Great Britain

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 81, 9 April 1915, Page 5

Great Britain

THE AMERICAN NOTE. FRIENDLINESS WITH FRANCE. United Press Association. Paris, April 8. The American Ambassador lias presented to M. Delcasse a Note similar to Britain's. He -said it was made in the friendliest and frankest spriit. THE LATEST INTRIGUE. FULL-PACE NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENTS IN U.S.A. AN APPEAL TO HYSTERIA. Times and Sydney Sun Service. (Received 8.0 a.m.) London. April 8. The Times' Washington correspondent says that the latest intrigue is the display of full-page advertisements signed by four hundred publishers and editors of foreign publications in the United States, protesting against the export of munitions destined to shatter and blot out the relatives of readers of the publications. BRITISH COMMISSARIAT. THE TASK OF SUPPLYINC AN ARMY WITH FOOD. WONDERFUL ORGANISATION. Times and Sydney Sun Service. (Received 8.0 a.m.) London, April 8. The Press Bureau says: "EyeWitness" describes the bases through which the troops and material pass to the front. The keynote of handling the vast amount of material is the simplicity of labor-saving. On arrival, the cargoes are stored in large sheds and divided into sections, from which one day's supplies for the troops dependent on this base are collected daily in pens close to the railways, each pen containing the quantity consumed by an army corps or its headquarters. Next day the contents of the pens are loaded .straight on to the train. The medical comforts and petrol are kept separately. The meat is retained on the refrigerating steamers until they are empty. The bread doesn't pass through the sheds, trucks containing these articles being added to the trains when these are finally marshalled. Hundreds of field ovens baking ninety loaves each .'lb weight are being gradually supplemented by steam travelling ovens, which are capable of baking lour thousand loaves n day. An enormous staff is required to cope with the increasing stream of material. At one place fourteen hundred men are working. It is a gigantic beehive, but there is the strictest order. When it is remembered that the employed were never before subject to military discipline, being accustomed to live in an atmosphere of trade disputes, the smooth working speaks wonders for the good spirit prevailing in all ranks. At the main ordnance base seventeen hundred men sleep on wooden berths constructed in tiers in a large warehouse.

THE DRJNK PROBLEM. ACTION BY THE CABINET. London, April 8. Cabinet will consult the Unionist leaders with a view to legislation for curtailing the sale of liquor during the war. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Cardinal Bourne, and Rev. Compton Rickett, on behalf of the Free Church Council, have issued a joint appeal for alcoholic abstinence during wartime. It is understood that Cabinet considered all-round prohibition impracticable and uncalled for at present, but favored prohibition of wines and spirits, and the encouragement of lighter beers by a compulsory reduction of strength, and further restrictions on the sale of intoxicants in military and munition manufacturing areas. The Government is sounding the Opposition regarding the necessary legislation. WHAT RUSSIA HAS DONE. The Government has received a despatch from the British Ambassador at Petrogiad respecting the temperance measures adopted in Russia since the outbreak of war. The sale of spirits is prohibited absolutely till the I'iicl of the war. Local, municipal, and administrative bodies may petition at any time for prohibition of the sale of all other strong drinks, and 0 n such petitions a prohibition order may

be issued in respect of any district within three months of tile receipt of it. Local bodies have exercised this power largely, and wine shops and beer saloons have been closed in all parts o!' the country, hi many places the prohibition is for all time, but. in the majority of cases, provisional until the end of the war. Heavy fines and imprisonment are imposed for non-compliance. KING ALBERTS BIRTHDAY. (Received 8.45 a.m.) ' London, April 8. King Albert's birthday was widely celebrated in Britain and France, and there were many functions in aid of the Belgian funds. MISCELLANEOUS. United Press Association. London. April 8. The Public Trustee's report shows that the Department is administering enemy property in England and Wales of the value of eighty-five millions sterling. There are 442,475 efficient males of recruiting age in Ireland. Latest statistics disclose that .51,000 has onlisted—32,ooo in Ulster and 20,000 in the southern provinces. The agricultural laborers have generally withheld from enlistment. The farmers frankly admit that they are making large profits from the war. and few appear conscious of any special obligations to their country. Shop assistants often have spurious notions of social prestige which precludes their mixing with the "common soldiers."

A number of Englishwomen will attend the Internatonal Peace Congress at the Hague on the 28th inst. The British Committee includes Miss Sylvia Pankhurst and Mrs Philip Snowdon.

Mrs Pankhurst, on behalf of the Women's Social and Political League, disapproves of the conference. She says it is unthinkable that Englishwomen should meet German women, whose relatives are murdering Britishers on the high seas and committed the awful horrors in Belgium.