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NOTES ON NEWS.I

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NOTES ON NEWS. I From a speech by Lord Robert Cecil it I would appear that an offer of a truce from CORPUS CKRISTI DAY. air raids on corpus Christi day was made to the Germans. They dis- regarded it, however" and the "truce" was all on our side. At the request of the Pope we refrained from dropping bombs on Cologne on that day because of a great religious procession composed* largely of women and children, while the enemy bombarded Paris with the long-range gun and hit a church, killing and maiming a number of worshippers, and also raided the French capital by aeroplanes which, for all we know, may have been liberated from Cologne. From the point of view of "getting on with the wr" the Germans seem to have scored, and they most likely regard the British action as a piece of sentimental weakness. All the same, whatever we may have lest in a military sense must have been, a yery small matter, and the incident has proved to the world that the deliberate killing of women and children is not part of ú I: r way of making war. The whole of the German record, as well as their refusal to respond to our gesture in this case, shows precisely the contrary, and though our unfortunate ex- perience on Corpus Christi day will pro- bably lead to any future request of tho kind being refused, we have nothing to re- proach ourselves with, and the world will certain ly not think the worse of us for what Ave did. Some months ago, when the position of the country with regard to food supplies HOME-GROWN FOOD. was such as to cause aijxiety arid disquietude, Mr. Prothero, the Minister for Agricul- ture, said that we were in the position of a beleaguered city. The figure was correct up to a point, though there was never any possibility that we should be cut off alto- gether from supplies from the outer world. Still, it did look as though we might have to submit to hardship and privation. Since then the position has vastly improved. Supplies have been coming in continuously and in much greater volume than we could have anticipated even in our most san- guine moments. The submarine menace is in a fair way to being defeated, and our shipbuilding, wo may now hope, is making progress. All Germany's efforts have failed, and will continue to fail, not merely to starve ns, but even to inflict upon us very serious privation. We. have every reason to congratulate ourselves on these things, but we may regard with par- ticular satisfaction the wonderfully im- proved position with regard to our home- grown supplies of food. The war has brought about a truly marvellous revival of agriculture. Before the war our pro- duction of breadstuffs only sufficed to feed the country for ten weeks: whereas this year, if all goes well, the harvest will pro- duce enough to last us for forty weeks. That is much more satisfactory than we could have d.-red to hope, and encourages the belief that within a measureableperiod Great Britain may be able to grow staple food-stuffs sufficient to feed all her people. There have been rumours that the new register of electors will not be ready by THE NEW RKGISXEII. -L the appointed day. There is, it appears, a good deal of apathy on the part of the public, who uo nou appear to ne so eager to secure their right to vote as it was thought they would be. The forms that were sent out by tht million months ago were returnable in seven days, but of those that were re- turned a large proportion were incorrectly filled up, and many have not been sent in at all. The adA-isability of a house to' house canvass in order to get the forms in was suggested but, so far as we know, not acted upon. It may yet have to be re- sorted to in order to secure a register any- thing like complete. It is said that in some cases difficulties are being caused by party agents who, finding it hard to get out of their old practices, are raising objections to the placing of political oppo- nents on the register just as they used to do before the war., In other days party agents were not above straining points here and there to put their own men on and their opponents' men out. But this cannot be tolerated now that the elec- torate is to be increased by eight to ten millions of men and women. All who have the right to vote should be able to get their names on the list without difficulty. The war has converted many who were formerly opposed to the raising of the THE EDUCATION BILL. standard of elementary education. Though it is not yet on the Statute I Book, and there may yet be further obstacles to I its arriving there, Mr. Filter's Education ii.s -ri, i vii-ig t l ic-. -c, Mr. E d ?icpt i c ri Bill has already surmounted some which have hitherto proved insurmountable. The House of Commons has agreed to the Ilbolition of the half-timers, and all chil- dren will in future (if the Bill is passed) have to remain at school for full-time teaching until the age of fourteen, with a possible extension to fifteen if the local authority so decides. Next in import- ance, and, according to some authorities, of even, greater importance, is the recogni- tion of the necessity of continuation schools, attendance at which Avill be com- Siulsory up to the ago of eighteen. To have agreed to the amendment that at- tendance, at those schools should be volun- tary would have been to leave the matter very much Avhere it is at present, as only a small proportion of pupils would have availed themselves of the opportunity, while the vast majority Avould have pro- ceeded to forget as fast as they could all they had learned at the elementary schools, as they h;ivo done hitherto. The continuation schools, efficiently adminis- tered, hold great possibilities, and should prove a highly remunerative national in- vestment. The introduction of ration books for ration cards will Ix; welcomed, as being THE RATION BOOKS. much more convenient, while the books will be also more durable and perhaps less easily lost or mislaid. There is the I drawback, however, that if the book is lost or accidentally thrown into the fire, then all is lost.. The ration book must be carefully guarded, for it will be of more value than many first editions. The change will be made on July 13. and it will be found that several additions have been made to the articles already rationed. The books will contain the cards for fresh meat and bacon, fats, and sugar. There will also be cards for lard, supplies of which are ;.i present irregular, owing to unequal distribution, and tea, the ration- ing of which will he preceded by registra- tion, now in progress. The rationing of butter and margarine will also then be general all over the country.

! MOTHER AND HOME. I-

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1THINGS THOUGHTFUL. I

VISCOUNTY FOR LORD RHONDDA:…

,OFFICER SHOT WHILE EATHING.…

SUNK SHIPS AT ZEEBRUGGE. I…

GAVE LIFE FOR CHILD. 1

ADVANCE IN PALESTINE.:

MESOPOTAMIA WITHDRAWAL

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BRITISH AIRMEN BOMB STATION…

IGYPSY MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.

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