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AIR. CLEM. EDWARDS, M.P.,…

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AIR. CLEM. EDWARDS, M.P., THE RHYMNEY VALLEY MEETINGS AT DERI, PONT- LOiTYN AND TIR PHIL. RECRUITMENT OF MINERS. In pnrsnTance of the new recruitirg < an p in the miniT<? distn'cts, Mr. in the iri7nir,?z (iist i lets, -Ali,. (il;moig>in, visited this valley on Thursday and Friday evenings last and delivered, fti'ring addresses at ari,, i Pon: Lltyn, Der; nnd Tirphil. Tim question dsscassed was that. of taking more men from the mints to the army and the general fccJíIl wílDifested at the nwcting" was that the" strangers who had migrated into the mines to tpke the place of the gallnnt miners who responded to the fir&t call fur volunteers, should by the (ir^t to bo taken. Then it was suggested that the single yonng men should go be- fore the old or and married At e,.cti of the meetings the following resolution was carried: "That this public meeting of the pa.J pie of this district, living in the centre of the great coalfield of South Wales, fully recognising the need of more men to wage the present war of freedom to a victorious conclusion, and earnestly desirous of assisting the National Government, desire formally to call upon them as an act of social justice and in the public interest to recruit the young unmarried men before taking older and married men from this area, and if necessary for pro- ducing coal for the Navy to recall the older married miners from the Front." AtPontlot-tyn the vote was unanimous. At Tirphil, vvliere the gathering was composed of a very large proportion of young men, there was but one sol- itary dissentient; while at Deri there were 8 dissentients. Councifior'-Bon' Hughes presided at the Pontlottyn meeting,, which was held at the Cosy Cinema on Thursday evening. Mr Hughes said they were proud to see their member iu theil" midst. It was not often they were privileged to see and hear him; bat he was a busy man, and they realised his difficulty in getting round a con- stituency like East Glamorgan. Having explained the object of the meeting, which oonnected the query whether the age limit should be raised to 50, or young unmarried men should go to the army first, the chairman lded that it was a matter that ap- pealed to him very much, having regard to his position as a member of the Geliigacr Tribunal. There, men who had reached the age of 41, and who had 3, 4, 5, 6, and even 7 child- ren came before them, and if they were passed in Class A they were expected to send them to the army. His personal view was that a man who had passed 31 or 32 was not very much use for the actual fighting. He thought the best soldiers were the strong young men who were pasfed in Class A or Bl. He desired, how- ever, to point out, he would never be a party to sending a single young man to the army who was not physic- ally fit.-Retiolution was moved by Mr Evan Davies and seconded by the Rev. J. R Salmon. Councillor W. J. Giles presided over the Deri meetjmg, and delivered an admirable address at the outset. Councillor William Hammond pre- sided at the Tir Phil meeting, which was organised by the otticialsof the Tir Phil Liberal Club, and held in the open-air. Mr Hammond (like Mr Ben Hughes) paid a high tribute to the magnificent response of the lads from the mines to the call for men in the early days of the war. "Weare very proud of our record," said Mr Hammond. He added that about four weeks ago a recruiting meeting was held in the neighbourhood. The recruiting officer for the Valley was present, and said he was proud to be recruiting officer for the Rhymney Valley, because he had sent 40 per cent. of the young men, who had re- sided there before the war, to the army. (Applause). The speaker, however, was afraid that some 20 per cent., or 30 per cent., had come in to take the place of the boys who had gone to fight for King and Country. It was because of the knowledge of these facts that he (Mr Hammond), at the Miners' Conference in Cardiff, moved the resolution-which was carried—urging the combing ont of miues first of the "iatraingers" who had migrated to the pit since 1914. But, I believe, there are other mem- bers of the community," concluded Mr Hammond, who are dodging, and coaxing, and working around the tribunals." It was the duty of every one to be patriotic and help the Government in the crisis. (Hear' hour ). Mr Clement E d wards reviewed the whole situation, and said that while great things had been accom- plished, and the fight was still beirg waged, the plain, unvarnished facl was that more rren had to be Rent out to help the gallant lads who were at the fro!)t, ad tlie qufcttion was the policy to be pursued in taking more men from the mines. He pointed j (JIlt that it was found in Septt mber, j 19i5. that some 1;),000 men from various occupations and various W.-i h and EugH&h counties had come to the pits in East Glamorgan to take the place of the lads whohad so splendidly rallied to the early call for volunteers. The first, therefore, that should be taken-and this was the feeling ascer- tained by overwheimiug representa- tions he had received from East Glamorgan—should be the btrargera who had cume to the mines since the early days of the war. (Applause)- The second point was whether the men should be taken indiscriminately from the collierie. or whether the young, unmarried should not be taken first. The general feeling was that the single men should go first. Of course, cases of hardship wonld arise then where youug men euppoited widowed mothers, &c., but such cases would be dealt with on its merits. In the collieries of the United Kingdom there were 573,000 men of military age, and of this number it was esti- mated that from 120,000 to 140,000 were unraarried.-As stated above, the resolution was carried. The Member for East Glamorgan was given a cordial reception in every locality,

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