Abergavenny Chronicle

EXTRA RATIONS FOR MOTHERS. I The Ministry of Food has arranged that expectant mothers may receive an extra ration for three months. This may be two meat coupons per week or one butter coupon, and additional milk where a priority scheme exists. Nursing mothers will obtain extra rations in .the form of a child's ordinary rations for the infant, and a priority certificate for extra milk. —————-

CAPTAIN LOSES FOUR SONS. I Captain W. C. T.,odcri Symonds, R.A.F., has been killed in a flying accident. Less than three months ago Captain Symonds escaped from Germany, and on April (j was I married. He was a son of Captain F. C. L. Symonds, of Faringdon, Berks, who has lost four eons in the war.

OUT OF CHEESE. I A woman at Acton Police-court referred to another woman in the following graphic phrase: "I would not lower myself to speak to her. In fact, I have seen better things than her crawl out of cheese I"

ACCIDENT TO AN M.P. t Mr. Basil Peto, M.P., met with an acci. dent in Devonshire. He fell a consider- able distance and fractured one of the small bones of the foot.

Two women police are to be employed by Ilendon District Council to patrol the streets and the public park. Fifty-five gold coins of the reigns of Charles I. and II. were found by a County Carlow farmer1 in an old copper kettle buried in a ditch. • That a greengrocer had purchased £ 23 worth of asparagus for sale, was accepted as evidence of means at Kingston County- court.

j I TUNNEL TWELVE MILES LONG. There are three famous tunnels which make it possible for the traveller to reach Switzerland through France and Italy—the Mont Cenis, the St. Gothard, and the Simplon. The first of these was begun in 1357, and took three years to complete. It is eight miles in length, and it cost over £200 a yard to construct. This was thought to- be a veritable triumph of engineering, but the difficulties encountered in the build- ing of the St. Gothard were far greater. The tunnel was a mile and a quarter longer than tho Mont Cenis, and, of course, cost mere in proportion. With regard to the tvimplon Tunnel, which is the longest in the World, it was completed in 1906. Fortu- nately, in its construction the death-rate was very low, as the authorities had learned to counteract the effects of the enormous air-pressure. The tunnel took over eight years to build, and is twelve and a quarter miles long. Electric locomotives haul the trains through it.

THE MOST REMARKABLE MONASTERY. I At Solovetsk, in the Russian Government of. Archangel, is the most remarkable monastery in the world. It is enclosed on every side by a. wall of granite bonders which measures nearly a mile in circumfer- ence. It is very strongly fortified, being supported by round and square towers about thirty feet in height, with walls twenty feet in thickness. The monastery consists in reality of six churches, which Are completely juried with statues and precious stones. Upon the walls and towers -surrounding these churches are mounted huge guns, which in the time of the Crimean War were directed against the British White Sea Squadron. The monks who inhabited the monastery at that time marched in proces- sion on the granite walls while the shells were flying -over their heads, to prove, sayli the "Pictorial Magazine," how little they lio,.y little t,'ie y feared the attack of the British fleet. Tea thousand pilgrims come annually to Solo- vetsk from all parts of Russia to view the churches and- relics. They are conveyed in steamers manned and commanded solely by monks.

j CONVERSION BY "NAPOO." The Archdeacon of Westminster, speaking at a London Mansion House meeting in support of the Religious Tract Society, re- late! a story of a soldier on the Western FTt who told a chaplain that he wanted to get married to a PIr)ench girl whose Ian. guage he could not &peak. The chaplain observed that the girl must be a Roman Catholic. Well, sir, she was," replied the man, "but, you see, I explained all that to her (Laughter.) "But if you don't know French, Iiow could you do that?" asked the padre. "Oh," replied the soldier. I took her into some of the churches, and, showing her the statues, I said: 'Napoo,' Pas bdii And now she's a Protestant." (Laughter.)

I REPRIEVE FOR MURDERER. I David Greenwood, a discharged soldier, who was sentenced to death for the murder of Miss Nellie Trew, at Eltham Common, has been reprieved. The sentence has been. commuted to penal servitude for lif. Strong representations were made to the Home Secretary that Greenwood, who is suffering from neurasthcia and shell-shock, was not responsible for his actions at the time the crime was committed. He bore an excellent character while in the Army.

SIXTY-NINE IRISH DEPORTEES. I Mr. King asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, in the House of Commons, if he would state how many persons had been ar- rested in Ireland during May and brought to Great Britain. Mr. Shortt: Sixty-nine persons have re- cently been arrested in Ireland and deported for internment in Great Britain. The con- ditions of their detention are at present being considered.

CHEESE DISTRIBUTION. I A further Order for the control of cheese has come into force. All makers of more than 561b. of cheeeo per week (not being Caerphilly, Wensleydale, Stilton, or soft cheese, or cheeses not exceeding 21b. in weight) are required to place all cheese made made by them at the disposal of the Food Controller, who will from time to time prescribe to whom, and in what quantities, the cheese shall be delivered.

DOCTOR 44 STRUCK OFF." I The General Medical Council has erased from their register the name of Dr. George Harry Bishop, of Leman-street, White- ciiapel, who was sentenced at the Old Bailey to twelve months for conspiring to defeat the provisions of the Military Service Act by participating in the supply of tablets containing thyroid extract to a' man about tj undergo medical examination.

TRAVEL VOUCHER FOR SEAMEN. I The Board of Trade have authorised superintendents of mercantile marine officea at the principal ports to issue vouchers for railway fares at pre-way rates to home- trade officers and men who, after serving two months or more on the same engage- ment, are discharged otherwise than before the superintendent. -0

E200,000 CARGO AS PRIZE. I A shipload of coffee and cocoa, worth nearly = £ 200,000, has been condemned as prize by Sir Samuel Evans in the Prizo j Court. Sir Samuel Evans said he was well satisfied that the goods were on their way Ij through Sweden to Hamburg. } I

FARM HANDS CALLED UP. I The Minister of National Service has made new Orders with-drawing the exemptions of men under 31 in medical Grade 1 engaged in agriculture and aJiied occupations, as from June 11. I

MUNITIONS EXPLOSION. I It is announced officially tha.t an explosion occurred in a munition factory iu the north of England. The material damage was small, but three workers were killed and two injured. —————

THUNDER AND LIGHTNING. I Thunder is the noise made by the concus- sion of the air closing after being parted by a lightning flash. The safest place in a thunderstorm is 25ft. from some tall tree or building, if running water is not near. When lightning fuses metal it is because the latter is too small to give a proper path for jthe electric current. "Rolling thunder" is the echoes of the peal reverberating among cloud masses or terrestrial objects. When thunder comes as one vast crash it is near the earth, and the sound reaches our ears at the same moment. A person is actually killed by lightning only when the current passes through his body on its way to the earth.

i Hertfordshire Appeal Tribunal withdrew ¡ certificates granted by the local Tribunal at St. Albans public librarian, Mr. Green, thirty, Grade 2, and to the superintendent ( of parks, Mr. Simmonds, thirty-nine, Grade 1, and ordered both to report on July 10. At London Sessions, John Snell, butcher, I South Lambeth, was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment for receiving 35cwt. tf stolen bacon, value £ 2S1. Following on the action of about sixty; clergymen in the Bishop of London's dio- j who have expressed their intention of joining iip, about fifty clergymen in the Bishop of Southwark's diocese have now ex- pressed a similar desire. Sir Henry Gibson, K.C.B., Comptroller and Auditor-General, unveiled a memorial in the Exchequer and Audit Department, Vic- ¡ toria Embankment. London, S.W., to mem- I bers of his staff who have fallen in the war. j Mr. J. M. Robertson, M.P., speaking at. i Asaington, said tua? a General Eieetic'? was ji not Llr off. a G,,uet-al Electicl-was The death is announced of Mr. Thomas I Aitkin, of Cupar, Fif, pioneer of the use of i tar ill road-making.

I EPITOME OF NEWS. I Captain A. Jacka, V.C., M.C., of the Aus- tralians, is reported wounded. j A jilted girl wrote to Shoreditch Tribunal j pointing out that her late lover was a > slacker. j Mr. Hedderwick, the metropolitan polica j magistrate, haa left ^1,126. Dockyard workers at Sebastopol have re- fused to repair the Goeben. 1,177 newspapers have increased their price during the war; of these 140 are daily pa-pem. London's last horse-drawn fire engine haa been taken out < of commission. The death from wounds is announced of Mr. Charles Mott, the baritone vocalist. Mr. Mott, who was in the Artists' Rifles, went to France a few weeks ago. Only two scholars attend the Council School at Fell End, Westmoreland. Local authorities are asked by the Minis- ter of Pensions to find employment for dis- abled officers and men in municipal services. Denis Downing, aged eight, fell into a pond at Middlesbrough and was drowned. His brother who tried to rescue him also lost his life. Mr. Roy Preston, son of a Government expert ship valuer, was killed' by accident- ally falling in front of a train at Monument Station. The use of Esperanto as a common com- mercial language was advocated at the Lon- don Chamber of Commerce by Mr. A. B. Kent. Lieut.-General Sir F. C. Shaw, K.C.B., General Officer Commanding the Forces in Ireland, has been appointed a member of the Privy Council in Ireland. Lord. Lincolnshire, who is eeventy-five, in appealing for Bucks Volunteers for home defence, says, "I have offered to serve iu any post the Government may be pleased to assign to me." A toy designer, an organist, and an iron- monger's assistant have taken the places of skilled metal turners on work for aircraft guns and armaments at a Bournemouth motor works. Marking of the price and strength of spirits on bottles and other receptacles from which they may be sold, which was made compulsory by the Spirits Order, is post. poned until July 1. John Mann, a collier, who, although over seventy, continued to do his bit, has been killed in the pit at Wigan. To save power and coal the North London Railway's electric trains will take longer on their journeys. Mary Elizabeth Forth, aged nineteen, of Moulton Chapel, near Spalding, died in her younger brother's arms after having been accidentally shot by a gun which he was carrying. Margaret Rooney, thirty-two, a soldier's wife, who was said to have used her baby as a club with which to strike a neighbour, was sentenced at Carmarthenshire Asaixes to eight months' imprisonment for cruelty. At an inquest at Grays, Essex, on Martha Pyle, wife of a dotk labourer, the jury on the medical evidence found that death was due to encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), and not to botulism. Lord Knutsford's Million Half-crown Fund for the London Hospital has reached a total of 187,980. Lord Beavcrbrook, the Minister of Infor- mation, has appointed Mr. Raymond W. Needham and Major A. P. Holt to be his private secretaries. For shooting at police officers in a street, at Hackney, William Jude was sentenced at the Old Bailey to three years' penal Eervi- tude, and Frederick Clay don and John Langston, youths of seventeen, were sent to Borstal for the same period. Temporary Brigadier-Generals T. T. Put- man, C.B.; H. W. Higginson, D.S.O.; and II. J. Ellis, C.B., D.S.O., are gazetted tem- porary major-generals. The death is reported of Count Hermann yon Schwerin-Woifshagen, who has been commandant of the prison camp of Ruhle- ben since- October, 1914. Damage estimated at £ 30,000 was caused by a fire at the confectionery factory of Messrs. Clarke, Nickolls, and Coombs. Hackney Wick. Mrs. Lawrence Anderson, while digging in her garden at Onowa, Louisiana, dis- covered her gold wedding-ring which she had lost seventeen years previously. The, Boy Scouts of America have been asked by President Wilson to scour the country for black walnut trees, for gun stocks and the propellers of aeroplanes. A monkfish, a rare visitant t-o British waters, has been caught in Barmouth Bay. It weighed over 561bs., and its exhibition obtained several pounds for the Red Cross Society. A stone rolled down the mountain side at Abertillery by some boys struck a child named John English on the head. He died on a Newport (Mon.) hospital from a frac- tured skull. A large piece of Zeebrugge Mole, which fell on the Vindictive during the famous raid, is among the naval relics now at tho Imperial War Museum. An anonymous donor has offered kl.0,000 to the University of Wales to establish a musical directorship on the lines indicated by the report of the Royal Commission on Education in Wales. Brighton justices held that the payment for twopenny chairs at the municipal orchestra concerts is liable to the entertain- ment tax, and fined the Brighton West Pier Company 110. Fulham Palace, the Bishop of London's residence, has been formally taken over as a hospital, and will be run by the Free- masons. The Duke of Connaught, as Grand Master, declared the hospital open. "It sounds more like a carpenter's job," said a solicitor at West London, describing an operation on a boy, aged six, whose baclly broken leg has been cut open by a surgeon and a steel plate fixed to the bone with eight screws. Mr. Macpherson states in Parliamentary papers that the number of German com. batant prisoners of war held by us is 129,213. The number of British combatant prisoners of war held by Germany is ap" proximately 124,000. An A.S.C. motor, in an effort to avoid a collision, dashed into a group of children on Hawley (Hants) village green. One child was killed, another is not expected to live and a third is in Reading Hospital with a fractured thigh. Said to have uttered twelve cheques within a week, Douglas Oswald Tweedie, aged twenty-three, staying at the Regent Palace Hotel, an ex-officer whose parents have re- funded the money, was bound over at the "Old Bailey on a charge of uttering three forged cheques. In appreciation of his long services as chairman of the City of London Appeal Tri- bunal, Mr. J. F. Pakeman was presented by his colleagues with a silver punch bowl. Notts War Agricultural Committee state that the rushing of people across cultivated land to follow aeroplanes results in great damage to crops. There were 11,250 Italians, 1,200 Greeks, 000 Japanese, 6,000 American and 750 Portuguese between eighteen and fortv-one in this country, said Mr. Beck in Parlia- ment.

I FAT RESPONSIBLE FOR SHOCK. I A new theory of the shock, or lowered vitality, attending many surgical operations is that it is due to clogging of the smaller blood vessels with fat globules. Investigat- ing in the front-line trenches, a doctor found that shock is most common in patients with a fracture of the thigh-bone and those with multiple wounds through fatty tissue, and laboratory studies showed the probable cause. Producing laboured breathing by adding carbon dioxide to the air inhaled overcame the impediment in most cases, starting the blood back to the heart, with recovery from the shock.

MEXICAN CLOTHES. I Mexico may be termed one of the semi- civilised parts of North America if the wear- iago of clothes may be taken as a modern standard of civilisation. It is not more than thirty years since an Act was passed which forbade any of the male population to ap- pear in any of the cities or town? without trousers, bn'ches, or other appropriately- made nether covering. In the remote dis- tricts the native delighted in very primitive attire, but during the last generation Ameri- can and European speculators have opened up the country, and new ideas on garment- wearing have penetrated to rentote settle- ments. «•

COMMON-SENSE SUPERSTITIONS. I f Many superstitions have a common-sense origin. For instance, it is unlucky to bring into a house hawthorn, blackthorn, or may in bloom-they are said to smell of death the origin of the superstition being that I the strong smell of the flowers in a room is apt to causo a headache. There is seme also in the superstition against removin g lichen growing oil. an old thatched roof, lest the root should leak and in our treacherous climate it is quite sound never to cast a clout till May be out. There is a certain amount of explanation for the belief that to give anyone a present of a kniie or a pair of scissors is to cut love; that it is unlucky to spill salt, or carelessly to say "come in" when nobody, has knocked at the door.

A silver and enamel brooch recently found inside a codfish purchased at Eyemouth, Berwickshire, has been identified by an Edinburgh lady as one that her little girl lost while on holiday at Elie, Fife. "I always choose stairs in preference to lifts, because I hear 01 so many lift acci- dents," remarked Dr. Waldo, coroner for the City of London, at an inquest on a clerk who died from injuries received by falling on a stone staircase. A famous Trish trial is recalled by the death of Robert Kelly in a Dublin work- house. During the Fenian agitation he was sentenced to twenty years' penal servi- tude.

INCREASED POSTAGE NOW IN OPERATION. The new postal rates are now in opera- tion. Every letter or parcel now despatched must be stamped accordingly. The altera- tions from the old scale are set out as follows in a notice issued by the Post- I maister-Geueral:- I INLAND LETTER RATE. I Not exceeding 4oz. in weight -1-id. For every additional 2oz. or frac- tion of 2oz. id. INLAND POSTCARDS. For every postcard Id. Reply postcard Zd. INLAND BOOK RATE. Not exceeding loz. id. Exceeding -loz., but not exceeding -oz Id. Above 2oz. the old book rate and the new printed paper rate will be identical, and will be merged in the letter rate. INLAND PARCEL RATE. Not exceeding 31b. in weight 6d. Exceeding 31b., but not exceeding 71b. 9d. Exceeding 71b., but not exceeding Illb Is. I FOREIGN AND COLONIAL JRATES. I The letter rate to all destinations to which the rate has hitherto been Id. an ox. ("British Possessions generally and the United States of America) will be l-Jd. for the first oz. and Id. for each succeeding oz. I SAILORS, SOLDIERS. AND THE AIR I I FORCE. [ TJ;, following special rates have been I i granted: Letters addressed to H.M. ships in I I Home waters. I Not exceeding loz. Id. Exeeeding loe., but not exceeding 4oz. l?d. (thereafter the new Inland letter rate). Letters addressed to H.M. ships in foreign waters and H.M. Forces abroad. Not exceeding loz. Id. (thereafter at the rate of Id. per ounce). The rates for letters addressed to women serving with the Forces abroad will be the same as those for men. The rates on post- cards, printed papers, etc., and parcels to H.M. Foroes overseas remain unaltered.

I SAUSAGES WITHOUT COUPONS. I I The Ministry of Food announces that, aa supplies of suitable meat are available, cooked beef sausages may be sold without ■ the detachment of meat coupons by regis- .tered catering establishments supplying [ such sausages as part of a meal. Tile,I method of obtaining supplies of beef for the manufacture of these sauisages can be ascer- tained from any Food Control Committee or area meat agent. This concession comes into force at once.

I BRAVE MERCHANT SEAMEN. I I Lord Jellicoe, at the meeting of the Bri- tish and Foreign Sailors' Society at tho Albert Hall, London, gave splendid testi- mony to the bravery and endurance of mer- chant seamen. The nation was indebted to them for its food and for transporting armies and munitions. They did their work silently and without advertisement, and oc- cupied a position of the most critical im- portance.

AN INSPECTOR'S PHOTOGRAPHS. I At Aldershot, Edward Hood, inspector of aeroplane machines at the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, was charged with being in possession of pliotograpftf of mili- i tary works and of aircraft experiments. It was not alleged that he meant to make illegal use of them. Fined X20, or three months

HIS LIFE FOR HORSE. I Charles Halls, a horseman at Stowmarket Station, was killed whih trying to save his horse. The animal was startled by an ap- I proaching train, and while Hadls was en- deavouring to quieten it and get it out of danger, both he and the horse were knocked down and killed.

AN OLD MAN'S THEFTS. I Harry Smith, aged seventy-three, whe was sentenced at London Sessions for steal- ing two fur coats value t60 belonging to a Woolwich draper, made the excuse that he thought the war would soon finish, and wanted a "bit to get on with." This wae his fourth sentence of three years for theft.

I DEARER COAL. The Controller of Coal Mines has made the fallowing alterations in the maximum prices of coal in the metropolitan distribu- tion area:— (1) The prices of coal per ton shown in Article 2 of the rules of January 21, 1918, shall be increased by 1, (3d.; (2) the reduc- tion in the maximum price of coal supplied for resale to licensed coal retailers, or regis- tered coal dealers, shall be increased to 5s. instead of 4s. 6d., as shown; (3) the trolley prices of coal per cwt. shall be increased by Id. These increases operate from June 1.

GERMANY'S INSINCERITY. The Bishop of Hereford, preaching at Westminster Abbey on Sunday, said that "because Germany had violated the im- plicit understanding of a treaty, peace be- tween the nations had become impossible. I "Until her truth and sincerity can once again be relied upon who could dare to j sheathe the sword?"

A CURIOUS CHURCH VANE. i One of the most curious varies to be seen on any church in Great Britain is that at Great Gonerby, a parish adjoining Grant- ham. It is in the form of a fiddle and a bow, and is unusually large. Its history is a curious one. Many years ago a peasant resided in Great Gonerby who eked out a modest livelihood by performing on an old violin, which was almost a part of his life. At last he decid-d to emigrate, and out in the Far West prospered and became a rich man. One day he sent to the clergyman at Great Gonerby a sum sufficient to build a church, and attached to the gift a curioua condition tha-t a metal replica of his old fiddle and bow should be on the summit of the edifice. The gif*, was accepted, and the vane may still be seen on the church.

SHARK'S SKIM IS USEfUL I The skin of the male Ríwrk is extraor- dinarily rough, and its texture is something like sandpaper. It is used for cleaning the hulls of ships and for engineering purpow:s in place of emery wheels. Male snank skins are also used for nail files and other mani- curing implements. There are also many uses for the skin of the female shark, T.liich is much smoother than that of the male. At the beginning of the war there was a great demand for these ekins, as they were used extensively for sword handles, and at one time they were practically unobtaina ble. They are also employed in the manufacture of marqueterie—inlaid work for jewel boxes, expensive furniture, and so on. -.The skins, which are brought in by the Alaskan fisher- men, are first dried, and, having undergone further processes arc dyed until the most beautiful colour effcds are produced. Only the skine of the baby sharks are n:o.<>d. The skin of the fish known as the Japanese lay is used for the same purposes.

————— -0 ————— THE SCALE OF COURTESY. I Talleyrand, the celebrated diplomatist, when carving at dinner parties, graduated his manners to the rank of his guests in this way To a Prince of the Royal blood: "May I have the honour of offering your Royal Highness a little beef?" To a duke: "Monseignor, permit me to offer you some beef?" To a marquis: "Marquia, may I c-ut you a little To a viscount: "Vi. scount, have some beef?" To a baron: "Baron, some beef?" To an untitled gentle- man: "Some beef?'' To his secretary: "Beef? When there was a person prest-nt even in- ferior to his secretary, to him Talleyrand did not say so much as a word; he simply looked at the man and pointed to the beef interrogatively with the carving-knife.

I THE STRENGTH OF PLANTS. I Strength is not a thing usually connected with maidenhair fern; yet if its I roots have not sufficient room they will break the pot in which the plant grows. Blades of grass will force out of their place the kerbstones between which they may spring up, and in a single night a crop of small mushrooms have lifted a large stone. Indeed, plants have been known to break the hardest rocks. The island of Aldabra, to the north-west of Madagascar, is becoming smaller and smaller through the action of the mangrovel1 that grow along the foot of the cliffs. They eat their way into the rock in all directions, and into the gaps thus formed the waves- force their way. In time they will probably re. duce the island to pieces.

Four sisters of a Cornish family named J ulytm, of Tregoney, near Truro, each with two children, have been left war widows. Mrs. West, wife of a Binfield (Berks) far. mer, who sold jam made from old jam, jelly, golden syrup, and apple, was fined C5 at Wokingham for having sold jam unfit for human food.

I TRANSPORT SUNK. I Admiralty. H.M transport Leasowe Caatle (Captain E. J. Holl) was torpedoed and sunk by an enemy rnoma-rine on May 26th in the Mediterranean. II The following are missing and presumed I drowned: I Military officers, 13. I Other ranks, 79. I Ship s company Captain and two wireless operators, 3; other ratings, 6. The names of the military casualties are not yet known, but the next-of-kin will be informed as soon as the lists are received, after which publication will take place.