YESTERDAYS 1943

ASKED by Mr Grenfell (Lab – Gower), pictured below, in the House of Commons if he were aware of the strong desire in Wales for the institution of a Welsh Office under a Secretary of State for Wales, and whether he would make a statement of the Government’s intentions in the matter. Mr Churchill, pictured right, referred to an answer given by Mr Atlee on June 10.

Mr Grenfell: “In view of the unqualified success of the Scottish Office in this and previous administrations, would not the Prime Minister consider the extension of this very good example for the improvement of government in another part of the country?”

Mr Churchill: “I think we have got a tendency to have too many ministers (Cheers). One must look very jealously at new claimants.” TWO boys met with fatal injuries and three of their companions are in a critical condition at Treherbert Hospital as the result of an accident which occurred on the Treherbert mountainside.

It appears the boys were playing with an object which they found near the Rhigos road when there was a sudden explosion.

It is believed the explosion was caused through the object coming into contact with a stone.

They were all taken to hospital where two of them succumbed to their injuries shortly afterwards. AN UNUSUAL case came before Bridgend magistrates when they allowed an appeal by William Beynon against the refusal of Porthcawl Urban District Council to grant him a licence for a camping site at Trecco Bay, Porthcawl.

Mr Carey-Evans, for Beynon, said the grounds for the council’s refusal were that camping definitely retarded the progress of Porthcawl, but he submitted it was ridiculous to say that because the town could not develop now, and if, after the war, camping interfered with development it would be a matter for consideration then.

He also quoted from the council’s official brochure of 1939 in which it was stated that Porthcawl had already become famous as a camping centre and inviting applications for camping to be sent to the council’s clerk.

Yet now they say that Porthcawl was the last place on earth for such a camp.

The appeal was allowed and the council directed to grant a licence. A 13-YEAR-OLD boy who pleaded not guilty and reserved his defence was sent to trial at the next assizes by the magistrates at Cardiff Juvenile Court charged with the manslaughter of Ange Matre Le Corre, a 42-year-old Free French seaman. Mr Leslie Owen, who prosecuted, said about 11am on June 23, Le Corre was walking along Newport Road with a friend.

Le Corre was on the outside of the pavement and when they were passing the Cardiff Royal Infirmary there was a sound of an explosion and Le Corre fell to the ground, exclaiming in French he had been wounded.

At the same time Police Constable Davies was cycling towards the city and was about 70 yards away. He went to Le Corre’s assistance but Le Corre was dead.

Investigations were made, and as a result of information Detective Sergeants Bishop and Pugsley went to flats in Newport Road and entered by a ladder through a first-floor window where they found behind a curtain a service rifle, the barrel of which smelt of exploded powder.

A little later a boy entered the flat and was asked by the officers if he had been using the rifle and he replied he had often played with it.

He made the following statement which read: “I did fire the rifle sir. I did not know there was a bullet in it. I pointed the rifle out of the window. I pulled the trigger and I was surprised when it went off.

“I saw a man fall to the ground. I remember now, sir, putting a bullet in the rifle. When I played with it before I always had the safety catch down. I never intended to shoot anyone.”

His father warned him of the danger of touching a rifle and told him not to interfere with his.