Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

31 articles on this Page

**————————————————'————1 OCR…

News
Cite
Share

**————————————————'———— 1 OCR LONDON LETTER. I rfrons Our Special Correspondent.] I But for the twenty-four hour extension for the recruiting under Lord Derby's grou: system many thousands of recruits would have been lost. The scenes at the recruit. ing stations during last week and on Sun- day were extraordinary, and the queues of waiting Men were longer than they have ever been since the outbreak of war. The extension was necessary, not in order to give a last chance for those who were still hang- ing back, but to make it po&sib!e to attest all v.-ho had made the great decision and presented themselves at the recruiting offices, Though -many additional ofScea were opened and hundreds more clerks were put on, the staffs were overwhelmed, snowed under, and could not possibly have dealt with the men in the time, even though the exhaustive medical) examination had been postponed for a few days. A. large proportion of those attested during' the last few days in London were -married mn, and of a fine physical stan- dard, .lib they were of all clao6e6—"from h,e-,v-76 of City nrms to dock labourers," was the remark of one presiding omcer. Ap- parently some were attested without going' to the omces, for it Is stated that a couple of recruiting sergeants paid a visit to a thestre on Saturday and enlisted all the members of the orchestra. Whether the Derby scheme has done all that was hoped from it ia not known at the time of writing, but the number of men enlisted, particulariy in the last few da.yg, was certainly enor- mous. The armlet does not appear to be very popular, if one may judge by the num- bet of men wha wore it on "armlet day." It is net particularly ornamental, and be- sides, as the supply ran out at most of the oinces, a gcod many of those entitled to the honourable badge had not then received it. After pcme delays, the Bill to prolong the duration of Parliament has at length been introduced. Practically everybody pgrecs that there can be no General Election at the present time, but without special provision this Parliament would have come to an end this month or next, the life of any Parlia- ment under the Parliament Bill being limited to five years. It was only the method of securing the prolongation that Deeded to be settled. It is to be managed by a kind of Parliamentary notion, which is quite a simple business. The Session of 1915 is not to count in reckoning the life of the present Parliament, and 1916 will follow on 1914. It wae the Plural Voting Bill that was the stumbling-block. Some people may have forgotten, in the clash of greater matters, that there ever was such a ,Z Bill, but they measure as the Plural Voting Bill, but they Itave remembered it in Parliament. Some members declared that in consequence of the party truce it was dead and ought not to be brought back to life, while others held quite as strongly that because of the party truce it was not dead at all, but had passed the Hcuse of Commons In two Sessions, and had to pa&s another only before becoming law. The passing of the new measure will make the 191G Session consecutive to that of 1914, and the Plural Voting Bill may be pre- sented again next year for the third time. So that's that. Many people, reading the reports of Par- liamentary proceedings, or skimming them, have probably received the impression that there is a strong party in the House of Com- mons which Is opposed 'to the Government. There is a good deal of bitter criticism in the form of speeches or questions which might lead the casual reader to suppose that a vast amount of dissatisfaction exiats. A careful examination of the reports day by day, will show, however, that speeches and questions cf thia character are nearly all put by the same members. They make a gocd deal of noise, but they are only a small grbup after all—a dozen or so—and not many of them were important Parliamen- tary ngures before the war. And they do mot count for very much now against the solid support of the Government by the House as a whole. The critics have their Supporters in the Press, and when certain trader-writers let themjacYves go against the ..Government with "the nation wants" this, <Eod "rhe naton demands" the other, they Wy frequently show ?hat they arc not in the least in touch with popular feeling, -which, while it realises that Ministers are ttuman and liable to err, is quite convinced %hat they &ro doing their best, and that it is probably a far better best than their critics would be able to do in their place. The Tesult of the Cleveland election is a better indication of the feeling of the nation than milea of "leaders" in this or that journal. The Chief Inspector of Schoola for the London County Council has been giving a texture based on essays on the Zeppelin -raids, written by children from eight to thirteen years of age. The essays are by far the most entertaining Zeppelin literature that 1ms yet appeared. Children of ten,, eleven, and twelve years gave the most graphic descriptions. I think I like this one best: "My mother rushed up into my room and carried me bodily down into the tutchen, where I was among friends. I said, I ,Why all this excitement.' They said, The Zeppelins have come,' and I said, Good gra-tioiif,! You don't say so.' But this one is nearly ns g-ood: "I was coming cut of a cinema with my uncle and I noticed people were rushing to and fro in the streets. I went up to a policeman and said to him, 'What do<M all this mean?' He re- plied gravely, 'The Zeppelins have came.' What!' I imid, Do you mean to tell me that those terrible monsters have come at last?' And he replied, briefly l They have. It is curious that very few of the essayists mentioned Father, but this refer- ence de&?rves to be recorded: "My father ,was frightened during the raid and he ran into a beer shop and got under the counter and stayed there until it was all over." There was a large attendance at Mr. Robert Newman's annual concert at Queen's Hall on Saturday afternoon. It was fitting that there should be, for the debt which TLtOndon mu&ic-lovers owe to Mi. Robert Newman, the manager of the Queen's Hall Orchestra, and to Sir Henry Wood, the con- ductor, M a. pretty big one. They have (played a great part during more than a score of years in the education of the musi- cal public. That others have followed in their footsteps only makes the greater the debt to the pioneers. The programme on Saturday was made up of familiar and favourite compositions, including Tchaikov- sky's "Pathetic" Symphony and Beethoven's Emperor" Concerto, finely played by Mr. BeBBo Moisehvitsch. I- :1 A.E.M. I

[No title]

! .WITHDRAWAL AFTER FIGHT…

DUKE'S BROTHER AND MONEYLENDERSI

WAR OFFICE NOTEPAPER. I

I GREAT LABOUR ALLIANCE.!

INVESTITURE DY THE KING. I

OLD PACKMAN S FORTUNE.I

I PLAYING WITH MATCHES.I

I BEQUEST TO SALVATION ARMY.1

[No title]

FINAL RUSH OF RECRUITS UNDER…

M.P:s MOTHER KILLED. I

LADY GASSED AT TIPTON. I

MTTING BY MACHINE.'. ,-I

ENGINEERS AND THE WAR.

ITHE PLACE FOR PERAMBULATORS.…

INOT A POLICEMAN. I

[No title]

[No title]

[No title]

SUEZ CANAL THREAT.I

GENERAL SMITH-DORRIEN.I

HIS BETTER -NATURE.I

DEATH OF A LONDON "HERMIT."

CAPTURED BY BRITISH.i

NEW BANK HOLIDAY.

[No title]

[No title]

OUR CHILDREN'S CORNER.

[No title]