HOUSE OF LORDS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1048, 10 February 1911, Page 5

HOUSE OF LORDS.

BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY, REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE '..'.REFUSED.,. , , .London,.February- 8. In the House of -Lords,. Lord Denbigh appealed for., the beet-sugar .industry:. . ■:■[' '■'■■ ' Earl Carrington (President of the Board of Agriculture) said, the request amounted to the .old policy of dry-nursing infant industries. -Tho Government would have nothing to do .with it. ' ( • THE WELSH RIOTS. CHARGES' AGAINST THE POLICE. . February 8. , In the House of Commons, .Mr.- W. Abrahams, Labour member for Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire, and Mr.\ Keir Hardie, Labour 'member for. Merthyr Tydvil, demanded that the Government should set up a-commission to inquire into charges of assault against the police during, the South Wales strike ' and the incidental rioting. ......

Mr. Winston Churchill, the Home Secretary,' in view of tho high' character of tho metropolitan police,' refused to consent to a general inquiry, but said ho would investigate individual charges.

THE BATTLE OF PENYGRAIG. ; ■ The following account of the encounter between the poljce and the rioters was given by the correspondent of the "Times". ;on November 22:— "Throughout Monday there had been symptoms of another outbreak. .The railway stations in the Rhondda' .'Valley wero overrun by. pickets, and passengers by tram were' subjected to tho most insolent molestation. About 9.30 in tho evening a message was, received 'by, the i in. "° Metropolitan' Police stationed at lonypandy requesting that reinforcements should be dispatched with all haste to l'enygraig (a mile and ' a half away up a .side valley). Prompt response was made to tho summons, and a strong force of police marched in close formation from Tonypandy up the sharp gradient leading'to Penygraig. When about half-way between the two colliery districts they -met their first opposition from a large crowd of .angry strikers armed with sticks and carrying stones in their pockets. The order was. given to charge the mob and batons w : ere drawn. This police .force was directed by Inspector Lethering, of the Glamorgan Country Police, Inspector Lloyd, of Swansea, and Sergeant Gill, of Cowbridge, and these officers were in tho van in the attempt to clear the highway. The police succeeded' in driving tho- strikers up the hill as far as Alma Road, when another posse of police came to their assistance and took part in a charge. They were just getting clear of the foot of a hill when P. C. Wilcox was felled with i. terrific blow on tho head from a stone. Tho stone penetrated the constable's helmet before cutting open his head, and made him unconscious. As ho was being nicked up. by .his comrades two of tho Metropolitan Police wero struck down and wero carried to the nearest inn. The police then marched down Library Road, where they were again pelted with stones. They managed to clear the ■ hill and reached the Turbrville Hotel, in tho hopo that reinforcements'would be awaiting them there. Here again they were bombarded with stones and brickbats, and with such overwhelming numbers against them they-were in great neril.' Fortunately. Captain Lindsay, Chief Constable of Glamorgan, arrived just at the right moment with a strong force -of. police from Llwynvpin, and ho immediately took command of the whole force. Ho, split the men up into sections and sent them in different directions. The polico charged down ' street after streot, nnd each wa* rapidly cleared, though "le . police suffered, several casualties in carrying out their orders. Tho strikers made their last stand near the Butchers' Arms Hotel, in Library Kond. Their resistance was feeble, and half an hour .after midnight, the? had been, dispersed and the streets were de'jserted." •