Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

7 articles on this Page

Advertising

THE COUNTY EDUCATION AUTHORITY.

[No title]

[No title]

COUNTY NOTES. -

News
Cite
Share

COUNTY NOTES. Speaking at Milford Haven on Friday night, Mr. Owen Philipps made a very smart hit at the visionary people who are proposing to abolish poverty by nationalising all our indus- tries. He drew their attention to the fact that we have nationalised the means of producing big war-ships at Pembroke, and invited Social- ists to assist him in getting our warships built in the national rather than private yards. If they would give an undertaking of that kind, or, rather, if they would put their shoulder to' the wheel, it would savour more of practical politics than idle talk of confiscating property, so that it should "become the propery of the nation afrer a certain number of years, in the same way as patents become public property after the prescribed time." In another part of the same speech the Member for the boroughs referred to our exports of fish into Spain and Portugal, and our imports of wines from those countries. Our Tariff Reform friends will pro- bably seize upon Mr. Philipps' admissions upon this matter on some future occasion. On the Dockyard question the member held out hopes of brighter days in the immediate future. f » The proceedings at the Haverfordwest Petty Sessions on Monday amply justified the stric- tures we passed upon the harsh conduct of the police in asking, and of the magistrates in granting, that the man William Byron Crouch should be sent to gaol for ten days while they tried to prove him guilty of a criminal offence. At the end of ten days the police appeared to have learned as much as they might have found out in as many hours, or even less, if they had not been so eager to secure a con- viction. It is certainly unusual for a stranger to go to bed, even in a house "licensed to accommodate man and beast," without the permission of his landlord, but surely if he is able to pay for his accommodation it is not such a heinous and criminal offence that he should be sent to gaol without trial for ten days. It savours too much of the Texan jury plan of hanging a man and trying him after- wards, to suit English notions of fairness. If William Byron Crouch had powerful friends instead of being a mere wanderer on the face of the earth, he might make matters a bit awkward. 4t An inquest held at Milford Haven last Satur- day does not make pleasant reading. A young man, the support of a widowed mother, was allowed to die under circumstances of almost revolting and callous indifference on the part of those who might have saved him. One witness found him groaning on the cabin floor, but thought the man was "merely drunk," and passed on; whereas if he had stooped down he would have seen that the poor fellow was simply being smothered. It is a brutal story, and it is not lightened by a juror's flippant remark that if he had touched the man he might have got "a punch on the nose." ir It Whatever else the session may bring forth, it is not likely to give us any remission of taxation. There will be no reduction in the cost of the army and navy, and with the ever- increasing demands of the other great spending departments, and the provision required for Old Age Pensions, it is certain that Mr. Asquith will have all his work cut out to make both ends meet without turning to fresh or increased taxes. Our Pembrokeshire farmers, therefore, need not hope for any relief from this quarter; and they must content them- selves with keeping a keen eye on county and local expenditure, and see that no unnecessary expenditure is incurred either by county, bor- ough, urban or rural council. lir It t Col. Ivor Philipps, M.P., and Mr. Palmer Morgan have each drafted their schemes for dealing with the main reads question. Copies are now in the hands of the county councillors, and it is probable that the matter will be dealt with at next week's meeting of the County Council. The Pembroke Town Council appears to be of opinion that the new scheme will confer benefits upon rural areas at the expense of urban districts, and the Town Clerk has placed himself in communication with the Haverfordwest Town Council in order that united action may be taken to safeguard urban interests, » t » The meeting of the Joint Committee at Pem- broke Dock to further the scheme for making Milford Haven a naval base was very satis- factory, inasmuch as the reports Mr. Merriman was able to make of the reception given to the proposal by various public bodies showed how wide and general is the support we can count upon. Practically South Wales is unanimous in support of the proposal, and in North Wales it is also well supported. In England, natur- ally the opinions are divided. Elsewhere we give a detailed list of the supporters of the scheme. What remains to be done is to put this support into a concrete shape and lay the matter before the Admiralty, and a powerful and influential deputation was appointed for this purpose. i ? 3r The three members of the Haverfordwest Borough Committee-the Mayor, Councillors J. Reynolds, and G. M. Phillips—who made the extraordinary recommendation that the Town Improvements Committee should be charged a prohibitive rent for the use of the Council Chamber, ought to be asked to give a further explanation than the very insufficient one they gave at the meeting on Tuesday. It is surely not enough to say that they accepted the ipso dixit of a mere caretaker, a person who regards every user of the Council Chamber as a sort of natural enemy, as sufficient data upon which to base such an outrageous charge. They may be sure that the Town Improvements Commit- tee will want a further explanation, and that the caretaker who so wantonly and ignorantly flouted the leading residents of the town will be called to account. v v IP It was found necessary to publish in the London "Gazette" the names of the Earl of Cawdor as president, Col. Walker as chairman, and Col. Lloyd as vice-chairman of the Pem- brokeshire County Association, in order to sig- nify the approval of the Army Council to these appointments. No fewer than 90 county as- sociations have already been incorporated, and ten Welsh counties, including Pembrokeshire, are forming associations for the raising and subsequent administration of the units of the proposed Welsh Territorial division. In a few weeks all the associations in Wales will be getting to work in real earnest, and it is recog- nised that there is no time be lost if the Welsh Territorial division is to be organised with reasonable dispatch. The Secretary of State for War asserts that the Territorial force will be from the first more than a mere nominal existence, and that. it will be quickly formed, though he admits that in some respects theie will be some slow moving during the present year. It will not, as already indicated, be a difficult task to form the Territorial units in Pembrokeshire, because, so far as one can as- certain, the majority of those now serving in the local Imperial Yeomanry Regt. and the Pembrokeshire Volunteer Battalion will be transferred to the new force; but generally speaking, in different parts of Wales it will be a difficult task to organise the Territorial force, because many officers and men will be called upon to abandon the role which they have, perhaps, for many years played as Volunteers. t t 1t There is a rumour, which appears well found- ed, that the shipbuilding programme to be carried out during the ensuing financial year will be much more extensive than that origin- ally proposed, and that after all more work will be given to Pembroke Dockyard, as well as the other more important establishments at Portsmouth, Devonport, etc., than a few weeks ago appeared likely to be the case. The Ad- miralty not only recognise that it is impera- tive to build more ships than was originally contemplated, but appear inclined to give more work to the Royal 'yards instead of to private firms-at any rate, to such extent as to obviate the necessity of large reductions in the estab- lishments, which a month or two ago it was feared would have to take place. We are bound to keep pace with our rivals as regards the construction of new vessels for the I Navy, and it is no economy whatever to make great re- ductions at establishments like Pembroke Dock- yard, to say nothing of the more important establishments at Portsmouth, etc. As already indicated in these notes, it is generally antici- pated that the 2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regi- ment will be transferred Itom Pembroke Dock to another station some time this year, and will be replaced by another battalion, which will mean that the original proposal that Pem- broke Dock should cease to be the centre for an infantry battalion has been abandoned. The removal of the infantry from Pembroke Dock would mean not only that there would be no infantry available for the Welsh coast defences, but there would not then be a single regular infantry battalion in the whole of the Western command.

ON THE SQUARE.

"¡:-THE RURAL EXODUS. -