Great Britain

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 76, 1 April 1915, Page 5

Great Britain

A SOLDIER’S LETTER-BAG.

DAILY MAIL FOR THE FRONT.

Times and Sydney Sun Service. (.Received 5.20 p.m.) London, March 31. The Postmaster-General states that the Department daily sends *100,001) letters and 50,000 parcels to .the front. A lonely soldier at the front inserted an advertisement in one of the papers inviting correspondence, and three days later he received 3000 letters and six bags of small parcels and ninety large ones.

THE DRINK PROBLEM. London, March 31. The newspapers are giving prominence to the drink problem. The Daily Telegraph states that Cabinet yesterday discussed the drink question and production of munitions, and proposes to submit new legislation to Parliament enabling the regulation of the hours of public-houses in all districts. Total closing is not contemplated, and the legislation will be confined to the duration of the war. The Government is desirous of safeguarding the legitimate interests of publicans. The Daily Mail says the Government had practically decided recently to reduce the hours of selling, when later information revived the question of prohibition. The Admiralty' and War Office supplied startling reports of time losses. The Director of Transport stated that it takes three times as long to get transports away as compared with ante-war conditions. General prohibition will require Parliamentary sanction. The Government is also considering the prohibition of wines and spirits, but is not interfering with beers. The Daily Mail says Mr Lloyd George proposed total prohibition during the war, including private clubs. Cabinet has not arrived at a decision.

The general opinion in Ministerial circles is that further restriction of hours will not suffice to stop the delays in munition factories.

The Morning Advertiser says the licensed trade is ready to co-operate with the Government in any reasonable remedy to prevent the evil, but that prohibition is too big a pull. Shipbuilders state that the defaulters are not drunkards, but take sufficient drink to become slack and disinclined to work. They get high wages, but spend them largely in drink. In two typical cases the attendance sheets in the shipbuilding trade show that out of nine hundred possible working days 290 were lost through drinking, being nearly two days per man weekly.

MILLIONAIRE SHOULD HAVE HIS HEAD READ! Times and Sydney Sun Service. London, March 31. Lars Nelson, a Swedish-American millionaire, has written to the Kings of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, urging that they have a unique opportunity of doing the world a good service by calling a peace conference. He suggests that it meet in Washing, ton.

TREASURY FINANCE. (Received 8.50 a.m.) London, March 31. The sum of £37,974,000 was subscribed in Treasury bills, the average discount being £2 13s lid. , BOARD OF TRADE COMMITTEE. (Received 9.15 a.m.) London, March 31. The Board of Trade has appointed the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie (Ne\y Zealand High Commissioner), Major Sir Thomas Robinson (Queensland AgentGeneral), and Sir Montague Nelson a committee to deal with any question arising in connection with the surplus of Australian Jamb and New Zealand mutton and lamb which is purchased by the Imperial Government.

WAR BONUS FOR THE DOCKERS.

(Received 11.20 a.m.) London, March 31. South Wales dockers have accepted a ten per cent war bonus.

WELSH DISESTABLISHMENT DEADLOCK. (Received 1.35 p.m.) London, March 31. The Welsh members of the House of Commons, meeting in conference, with one dissentient, passed a resolution relying on Mr Asquith’s undertaking, which was.endorsed by Mr Bonar Law (Leader of the Opposition), that no controversial legislation would be introduced during the war. The Welsh members of the House of Commons decline to proceed with any further discussion on the Disestablishment Postponement Bill, which will nullify the Parliament Act.

MISCELLANEOUS.

London, March 31. The Archbishop of York, speaking at Hul l.said the mere casualty lists could not bring to the imagination of the people what was really happening. A jdivision had four hundred officers, and ‘only forty-four wore left. Out of 12,000 men 2,330 were left. Of one regijmenfc only a quartermaster and 300 , men remained. 1 Mr McKenna has appointed a com-

mittee, including representatives of the great emporia, grocers, drapers, and shop assistants, to consider how to secure the establishment retail trade without disorganisation. The (Admiralty’s telegram, pointing out to labor leaders the injury to national interests, resulted in a stop-, page of the strike at Cyfarthfa collieries.