News from England

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 251, 1 April 1915, Page 5

News from England

OUR TERRIBLE LOSSES.

L DRINK CAUSES DELAYS,

DRASTIC MEASURES PROPOSED.

TOTAL PROHIBITION IN CERTAIN

AREAS.

Received April 1, 1.5 a.m.

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, ami 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 pub).cans. 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 .requir,. Parliamentary sanction. The Government is also considering the prohibition of wines and spirits, but is .not interfering with beers. The Daily News says Mr. Lloyd George proposed total prohibition during tiie 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.

Th e Morning Advertiser says the licensed trade is readv to co-operate with the Government in any reasonable .> i■edy to prevent the evil, but tlu

*iibition is too big a pull. 'Shipbuilders state that tlu 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.

"BRINGING THE POSITION HOME.

Received April 1. 1.45 a.m.

London, Mareli 31

The Archbishop of York, speaking at Hull, said the mere casualty lists could not bring to the imagination of the people what was really happening. A division had four hundred oflcers, and only forty-four were left. Out of 12,080 men 2,330 were left. Of one regiment only a quartermaster and 300 men re"-' mained.

The Elder-Dempster Companv estimate that 111 died when the Falaba was torpedoed. An American citizen named Leon Thrasher is among the missing.

A STRIKE ENDED. RESULT OF ADMIRALTY'S TELEGRAM.

Received March 31, 5.55 p.m. •London, March 31

The Admiralty's telegram, pointing out to laljor leaders the injury to national interests, resulted in a stoppage of the strike at C'yfarthfa collieries. EETAIL TRADE. Rcaehred April 1, 1.45 a.m. ; London, Mjireh 31,

Mr. McKenna Ua;; cpoointed a coi-.iu. titee, including representatives of the jgreat emporia, grocers, drapers, and shop assistants, to consider how to se•cure the establishment of retail trade \TOthout .disorganisation.

SYDNEY'S WAR GIFTS,

TREASURY BILLS,

London, .March 30. The Queen inspected the Sydney war 'Chest gifts and thanked Lady Coghlan and the donors for their generosity.

Tenders are invited for 15 millions six months Treasury Bills, to replace bills due on April 10.

A PRO-GERMAN SERMON.

Berne, March 30.

Germany is circulating the recent sermon of the Rev. and Hon. Edward Lyttelton, headmaster of Eton, throughout neutral countries.

(Mr. Lyttelton's address, entitled ■MJon't Humiliate f!crmaniv. 7 treated some bad feeling in England.)