Great Britain

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 21, 23 September 1915, Page 5

Great Britain

THE MOTHERLAND. AN INVITATION TO COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. OPPORTUNITY FOR DISCUSSION WELCOMED. United Press Association. (Received 10.5 a.m.) ™; London, September 22. if-'Tn the House of Commons Mr Lonsdale asked whether the Government intended taking the Dominions into their confidence regarding the

Mr Bonar Law (Secretary of State for the Colonies) said: We are in continual communication with the Governments of the Self-Governing Dominions on matters connected with the war. If the Pemiers are able to visit England, the Government will welcome the opportunity for discussion similar to that with Mr Borden. ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT OFFICE,, ~i SAVING OF A QUARTER MILLION (Received 10.5 a.m.) London, September 22. Mr Harcourt (First Commissioner, of Works) stated thafci the Government are effecting economies in office works, representing a quarter of a million this year and half a million next year. ...../.... i HOW SUVA WAS SAVED. (Received 8.50 a.m.) London, September 22. • The following incident is being related : When the Scarnhorst and Gneisenau were cruising in the neighbourhood of Fiji early in the war Sir E. B. Sweet-Escott, the Governor, who is now. in England, by a clever ruse, prevented an attack. He a, wfi'e-j less:; "Bat'eyl Australia.—Received message, to expect ypu.,in mprning." The German's cruisers' picked it up and altered their course. , Subsequent ly, a letter o| | officer, showed that the had caused the cruisers to change their plans, sparing Suva. ft.-ij ' ni ' GOVERNMENT'S; F^QDSUfeLjIE^.(Received 1 p.m,X :i\\' M > London, September 22. Replying to questions as to the increase in the price- of foodstuffs, 'Mr Runciman (President of the Board or -Trade), said -the' iGovernmenk' hathitaken measures to obtain a good supply of meat from the Argentine and Australia, so asi to,secure, the "country against a dangerous shortage;'during' the I course of i the- next few • months'. The Board of Trade's operations in food j amounted to fifty—millions sterling. They had not allowed the American Trust to. get all they asked or sltipoMierfT "tcf! get all they! Wanted.! Such was the French Government's confidence in our conduct of the business that }t : had jjfkeei the\ mjatierjin the Board of Trade's 'hands. So far as the Board could ascertain, there had been* no "Withholding of supplies. The price of wheat was now low, and would probably be lower still had the Dardanelles been opened.' The abundant harvest would tend to keep prices down. , THE BRITISH BUDGET. London, September 21. Newspapers .describe the Budget as a big, bold Budget.} 't\ I / <J The Daily Graphic rigrits' the .absence.of a war tax on all letters and a small'weekly tax on wages;. collected through employers. The chief difficulty in the increase in tithe, tobacco duty, it says, is the, price ,pf cheap, packets of cigarettes, and it is questionable whether it will be' possible to retail five cigarettes, for -a. penny. The trade fears thatUhe* abolition of the half-penny postage will kill the picture postcard craze. (| sft duty on cinematographs applies to eighty per cent, of the films shown, whereof nine per cent, are American, and this should result'in a considerable exploitation by British firms, but it may be met with a general increase in the prices of admission. The Labor Party meet to-morrow to discuss the Budget. Some members object to the tea and sugar duties, and the lowering of the income tax exemption.