -I

MAESTEG YEOMAN KILLED I

I FUNERAL OF MR. JOHN LEWIS!

IBLAENGWYNFI.-

I COWBRIDGE.

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