Swansea Journal and South Wales Liberal. — 1895-05-25 (Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales)

CLOSIN CT MOVE INTENT. thill:attly from apathy, but mainly from the fact ilot" the majority of the shops of the town did tne close in time, the attendance at the mass eting of the Swansea branch of the ,t4tiolial Union of .Shop Assistants, held _,the Holy Trinity Schoolroom, Alexandraon Tuesday evening, was anything pli't encouraging; in fact, only six assistants took ord( ih the procession which preceded the meeting for which the services of a band had been ged. toi-tae object of the gathering was to further luhsider the early closing movement, and Mr., b gram Rees, who presided, opened the meeting tl a neat speech, in which he observed that by the recent conference at the Temperance Hall of° Shop assistants had aroused a great deal w.,Public interest and sympathy in connection f 101 early, closing, and it now only remained ,t 7 them to support the Union in order that they 'ght attain their objects. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Rowell followed with u brief report of the ve_Putation that waited upon the Swansea i;lurPeration as to the earlier closing of the 144ket, and added that he had canvassed a good ti,a4Y of the butchers outside the market, and t;e3' were in favour of shutting their establishatit ten o'clock. If that were done ei,lerally, he believed one of the greatest object:" of the stallholders would be met. (Hear, iMessrs. Johns and Ingram next gave short udresses urging the assistants to stand by the tili(M, the latter speaker remarking as to I:aneillor Morgan Hopkin's objections to closing I,e market at ten o'clock, that "he might have tr-in his mouth shut, seeiLg that he posed as a %deo' unionist." tu 'he meeting then settled down to the dise of a number of items which had been foreshadowedq, in the chairman's opening speech, —"g these being a proposal to go in for general holiday in July, to enable the shop :473iStant5 to have a pic-nic. In view of the tifitation for the earlier closing of shops, and ,the fact that July is a busy month with the f °Pkeepers especially the drapers, it was very atrly thought, by nearly all present, that the Proposal ought not to be entertained, but it decided to defer the matter for a month. • The secretary (Mr. Joseph Rees), to whose hntiring energy must be mainly attributed the :resent efficiency of the Swansea branch of the Assistants' Union, which now numbers members, then announced that, although ,d)" now an assistant, he was not going to esert their cause, but would still manifest the .aine interest iq shop life reforms as hitherto, and whenever possible would be ready to advore their cause. He wished them, however, 1.) remember that it depended upon their consupport of the Lnion as to whether the to effect an earlier closing of shops in 4,,n'ansea was successful. kb -1-11 e meeting was unanimous that it would . e desirable that Mr. Rees should retain his ?Position as secretary for at least the next three Inpliiths, and this he consented to do. A further :it' of confidence was passed in him, whilst was suggested by some speakers that the „eaamittee ought to take into consideration question of remunerating the secretary, but ,u) this Mr. Rees objected, seeing that he would 13e with them for only a short time. question of holding a concert or converliavzione for the purpose of swelling the funds the Union was relegated to the general 7._tilmittee, and the meeting shortly afterwards `rininated.  . William lieape, deputy superintendent of the - "tu of Trade at Southampton, has been cornInitted for trial charged with embezzling £3O -gi'verl to him by a seaman to be deposited. An Z 1 arn,Y. pensioner named Moss who had been Zellarged as corporal from the ROyai 1 Engineers, 8 COnlraittal suicide by banging himself n the arrlOd quarters at South Camp, Aldersh ot. .de7. Hugh T. Randell, the superinten, t of the tinplate sheds at the Prince 43!" Wales Dock, Swansea, has just been the re'ilaient of several handsome presents on the 1)e-weaaton of his marriage. The presentations gsteare made on behalf of the office and out-door 8 and cranemeu, reference being made to ,t,holicordiality which had at all times characterised too relations between Mr. Randell and those , 'order him. Mr. Eandell made a suitable re, 11,13/36e- Pie gifts, which were supplied by eBBrsi- Taylor and Company (Limited), Castle-Bcloare, f!omposed the following :—Massive Inarble and bronze strikiiii, clock with bronze "413!;(1 gilt pillars, oak salad' bowl and servers, Iliarfor toast rack, silver and gilt egg stand, and Ilda°4lo tea and coffee service.