ARGUS ARCHIVE: 50 years ago - Harold Wilson's Labour Party wins the General Election

A PRIVATE in the Dragoons was charged at Newport court for travelling without payment on the train from Swindon to Newport, and for attempting to fraudulently obtain a horse from a local dealer.

AN appeal was made to Newport mothers to join an Argus scheme to provide plum puddings for Christmas for the men at the front. A thousand basins had been donated for the purpose. Housewives were asked to each make an extra pudding and return with their name on the basin so the soldiers would know who to thank.

THE second Newport Literary Society lecture at the town hall was entitled The Call To Arms, Why We Are At War.

IT was noted with a feeling of disappointment that recruiting in Monmouthshire had fallen to a low daily average and had appeared to become languid. While it was noted that it was unrealistic to keep up the enthusiasm of the early days of the war, an appeal was made for more volunteers to come forward.

50 years ago

THE Soviet Union put three men into orbit in the first spaceship to carry more than one cosmonaut; there was speculation that the three men may stay there for a week.

THE forecast was made by the chairman of Wales' gas board that gas in Britain would probably be cheaper in years to come because he felt Wales was well placed to take in supplies from the Sahara.

POLLING stations opened as voters would decide whether Sir Alec Douglas-Home would remain Prime Minister or whether his challenger Harold Wilson would take over and head a Labour government.

IT was announced that Labour had won the general election with a slender majority, ending 13 years of Conservative rule. Labour won the majority of the county’s seats.

25 years ago

GWENT ambulance service faced a crisis over emergency calls as officers prepared to escalate industrial action over pay.

BLOOD samples from people living near New Inn waste-disposal firm Rechem could be the next step in investigations into levels of PCB contamination in the area.

POLICE feared that forged tickets would cause chaos at Pontypool RFC’s sell-out match against the All Blacks.

A HANDBOOK for use in child-abuse cases had still not been produced in Gwent almost a year after a report recommended it.