Welsh Journals

The decision that Radnorshire should have its own Chief Constable was made in 1867, and Mr. Penry Lloyd was appointed at a salary of £ 250 per annum. He was to live within three miles of Penybont or Crossgates, and chose Penybont. It is strange, by the way, to read that up to that year the Petty Sessions for the Cefnllys Hundred (which included Llandrindod) had been held at Bleddfa they were moved the same year to Penybont. The Colwyn Petty Sessions were moved from Hundred House to Builth in 1884, on account of the difficulty in getting magistrates to go to Hundred House. There is much county history to be found in the quarterly reports of the Chief Constables, which are embodied in the Minutes up to 1889. We find that in 1863, when the railway at Rhayader was under construc- tion, four additional constables were appointed temporarily, at the request of the Mid-Wales Railway Company, to keep order among the rough elements introduced into the district. The first Foot and Mouth Disease (called the Cattle Plague) Order was issued in 1866. The disease was so widespread that year that the whole of South Wales and Mon- mouthshire was cut off. In June, 1871, the Chief Constable reported that there were no cases of the disease in the county, and that sheep scab had almost entirely disappeared. But foot and mouth had again appeared by October, 1872, and 324 farms were infected. The police in those days also acted as inspectors of weights and measures. In 1871 the Chief Constable reported, regarding the Pedlars' Act, 1870, that 65 certificates and 143 endorsements of certificates had been issued in a year. He criticised the Act as fixing the fee too low, whereby he alleged, many hawkers were able to get licences who were in fact nothing more than vagrants. A classified report of crimes and offences was first issued in 1876. By far the most common charges were for drunkenness, or for being drunk and disorderly. Reference to the frequency of such charges had been made in previous reports. In October, 1870, it was reported that in the preceding quarter there had been 96 cases of drunkenness and 130 of drunkenness with notorious behaviour." The Chief Constable urged that the granting of licences should be vested in the magistrates and not in the Excise, a reform which was put into operation by the Licensing Act, of 1872. He also urged that there should be earlier closing hours,