WAR MISCELLANY

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15871, 10 April 1917, Page 5

WAR MISCELLANY

I INDIA'S PAET IN THE WAX. (FROM OCR OWN* CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON", February 27. Signs of India's earnestness to bear her full share of responsibility in the "war are evidenced 1 on all sides, and no one can say that the Dependency is not playing a big part. Women and children are now forbidden to sail for England, except for the most urgent reasons. • The absence of extravagance in domestic life is becoming a marked feature in th© country. An excellent example hag been set to-day by a big industrial concern —the Cawnpore "Woollen Mills —which is returning to the Government' about £23,000, their estimated extra waT profits, besides proposing to invest a reserve fund, of £200,000 in British and Indian war loans. Meanwhile the gifts from all classes {or war purposes continue to flow in in a generous stream. The Maharaja» of Jind has given one lakh of rupees, the Maharajas of Jaipur and the Holkar of Indore half a lakh each, the Maharaja of Kapurthala 25,000, and the Maharaja of Sirohi 10,000. The chiefs and people of the Mahi Ivantha Agency and 'th© district of Gurdtispur have given aeroplanes, the Holkar of Indore has given 900 tons of grass, and the Nawab Mahomed Nasrulla of Bhopal 150 tons of hay for military purposes, and the Maharaja of Bikanir had raised three extra companies of camel corps. DEAHTH OF DENTISTS. Complaint is made by dentists who hare joined the Army that their quali- ] fications are not being made use of. j On the assumption that dentists were heeded in the Army, the London Apt-1 peal Tribunal has refused exemptions to many of them. The chairman (Mr A. H. Richardson, MJE\) explained, tnat j he had taken th© trouble 'to ascertain the position, and the British Dental Association informed him that out of 2300 registered dentists of military age over 1000 were serving, and of those only 660 were employed as dental surgeons. A considerable number of the remainder were in the ranks, some as privates in the RJLM.C., sweeping floors and doing other menial work. A large number of dental surgeons and dental mechanics who remained were ; giving assistance to the hospitals, and that was a vital matter, as the war had caused many (injuries to the face. While all reasonable demands from the Army would be readily supported by the tribunal as far as dental surgeons and mechanics were concerned, they thought tnat, in view of 'th© facts he had stated, the Army should uso the qualified men they had for dental work before making further demands upon the very restricted number of dental surgeons and mechanics left of the civil • hospitals and population. GRAND JURIES. The text is issued of the AttorneyGeneral's Bill providing for the suspension of grand .juries in England and Wales during the war, and for a certain period thereafter. It is proposed that a judge's certificate shall take the place of a grand jury's bill. The main text of the Bill reads: "Any bill of indictment wSich but for this Act would have been preferred before a grand jury, shall be preferred before the Court before which the indictment is to bo prosecuted, and the judge of that Court, or an officer of that Court duly authorised in writing by the Court for tho purpose, shall append his signature to the bill, and thereupon tho bill shall be proceeded with in like manner in all respects as if it had been found a true bill, and so presented to the Court by a grand jury, and the statute and common law relating to such proceedings shall apply accordingly " MODERN SOCIALISM. ' War pressure has caused th© British! Government to take possession of all i the coal mines in the United Kingdom. ! Tho President of the Board of Trade J has decided to set up a 1 new Depart- • ment, which will control the coal mines, j and will also exercise the other powers

and duties of the Board of Trade with regard to coal. Th© new Department will bo in charge of Mr Guy Calthrop, lately general manager of the London and North-Western Railway 'Company. CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS. The Hon. Secretary states that tho number of conscientious objectors is 3025. The Central Tribunal has reported 23G9 of these eases to the Committee on Employment of Conscientious Obji'.-tors. and of these 2297 will be offered release from prison and from military service on condition that they perform work of national importance under the Committee. Of these 265 have refused to accept release on these conditions, 1731 have been released, j and 2S-1 are awaiting release. Of the 1731 who have been released from prison to work. 101 havo subsequently refused to work or havo broken the conditions on which they were released, and have accordingly teen sent back to prison or to the Army. There are 339 men now in prison whose cases have not yet been considered by the Central Tribunal. From March Ist Dartmoor Prison will be closed for convict prisoners and occupied by C.O.'s, who will be employed, it is stated, on the reclamation scheme initiated by the Prince of Wales on the Dartmoor portion of his Duchy estate. DUTCH CARGO BOATS. Holland's freight-boat service with the Dutch Indies will probably be resumed through the Panama Canal. For passengers from Rotterdam, the arrangements are that they should travel overland from New York to San Francisco and thence by Netherlands ships to the Indies. CORDITE FROM KITCHENS. It is estimated that the Army is now supplying from its camp kitchens .enough glycerine a year to produce tho cordite necessary to fire ten million 181b shells: The Army authorities were convinced last year that there was usable waste from the camps. A committee was appointed, and, says Mr J. W. Hope, its chairman: "We organised the collection of all waste fat and bones from every camp in the kingdom .-They go to • the nearest soapmaker for the production of tallow and glycerine. The fat contains about 10 per cent, of glycerine, and this is 6ent to the 'Ministry of Munitions. It amounts to 1000 tons of glycerine a year. Our contract with the Government for glycerine is 'at the pre-war price of £59 10s a tons, but glycerine to-day in the United •Staes is being quoted at £240 a ton. We havo paid £130,000 a month to the various units during the past-• six months. Each, unit has its account with us. and from "what used to bo wasted it now secures a monthly cheque, which goes to the mess fund to provide extra comforts for the men. The system has been extended to the base camps in France, where the fat is rendered down and sent homo in barrels, and also to tho Navy, which used to pitch this waste, overboard." WAR LOAN SILVER. Remarkable prices were paid at Christie's for old silver, the salo being to provido investments for the War Loan. A small 1650 Commonwealth cup, for which? Messrs Crichton gave £33 an ounce, would be worth short of 9s melted down, and there wore abundant instances of the difference between raising money for munitions now, and in the stressful days when England was at i war with itself. Tho sale was remarkable throughout for the number of lots fetching over £5 an ounce, and attention may be drnwn only to the chief of these. A Charles I. plain cupping bowl 16i8, reached £20 an ounce (Cricliton); a 105-1 Commonwealth porringer and cover, £20 an ounce, £257 (ditto): an Elizabethan chalicc and jiaten, Norwich, 1568. £19 10s an ouncc, a.200 17 S (Comyns); a Queen Anne plain cylindrical dredger, 1713, £19 an ouuco (Gsirrard); a George I. dredger, 1723, £13 10s on ounce (S. .L. Phillips); and among the heavy pieces was a,Paul Lam eric oval bread basket at £9 5s an ounce, £411 12s 6d (Goldsmiths' and Silversmiths' Company). WOMEN AND MOTOR-CARS. of Police is now prepared to license as drivers of public vehicles women who arc fully qualified. Tho step is only the logical outcomo of the wartime extension of women's activities. In this country and at tho l'ront women arc not only driving cars, but heavily-laden commercial and Army lorries as well,' and their employment has"not resulted in any increase in the nuznber of accidents. So far as taxicabs are concerned, the case is clcar, and there seems no reason to "doubt tho ability of women who arc lit and strong to drive omnibuses. The case of tramcar 5 is on a rather different footing. In London tho introduction of women as tram-drivers has not hitherto been, regarded with/ favour, although they have been so employed in the Provinces, whoro conditions arc not quito the same. But tlie Army requirements must be satisfied. and if women are able to act as substitutes the step must be taken.

EXEMPTION OF CLERGY. The Earl of Derby received a deputation from the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade Union Congress -it the War Office. Sir Ben Tillett dealt •with a resolution passed at the Birmingham Trades Congress protesting against the "unfair privileges" given by the Government to the clergy bygranting them exemption from military service. * Lord Derby replied that that was a matter for Parliament, and not for the War Office, as the clergy were exempt under the Military Service Act. He acknowledged the national scrvice which many of the clergy were giving at the present time, and the value of their ji'.ork*.