Abergavenny Chronicle

AGRICULTURE AND MILITARY SERVICE. The question of the position of agriculture with regard to military service has giveu rise to divergent views, and the conflicting official statements which have been made from time to time have not helped a clear understanding. The importance of agriculture to the national welfare has been generally recognised from the first, and this is reflected in the comparatively small contribution which the industry has made to His Majesty's Forces. It is rightly claimed that while the munition worker has to provide food for the guns, the agriculturist has an equally important task in providing food for the gunners. There is no question about it that the land must be made as productive as possible and that the agriculturist must throw all his energy into squeezing the last ounce of food from Mother Earth. That being so, the question to be asked and answered is, Can any men be spared from agriculture ? Of course, from the point of view of equality of sacrifice, every class and industry ought to contribute its quota to the fighting forces of the country, and the stalwart sons of the soil are just the type of men which the recruiting officer likes to get hold of. However, one has to consider agriculture from the conflicting points of view of national interests and military necessities. National interests score all along the line, and the result is that agriculture is a favoured industry and the agri- culturist a very lucky man, with prosperity thrust into his hands while he is performing the agreeable task of doing his duty to his country. The question as to whether any, and if so what, men can be spared, has been left to the farmers themselves to decide, and they have decided that some-not a very big proportion- can be spared. Naturally, one takes it for granted that, as practical men whose sym- pathies are all with agriculture, their con- clusions have been formed on what they con- sider to be the minimum labour with which the land can be efficiently worked. The point is that in the considered opinion of those com- petent to judge it is possible for some men to be spared from the land. The Board of Agri- culture, who have exhibited a good deal of in- stability of opinion and have done some remark- able things—even going so far in some cases as to offer to get men taken out of khaki and brought back on to the land-have taken the view that men could be spared from agriculture. In a recent official pamphlet they state His Majesty's Government have decided that as many as possible of young unmarried men who can be spared without serious detriment to essential national services shall be released for service in the Army, and that agriculture, in common with other national industries, must submit to a revision of the list of certified occupations." They go on to state that un- married men up to the age of 25 are not to be exempted in the following agricultural occupa- tions :—Beastman, byreman, cattleman, stock- man, yardman, carter, horseman, ploughman, teamster, wagoner, hind (if foreman or plough- man), servant (if foreman or ploughman, Scot- land), hop, fruit or market garden foreman;; while unmarried men up to the age of 30 are not to be exempted in the occupations of bailiff, foreman, grieve, and steward. Although, it seems, this drastic revision did not prevent men being appealed for on the ground of indispens- ability, it shows that the Board of Agriculture did, as a matter of fact, modify their attitude with regard to agriculture and recruiting. Since then there appear to have been con- ferences between the agricultural and military authorities, and the result is that agriculturists feel that they ought to take a more lenient view in regard to the granting of exemptions. There are two causes which would justify such a modification of view. One is that military I necessities are not so insistent as they were, but one does not see any evidence of this in other directions. The other is that agriculturists have arrived at wrong conclusions as to the minimum amount of labour necessary on the land, but one would shrink from suggesting that practical men were guilty of such a misconcep- tion. There is, of course, a difficulty in apply- ing general principles to individual cases, and there are some agriculturists who will farm better and with less assistance than others. A good deal depends upon the individual, and some farmers have to be placed on their mettle before they show what they are capable of. However, the Rural Tribunal at Abergavenny have con- sidered both individual circumstances and general principles. They have dealt with some 400 cases up to date, and 39 applications on behalf of men engaged in agriculture have been refused. Twelve of these 39 decisions have been reversed on appeal, and these include several cases in which the application was not made within the specified time, and which the Tribunal were bound to refuse a hearing because of their very definite instructions on the point. A large majority of the cases have been those oi single men, and some are, or were, only engaged in agriculture on a very small scale. Taking the cases which have been finally settled, the Army has secured some 27 agricultural men from the rural district of Abergavenny. Of course the district has supplied men other than agriculturists, and these include blacksmiths, Asylum attendants, market gardeners, wheel- wrights, etc., 3-1- of whom have been refused exemption. Although one cannot very well compare rural and urban conditions, it is iu- teresting to note that the Borough Tribunal have dealt with 120 cases and have refused exemption in about 50 of them. Many of these are difticult cases of men in business, and it must be remembered that the town had already been largely depleted of its available manhood which could be spared without serious hardship. Apart from the few who joined up voluntarily without a;.p],ying for exemption, local agri- culture has supplied 27 men for the Army, lixcept for the fact that the cases which are now being dealt with are, generally speaking, harder ones than those which have gone before, is there any scope here for any modification of view in the direction of leniency ? The Tribunal would be bound by the very nature of the cases to grant a larger proportion of exemptions. It is 1 agreed that Tenant farmers should not be ..ken and thai. married men with responsibilities should have more consideration than single men. On those principles alone the Army will not get many more men from agriculture. If other principles are introduced and it is authorita- tively demanded as seems to be the case—that no man should be taken off the land, then the Tribunals in the rural districts might as well disband, for their long sittings would r^nricd one of the parable cf the mountain whid: was in labour and brought forth a mouse. The complaint to be made about agriculture is that there has been such slowness and .i^aihy in regard to organising labour. What has been done has been done in a haphazard marker. If the Board of Agriculture had been as cnergetic in organising agriculture as in issuing pamphlets, the position would be different to what 3t is to-day. Had the work of organising labour on national lines been placed in the hands oi a competent. man with practical knowledge, no farmer would be able to complain to-Vry of shortage of labour. It required enterprising ladies to take up the matter and to sh.jv; the value of women's work on "the land before the authorities and agriculturists themselves recog- nised the possibilities which lay in the trailing of women :n farm work. As we described last week, a good start has been made in the Aber- gaverny district in regard to getting women to take up farm work, and there is plenty of scope for further development. There ate branches of farm work in which women easily be trained and in which many are aht„dy competent. By tapping this great reservoir of labour, and by organising ploughmen and other skilled men in the various districts so that the most could be made of this labour, marrJ men could be released from the laud. It is scientific organisation that is wanted, and this would not be fully possible without some measure of national control or supervision and the hearty co-oper- ation of agriculturists themselves. Perhaps by the time the war is over it will be more generally recognised that all male labour on the land is not absolutely irreplaceable, and we shall be hearing valuable suggestions as to organising agriculraral labour which may be very ■-■oral when the next war comes upon us.

THE BOROUGH TRIBUNAL The Borough Tribunal at Abergavcraiy now over 100 applications for exemption to deal with. It is suggested that the Tribunal «a >ald give an afternoon and evening on June i (the Thursday in Whit-week) to the consideration of these cases and endeavour to deal with them all the same day. We do not see how it will be possible to get through so much work in the time and give due consideration to the cases. We know that the Rural Tribunal ha\e had quite enough of it when they have had to deal with 30 or 40 cases at one sitting. The Borough Tribunal have never yet dealt with more than about 20 cases at one sitting. The Mayor's idea is that by taking all the cases in one batch there can be no suggestion of preference but ii this necessitates a speeding up of the hearings and less time to the consideration of the facts, then we feel sure that applicants would rather have the cases dealt with in smaller lists at weekly or bi-weekly sittings. The Tribunal cor hi har- monise their decisions just the same. We have no doubt that the Tribunal will give fvll >r.- sideration to the cases, as they have dorr in regard to those dealt with up to date, an;] this being so they will find that they will have to adjourn a number of the applications to another day. It is a question whether all the eases should not be adjourned until it is Jtnov/n definitely what the Government proposals are, and we believe the Tribunal have some sympathy with this view. i, with this view. This is the attitude oi the Pontypool Tribunal, and such an attitude on the part of the Tribunals generally would stir the Government out of a wait and see polky on this important matter. There is also the question as to whether unattested married men are to have better terms than the attested ones. No one can contend that they should, and on this principle every attested married man s entitled to some time, to put him on the same footing as those who have not attested. Of course there are difficulties in giving time, in view of the facilities for appeal, but the difficul- ties are not so insuperable as to prevent some- thing like equal treatment. We note there an official suggestion that unattested will be called up first, but the position still remains too vague and indefinite to influence the decisions of the Tribunals. —A.

v The Magistracy at Abergavenny. Owing to the absence of Magistrates, the cases which should have been heard at the Aberga- venny Police Court on Wednesday had to be adjourned for a week. The two Magistrates who were on the rota of attendance for Wednes- day were, it appears, out of town, and there W!e undoubtedly good reasons why they eon; 1 not attend. The police vainly endeavoured to secure the services of other Magistrates, and after waiting for over half ah hour those who had business at Court had to depart, not pleased at the waste of time. Too freqr.ertly it has been the case at the local Court that the business has had to be delayed for a considerable time while the police have scoured the tcr*n or sent out telephonic messages in an endeavour to get Magistrates, and this is not as it should be. It may be that there is room for the appoint- ment of more Justices of the Peace in the district, but even with the Magistrates who are on the list matters might be much better arranged. A rota of attendance has been compiled to ensure that at least two Magistrates shall be in attend- ance at each Court throughout the year, brd this would seem to be valueless. If the Magistrates find that they cannot attend it is their "duty to find a substitute, but they do not always do so, unfortunately. liven in the event of failure to get a substitute they might at least notify the police in good time that they cannot attend, so that the latter would have an opportunity of getting others, and a waste of time might thus be avoided. The Abergavenny Court b re- puted to be the worst Court in the county for the attendance of Magistrates. Some Magistrates never attend, and all the work devolves upon .1 few. The positiou of a Justice of the Peace is an important one and they who accept the ofhee should give up a part of their time to the exercise of the magisterial functions. It is better to suffer from a lack of defendants than of mag- istrates.

The Volunteer Training; Corps. I The announcement that the Government do not see their way to give the Volunteer Training Corps an official status in the defence of the country has caused great dissatisfaction, and will lead to the disbandment of manv oi these J organisations. There is less enthusiasm for the movement at Abergavenny than there -as. The members naturally like to feel that arc are giving up their time to training for some definite purpose. There is no object in under- taking drill and firing practice merely as a hobby. Had the Government utilised this voluntary force properly, the country might have been saved a large sum of money which has had to lie spent in the guarding of bridges end munition works, etc., and a large number '.1 efficient soldiers would.have been reles-v"! 'r more active work. One would diverting of money or energy which > necessary in the active field of operations to the successful prosecution of the war, but surely there are plenty of. old-pattern rifles about the country with which the Volunteer Training Corps might have been supplied. The Corps have given up their time and paid for the ammunition they have used, and manv c., have bought their own uniforms. "They surely entitled to some official recognitic' If that recognition was forthcoming and the War Omce would assign to them some definlk w ?rk, such as being responsible for the guarding cf important places in their district, they would feel that they were of some use and it might h' possible to do more by way of public subscrithion and voluntary effort to equip the Corps properly.

HOW COMPULSION WILL WORK. NEW POINTS FULLY EXPLAINED. \.7. After twenty-two months of railitarv and civil? experimenting, the manner in which men are in future to be taken from civil life for the Army has been reorganised on a sound militarv basis. The first-fruits of this new regime, marked bv the passing of the Military Service Act and the appointment of Brigadier-General%A. C. Geddes as Director of Recruiting, are seen in regulations and orders which; took effect on Thursday. These regulations settle many doubts and perplexities. They do not involve the breaking of pledges, but they require for their carrying out that no pledges shall be given in the future. NEW ORGANIZATION*. The machinery through which the Adjutant- General carries out the duty of supplying men for the Army now consists of three directors and their staffs. The directors are The Director of Recruiting, who is responsible for seeing that men are obtained and that the men the tribunals say shall serve do serve. He represents the War Office in all exemptions dealt with by the Reserved Occupations Committee and the Cadging Committee, and works with the Parliamentary Labour Committee, which decides questions affecting specially skilled workmen and settles whether they go to civil work, munitions, or their own trade in the Army. These bodies are responsible for distributing the man-power of the country, which includes 7,000,000 to 8,000,000 men of military age. The Director-General of the Artnv Medical Service, who is responsible for the- technical efficiency of medical boards and for anv mistakes in diagnosis they may make, and thus classifies men raised according to their fitness for one or another military purpose. The Director or Organisation, who decides what branch of Army service a man shall ioin, and how the men shall be distributed to the "hest advantage. Working with this organisation are the tribunals, controlled by and receiving instruc- tions from the Local Government Board. ARMY'S BARRISTERS. the Army is represented at the tribunals 1)\- military representatives who are generallv civilians. i Their duty is to bring forward all the facts which seem to make a man a desirable recruit. They may ask for a man's exemption if he is working for the Army. They have no power to define Army policy or interpret Army regulations. They are simply in the position of barristers retained in the Army interests. All decisions arc made by the tribunals, who alone have the power to say whether a man shall pass from civilian to Army life. When the tribunal has passed a man for service it is the duty of the recruiting officer to see that he comes up for service. He cannot call men who have not been passed by the tribunal. He can reject men for obvious physical reasons, but apart from this he has no powers, nor is he allowed to announce the policy of the Armv Council. CLASSES FOR SERVICE. Through the recruiting officer the man goes to the medical board. Prom yesterday the hoards are instructed to classify the men as follows (a) Fit for general service. (b) Fit for service abroad but not fit for general service. (e) Fit for sdvice at home only. Each of the classes (b) and (c) is again sub- divided into (i.) Fit for service in garrison or provisional units. (ii.) In labour units or on garrison or regi- mental outdoor employment. (iii.) On sedentary work, as clerks or store- men only. No MORE PLEDGES. From yesterday the Army will give no written guarantee that men in these classes mav not be called up at once for service. This is a new de- parture. During April and May it was thought possible to place some of the men in the garrison labour, and sedentary classes, for whom there was no immediate need, in the reserve and promise them two months' notice if called up. These promises were printed on the certificates issued by the medical boards. Tbev will be literally kept. No man who has the certificate or the written promise of the Army Council need be afraid that the two months' notice will not be given to him. On any day the summons mav come, but it will not be effective untiJ two months from that day, and for the present it mav be expected only by the men who were certified by medical boards as fit for garrison duty abroad TlfRJV- MONTHS' NOTICE FOR CLERKS. Men classmed already tor garrison dutv at home or for sedentary work are not likely to receive in the immediute future any notices of this sort. Others may receive a warning notice. Every endeavour will be made to give these three or four months' notice. Under the new Military Service Act the military authorities have power to call up medically rejected men for re-examination. Men who have been medically rejected hv a board or rejected totally by the recruiting officer for obvious physical defects will not be asked to go through this form. Nor will those who submit themselves voluntarily for medical examination be asked to come up again. FRAUDULENT CERTIFICATES. Re-examination is introduced solely for the purpose of obtaining men fit for service who, bv accident or design, obtained medical rejection certificates without going before a medical board. There is ground for shrewd suspicion that medical certificates were obtained in some parts of the country by. subterfuge or the purchase of medical certificates. Personation on a large scale lias been suspected. Men with phvsical defects have gone before doctors giving the names of fit men and have secured exemptions for the fit by this trick. Men who are really unfit need not fear a summons for re-examination. The standard of physique in the Army is actually being raised rather than lowered. The demands made upon the strength of men are now better understood i and the medical boards are better able to I estimate the fitness of a man than formerly. At the same time it is possible that a mar who was rejected for trivial defects may be found suitable for one of the garrison or sedentary classes on re-examination, but even so it is not expected that such will be asked to take up these duties for some time. A

Burglary at Blaenavon. the premises ot Air. Benjamin Robinson, jeweller, of Lion-street, Blaenavon, were entered during Wednesday night, and the burglar made an extensive haul of jewellery of the total value of J'ioo. Mr. Robinson, who lives awav from these premises, on going to the shop vesterdav morning missed ito gold rings, 12 chains, three gold watches and a large number of gold and silver medals. There is evidence to show that entrance was probably effected from the rear of the premises. Late yesterday the police, it is understood, arrested a suspect. The arrest was effected at Newport, where the suspect had been taking part in a charity concert.

Military Advisory COMMiffee.At a meeting of the Military Advisory Committee for the rural district of Abergavenny, held in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Abergavenny, Mr. W H. S. Whitney, J.P., C.C., presided. There were also Mr. John Rogers, J. P., Mr. J. Merton Jones, J.P., Mr. John Law son, Mr. George Davies, Mr. Warren P. Davies, and Afr. W. Gower Andrews (military representative). Eorty-two claims were dealt with. --6-

TOBACCO FUND. Already acti-nowledged .I"-o Ii 10 10s. Mrs. Lawrence Eaker. 10s. Sirs. Chas. Baker. 2s. 6d. Twm Shon Catti. 2s. Mrs. Bishop. _4,

V Vteiona Cottage HOsÐital. The Committee beg to acknowledge, with thanks, the follo\m? receipts per the Hon. Treasurer :—Christ Church, Abergavenny (per the Wardens*, {. /,s. hlan- vapley Congregational Church (per :,11-. 1). B. Lewis), ii js. /,d. Beilyglas Sunday School (per Mr. D. James, is. Als,-). the follow- ing gifts during the month of May, per the Matron :—Flowers, The Hon. Mrs. Herbert, Afrs. Cor field, Ministering Children's League: fruit. Mr. Harry Steeie rhubarb. Hon. Mrs. Herbert, Mrs. Duck vegetables, Mr. John Rogers (Monachty), Mrs. Lawson, Mrs. P. M. Humphrys; butter, Mrs. John Rogers eggs, Mrs. Duck dripping, Mrs. Lloyd magazines. Lady Herbert of Coldbrook, Mrs. Britton, Rev. Basil Jones illustrated papers, Mrs. S. R. Young, Mr. Harold Vo')u?, i r. ii?.ro l d Carr garment, Holv Trinity jumble Sale chair for nurses' sitting-room, Mrs. Corfield; Daily Telegraph," The Editor.