Abergavenny Chronicle

"A sort of idea seems to have got about among taxi-drivers that they can refuse fares when they like; that is wrong," said the West London magistrate, when he fined Henry Nicholson 40s. for refusing to drive a fare. Women street-cleaners have been doing their work most satisfactorily, states West- minster Council, and it is proposed to em- ploy more for the purpose.

WEST AFRICAN CUSTOMS. I The West Africans are a wonderful and interesting people. The chiefs have some strange customs, and many of these quaint ideas originated many hundreds of years ago. For instance, most of the hereditary chiefs and indunas wear the polished bl.-xi; ring upon their heads, made of a kind of gum, and woven into the hair which the African assumes when reaching a certain age. Leopards' claws and baboons' teeth also figure as bodily ornaments, and are hung round the neck, round the waist, and sometimes on the wrist and arms. If a very high chief indeed is in full array, he appears, of course, in the black ring, leopard skin loin-cloth—perhaps a cloak of lions' skin—and a shield and spear. Then round his neck he will wear what is called an iziqu, a little ornament made of tiny blocks of willow .wood, cut in an angular form. This can only be worn by a mighty man of valour who has killed enemies in battle. This iziqu is an award of valour, being a sort of Victoria Cross. The iziqu is sometimes intersected by small pieces of white stick; the number of pieces of stick indicate the number of men killed in one battle. One chief was known to have seven such sticks.

Parents of an eighteen-year-old East DuJ- wich youth, who was called to the colours on the morning of his birthday, April 18, and who joined 'the Life Guards the same day, received a visit from the police to arrest their son .as a defaulter under the Military SerTice Act. I

I IN LIGHTER VEIN 1ft I THOMAS JAY. ILLUSTRATED BY J. H. LUNN. I In the almanacular, Spring has arrived. I cannot prove that it has arrived, but state definitely that it has been dumped on our doorstep, so that you must take the fact of its existence on appro., as it were, from the writer, and his literary ancestors, Keats, Shelley, Walt Whitman (the man with the little oil-bath and three-speed gear), Words- worth, and Callisthenes. Spring is in the air. The Prodigal Sun has returned. The swallow is on the swig, the lark is on the links, the crocus is croaking, the tax-col- lector is on the wing, and potatoes are as rare as freckles on a black spaniel dog. It is necessary this year that the most strict economy should be exercised in the matter of spring cleaning. (Collapse of male married readers!) The idea of. spring DRIVEN FROM HOME. cleaning is to remove the dust from the side- board and deposit it on the marble statuette of Wil. liam Shakespeare or the oleograph of the Severn Tunnel. In order to do this the housewife needs a few weeks off, some beeswax, and a bucket. With these few things it is really remarkable what confusion and disorder, smelling of riot and revolution, a woman can con- tri ve to get into the few rooms of your ancestral halls. It is this sort of thing which accounts for so many men leaving their homes and never being heard of after- wards. The first thing to be done is to unscrew the Old Masters from their hinges on the walls. To clean the gilt frames the best thing to use is whisky. This should be re- placed in the bottle afterwards and con- served for the use of the husband's friends. To remove moth from the cheese, rugs, etc., a good butterfly-net can be used, but if they are still obstinate a good plan is to fill the mouth with good prussic acid and breathe defiance at the little beastis. But be sure thr.t you only use the best prussic acid, as the cheaper qualities when swallowed often cause indigestion, from which the victim rarely recovers until it is time to speak nicely to the man who calls for the instal- ments and to cash in on the insurance. The moth is a most dangerous affair, and some people are at a loss to know how to kill them. A quite good plan is to bait a mousetrap with a large mouse, or a piece of obsolete cheese. When the moth is safe in- side the trap, remove it to the kitchen on a shovel, where the third cervicle should be isevered with a hatchet. Tea-leaves used for brushing the floors should not be thrown away. They should be hung out to dry, and then stored in a dry room. They can be used to make poultices or tea for the wife's mother when she calls, or in these days of expensive fruits may be used in the place of currants for the artistic decoration of pud- dings. In the interest of husbands I here and now declare that it is the duty of our statesmen to see that, when the Peace Treaty is signed over a penny stamp, there is a clause included which makes spring cleaning illegal. There can never be any peace on earth while spring cleaning is per- mitted. ( I am not a bit surprised to learn that at the Royal Drawing Society's exhibition they have a drawing which has been done by a child who is barely three years of age. At other exhibitions I have seen many pictures which appear to have been painted by even more youthful a r t i sts. I went to an exhi- bition only the other day, but I didn't get a real chance to shine properly. I took my best side step with me, but there was such a crowd I wasn't able to use it. It's quite a good side step too, as used by all art critics. You just walk boldly up to BEGINNING EARLY. I the painting, as if you were going to be introduced, and then suddenly step back- wards, go down on your knees and remark, "Gee! Hasn't he just got that middle dis- tance nicely?" You must impress people. Given a clear floor space and a pair of white spats I can do that stunt nicely. But what really gets my goat is the way some of those artists slap the colour on. Personally, I simply hate those shaggy-coated pictures. Besides, in these days of economy it isn't wise to spend so much paint on one picture. I saw one of those fur-coated pictures the other day representing a Dreadnought in action. It must have been an awful fight, aud I was feeling really sorry for Admiral Jellicoe. The nearest I have yet been to such a picture was one night after I ate Welsh rarebit for supper. But the artist had slapped so much paint on that Dread- nought that if he had only been a bit more sparing he would have had enough colour left to make another Dreadnought and at least a couple of battle cruisers—that is, if it had been spread out. Then, again, he might have made the sea a bit more calm, instead of piling up great roaring billows of best blue lake—with colours at their present price. I don't care for rugged pictures that look as if they had been painted with a trowel. I have a cousin who could knit better pic- tures. For my own part I like those street pavement artists. I like their beautiful studies of a brace of red herrings, two water melons, and a beer bottle. There are two kinds of artists, the professional and the amateur. The former does it for a living, the other does it on purpose. All that is necessary for an artist is a few reams of canvas, a palette, a day off, a pathetic look, and a sloppy tie. And then he can keep on painting until he wears a hole in the canvas.

FIGHTING MEN'S CRESTS. I Coats of arms have almost invariably a naval or military significance. And in this connection a brief reference to the arms of our great fighting men is interesting. Sir Douglas Haig shows upon his shield stars and crescents, which are reminiscent of the Border frays; and Sir John Jellicoe's crest is a cherub—possibly allusive to that little angelic being who "sits up aloft"; or not improbably pointing to the original form of the family name, as it is still to be found in Canada -Joli-Cceur. Lord Fisher of Kil- verstone surmounts his escutcheon by a naval design, and with a scroll bearing the words, "Fear God apd dread naught and Sir David Beatty's crest is a lion-the name, curiously, of his eld flagship. Viscount French points to his name origm by bearing tho dolphin, the emblem of the old French Dauphins, with a Latin motto, translated, "Death rather than dishonour." General Joffre bears the Cross of Santander, with the fleur-de-lys of Old France upon his blue escutcheon. I

NO MORE RACING. I The Stewards of the Jockey Club, having received an intimiation that the War Cabi- net considers it undesirable that further racing should take place after the conclusion of the first spring meeting, have cancelled all 1917 fixtures after that date.

Two Germans who escaped from the pri- soners' war camp at Corby, near Kettering, were captured at night by the police in a wood about two miles from the camp. Dur- ing the search some special constables arrested a man in khaki, a conscientious objector who had escaped from Glen Parva Barracks, Wigston, and was making his way home to Kettering through the fields.

NO WATER TORTURE AT DARTMOOR. No instrument equivalent to the Chinese water torture existed in any English prison, Mr. Brace states in the Parliamentary De- bates, in reply to a question in which Mr. Jowett had asked if such an instrument was used on malingerers or pretended lunatics. Probably, the Under-Secretary for Home Affairs proceeds, the hon.member had heard of the old shower-bath in Dartmoor Prison, which seemed to have attracted the atten- tion of the conscientious objectors lodged there. It had been disused for many years. Replying to other questions by Mr. Jowett, the Under-Secretary states that the strait-jacket was never used as a punish- ment, but onlv on the recommendation of the medical officer. It never had been, or would be, used for the purpose of torturing prisoners. The "irons" used at Dartmoor were light leg-chains, worn by prisoners guilty of violence or attempted escape, and the so- called "button suits" were trousers supplied to those who had to wear the chains. They caused no pain, and there had never been any complaint about them. The body-belt was used on rare occasions for dangerous convicts who threatened violence. There were certain obsolete chains of merely antiquarian interest in the chain- room at Dartmoor, and the conscientious ob- jectors might have seen these. Chains were never used by way of punishment.

POSTPONED CALL-UP. The Press Bureau announces that in con- sequence of certain unavoidable delays which have arisen in setting up the ma- chinery for the protection of men engaged in vital industries who come under the new Schedule of Protected Occupations, the Government have decided to postpone for one week, with the exception set out below, the recruitment of men who have been called to the Colours and are under orders to report during the week beginning April 30. The schedule will therefore come into operation on May 7 and not on May 1, and men called up for military service on April 30 will therefore be required to present themselves at the place specified in the notice on May 7; men called up for May 1 on May 8, and so forth. Instructions to this effect are being issued to all recruiting offices for communication to men affected. The exception referred to above is that the postponement does not apply to men who have held an exemption granted by a Tribunal. These men will be required to report at the place and on. the date stated in their calling up notices. Notwithstanding this announcement any man who so desires may report in the ordinary course at the Recruiting Office. Until May 7 the existing methods of protection will continue in operation.

THE CALLING-UP OF DOCTORS. The War Office announces: In future the contracts of medical men appointed to tem- porary commissions in the R.A.M.C., and also renewals of contracts of officers of mili- tary age, will be until the termination of the present emergency or until their ser- vices are no longer required, whichever shall happen first. Medical men, at the time of their physical examination considered unfit for general ser- vice or garrison duty abroad, but fit for ser- vice at home, may be granted temporary- commi.seions in the R.A.M.C. They will be engaged on the usual contract for general service, but will be posted to and retained at home stations for so long as they are un- fit for service abroad. The engagement will be until termination of the emergency or until their services are no longer required, whichever shall first hap- pen, and they will receive the same rates of pay and gratuity as officers now serving un- der contract.

Never throw away potato parings or orange and lemon peel. Dry them, and they will help a fire to draw up very quickly. When peeling potatoes or apples, plunge them into cold water immediately to prevent them from turning brown. To impart a delicate odour to linen, saturate a piece of cotton or blotting-paper with oil of lavender, and place it among the various articles. To make cabbage digestible, when half- boiled pour off the water and place in fresh boiling water. One teaspoonful of vinegar is a substitute for an egg, and makes a cake light in which dripping has been used instead of butter. To remove rain-spots from light material, hold over a jug or basin of steaming hot water and rub gently with a piece of white crepe or of the same material. Instead of using soda for washing clothes, add one teaspoonful of turpentine. This not only saves soda but firing, as the clothes take less time to boil. It also makes the linen white. Apples that are to be baked should be pricked with a fork before being placed in the oven, and you will find they will not break while cooking. To freshen a shabby carpet, damp the carpet, a small portion at a time, with a cloth wrung out in strongly-salted water. Then rub dry with a clean duster. A little soot rubbed on to a greasy stove after frying potatoes or fish will mako shorter work afterwards of the business of polishing, and will economise the blacklead. A little chopped meat' of any kind seasoned to taste, spread on squares of thin rolled-out pastry, and fried in hot fat until a nice golden brown, makes a very tasty little snack. To KEEP CHEESE MOIST. If a cloth is wetted in vinegar and wrung out as dry as possible and wrapped round cheese, and then the whole put into a large paper bag and kept in a cool place, the cheese will remain as moist and fresh as if newly cut, and will not mould. To BRIGHTEN A STOVE. If a small piece of soda is dissolved in a little vinegar, and it is then mixed with the blacklead, it will give a particularly bright appearance to the stove or grate, especially if you polish it with a pad of old velvet. I A WARDROBE HINT. To economise space in a wardrobe proceed as follows. Procure two small brass hooks and screw them to the roof of the wardrobe inside, one at each end, and by means of these fix a thin wooden rod from end to end of the wardrobe, parallel with the door. On the rod run half-a-dozen thin brates cur- tain ringsh about an inch in diameter, and from each ring suspend a wooden coat- hanger. By this means a number of roats and skirts or frocks can be hung close to- gether without crushing, and each can easily be removed without disturbing the rest. I SILVER CLEANING HINTS. Discoloured spots on silver may often be removed by the application of fine salt. An excellent silver polish is obtained by mixing together powdered chalk and water to a thick paste, and adding a teaspoonful of ammonia. This latter is quite harmless, and creates a bright polish on silver ware. I CLEANING SILVER. For cleaning silver take equal parts of am- monia and alcohol and enough whiting to make quite thick; apply with a cloth or soft brush if the article is at all rough; set aside to dry, and by the time you have finished your other articles this will be ready to polish, which is done with a piece of dry flannel, leaving the article as shining as new. LAUNDRY HINTS. If a clothes line is boiled before it is used it will not stretch. When washing white stockings, whether of silk or thread, add a few drops of oxalic acid to the water; this acid has the effect of removing the stains caused by the boots and shoes. Fruit stains on linen should be smeared with glycerine and left for about an hour, then washed in warm soapy water: the process may need re- peating. THE AMATEUR PAPERHANGERS. If your walls are not very straight avoid striped papers, as they are more difficult to match and get straight. Before putting on the first piece, tie a. strong thread to a small reel or cycle nut, and hang it from the top of the wall. Mark the top of the thread and the bottom on the wall, and put the top a.nd bottom of the paper straight with these marks. The rest will be easy. Brash straight up the centre of the paper and from centre to sides. If any creases occur, slit along them with the point of the scissors and lap lover the edges. Do the same with crooked corners. SOME USEFUL RECIPES. To USE UP COLD Fisyr.-If yon have any dried haddock left over from breakfast, pick the nth off the bones, and put this with a teaspoon fill of margarine and a pinch of pepper and salt into the frying. Break in an egg. leave it for a moment, and turn the whole over together like an omelette. Place this on a hot-plate, and cat with bread and butter. This will be found to be a very savoury dish, and is an excellent way of using up the fish. MACARONI CHEESE AND LBNTILS.—Tngre» dients Quarter of a pound of lentils, quar- ter of a pound of macaroni broken into inch lengths, four ounces grated cheese, a little chopped parsley, one or two boiled oniont-, pepper and, salt. Boil the lentils and macaroni separately. When tender, mix and add the cheese, onions, parsley, etc. Put in a saucepan and simmer for ten minutes. Serve very hot. DATE CAKE.—Take the weight of two eggs in butter, sugar, and flour, and 2oz. dates. Cream the butter amd sugar and add the eggs and then the flour. Plaoe the mixture in a flat tin and stone about a dozen dates, inserting an almond instead of the stone. Place these in rows in the mixture and bake for ten to fifteen minutes. When cold, ice the top and cut into finger shapes. SAVOURY PUDDING.—Make a batter with' six ounces of flour, a isaltspconful of salt, three-quarters of a pint of milk, and one egg. Let it stand for half an hour, then stir into it six tablespoonfuls of minced, cooked beef or mutton, one heaped teaspooaful of chopped parsley, half that quantity of mixed dried herbs, pepper and salt to taete. Melt a little dripping in a baking-tin, pour in the batter, and bake in a moderate oven for about half an hour. CURRIED CHEESE.—Take two ounces of grated cheese, one tablespoonful of mar- garine, one cooked onion, half a cupful of milk flavoured with curry powder, a little flour or cornflour, seasoning to taste. Melt the margaine in the milk and curry powder; thicken with the cornflour (mixed to a smooth paste with a little cold milk). Cook for three or four minutes, add the grated cheese, and stir until the whole is dissolved. Season and pour on slices of hot buttered toast. ^.————

Six men were sentenced at Waltham Abbey to a month's imprisonment for being in possession of matches at the Royal Gun' powder Factory.

HUMOUR OF THE WEEK. ■ DRZAM. HTTNGRT HOT'S DREAM. pi This night I dreamt of fried sucking pig." "I could eat a bullock."—From the diary of a hungry German soldier on the Russian front. I THAT BAITDAGM. I "What is that bandage round your j head?" a witness was asked at the London Guildhall. The lady replied that it was a hat, not a bandage. '1 WORTH WAITING J'OB. Mr. Justice Darling, on being asked to postpone the hearing of a breach of pro- mise action, the defendant of which is a lieutenant at the Front, remarked: "More people die in bed than in the trenches. He may come back a captain, or even a field-marshal. Think what damages she could then claim. GINGER AND THB GOVERNMENT. Mr. Outhwaite asked in the House of Commons how much ginger had been im- ported into the country in twelve months. Mr. G. H. Roberts said the quantity was 1,466 tons. Mr. McVeagh: Can the hon. member say how it is that the Government has got none of it? A NOTED NAME. In the House of Commons Mr. Partington, having asked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether the Government pro- posed to keep their racehorses in training in view of the shortage of food for human beings, Admiral Sir H. Meux asked: Is not the proposal of the hon. member quite as futile as the efforts of his distinguished ancestress or namesake who tried to stop the Atlantic by a mop? IMPOSSIBLE. Rector (examining class at village school): "Now, my boy, what is an island?" Pupil: "I don't know, sir." Rector: "Well, f8r instance, could I ride from here to France?" Pupil: "No, sir, that you couldn't, for father saw you on horseback the other day, and said he'd lay a shilling you couldn't ride a mile without wobbling off." A SISTER TO HIM. Jack: "Who is that fine-looking girl that just bowed to you?" Tom (gloomily): "Oh, that is my sister." Jack: "Why, oid chap, I wasn't aware that you had a sister." Tom: "Well, I wasn't aware of it myself until last night."—"Indianaopolis Star." THRIFT. j Of all the girls that are so sweet, There's none likl) careful Sally; She uses every scrap of meat-- With waste she'll never dally. Her stockpot demonstrates that she Lives economically. Bocbes starve us? That's all bosh while we Have wives like thrifty Sally! -HCassell's Saturday Journal." PICKINGS FROM "PUNCH." I A gossip-writer says he is of the opinion that there will be a great revolution in Ger- many and that the Kaiser will be at the head of it. It would be only decent to give him, say, a couple of lengths start. Over one million persons visited the Zoo last year. The chief attraction appears to have been a, German gentleman from the Cameroons who is being accommodated in the Monkey House. Owing to the increased cost of beer, seve- ral seaside resorts are announcing to in- tending visitors that they cannot guarantee a visit from the sea-serpent this summer. The axe is being laid to the roots of our trees, by the so-called weaker sex; and the proper way of toasting the new wood woman is to sing, "For she's a jolly good feller." NAVIGATION EXTRAORDINARY. I "Although the stern and screws of the vessel were well out of the water, she was able to make the port under her own steam. Daily Mail." Resident at Boarding House (to waiter): "Do you call this stuff margarine or mar- jarine? Mike: "Sure, sorr, it's herself would sling me out if I called it annything but butther." "One of the most. striking—and satisfac- tory—features of the new restaurant regime is the disappearance of the bread-basket."— "Daily Telegraph." Or, at any rate, a considerable shrinkage in its contour. QUIPS FROM "LONDON OPINION." ) A woman chimney-sweep has started work at Gillingham. Others are shortly expected to follow soot. The war's surprises! Rum remains an innocent commodity, while the tea-cake is branded with prohibition. The Americans say they are prepared to face anything to secure victory. We never doubted it—still they don't realise yet what flag days are like. "Princess Mary's Food Plot," is a recent newspaper heading. It refers, however, to her Royal Highness's work on an allotment. not to any plan on her part to get more than her share! Haig may be a Scot, but there is nothing close about him. With beans at 90s. a quarter he is giving them to the Hun enthusiastically. The fair sex in America are eager to be permitted to serve with the Colours. So we shall expect soon to hear of a Joan of Arkansas! Railway traffic in Germany is severely congested. Perhaps owing to the largo number of their recalled Ambassadors travelling homeward.

There are 1,001,300 people employed in coal mines. For increasing teachers' salaries and de- veloping education in Scotlaiad X500,000 is to be granted. A boy of thirteen had his left hand blown off while playing with an explosive cart- ridge at Peckham. It is officially estimated that the 4,000 allotments in Willeeden could produce suffi- cient vegetables for 29.400 people.

I HURRICANE OF SHELLS IN 10 MINUTES. 2 KILLED-3 INJURED. The Secretary of the Admiralty issued the following announcement on Friday:— "On the night of April 26-27 several enemy destroyers opened fire from seaward in the direction of Ramsgate. The fire was immediately returned, and the enemy were driven off after they had fired a large number of rounds." The following communique was issued later by the Field-Marshal Commandirg-in- Chief, Home Forces:— "The damage and casualties occasioned by the enemy during his bombardment of the EaBt Kentish Coast last night are as follows: Killed: 1 man, 1 woman. Injured: 1 man, 2 women. Damage: 21 dwelling houses, 2 stables (1 horse killed). "The larger number of the projectiles fell in the open country." The bombardment was the heaviest yet experienced on this part of the coast. It lasted about ten minutes, during which time a hurricane of shells rained upon the town. John Hobday, aged sixty-one a greengrocer, and Ivy Edith Thorncroft, greengr, roc.,er, and I 'IV  ter of a baker, were aged twenty-two, daughter of a baker, were killed. The girl's younger sister, who was sleeping with her, had two small cuts. The area covered by the shells extended over a radius of five miles. It was remarkable that there were no more casualties in view of the fact that twenty houses were damaged. Apart from the man and girl killed, only three persons were injured. The most severely wrecked house was an inn occupied by an old man and his wife. The bar was completely wrecked, together with some of the upstairs rooms. The old man and his wife were just coming down- stairs when the shell exploded. They were not injured, but were covered with dust and debris. In another house the shell burst in the lower part of the premises, but the family were all upstairs. Here again no one was hurt, although several splinters of shrapnel landed on the bed occupied by a baby girl. A piece of shrapnel went through the window of a room occupied by two deaf old ladies, neither of whom was aroused by the bombardment. They were awakened by a neighbour. INQUEST ON THE VICTIMS. I The inquest on the two victims was held in the afternoon. The daughter of the man who was killed said that her father woke her up by calling to her from his room. She sat up, and then there came a bang and a crash, the ceiling and the walls falling all round her. She lit a candle, and saw her "father lying on the landing in a pool of blood. The father of the girl who was killed said he was sleeping in an annexe at the back part of the house, his two daughters sleeping together in a room in the main part of the building1 on the floor above. He was awakened by a brilliant flash of light from a star she! which seemed to be oppo- site the house. This was followed by a crash. He said to his wife: "That's our house, I think," and called to the girls. The younger one answered, and asked him to bring a light. He went and found the girls' bedroom a mass of wreckage. His in- jured daughter, who was unconscious, was got downstairs. She recovered conscious- ness for a moment, and said, "Don't you worry, mother." A doctor, who was on the spot within a few minutes, stated that deceased had lost her left arm completely and had a bad wound in the right leg. Her case was hope- less from the first. The jury returned a verdict that "Death was due to injuries caused by shells fired from enemy ships." They expressed sym- pathy with the deceased's relatives, and asked the coroner to forward to the proper authorities a representation that, in view of a recurrence of the bombardment, it should be considered whether additional protection might be afforded this part of the Kentish coast. TWO MORE DEATHS. Two more deaths have occurred as the result of the raid. Mrs. Cassidy, aged sixty, died of fright during the gunfire, and Mr. Barnes, aged seventy-three, expired thirty minutes after the raid, as the result of shock. The former leaves two officer sons and the latter leaves a wcunded soldier SOB. who is now in hospital.

THREE YEARS FOR A CENSOR. For collecting without authority and com- municating information calculated to be useful to the enemy, Anthony Thomas Spalding. a journalist employed as an assis- tant censor at the Press Bureau, was sen- tenced at the Old Bailey to three years' penal servitude. Mr. Justice Low uttered a grave warning to all censorship officials against communi- cating information acquired in the course of their duties. Their standard of good faith, he said, should he not inferior to that of the secret seal of confession. His lordship also observed that journalists employed as censors should sever themselves as com- pletely as possible from a journalistic atmpsphere.

AIRMAN KILLED NEAR HIS HOME. I An airman met with a fatal accident close to his home at Streatham on Sunday. Flight Lieutenant F. A. Clarke collided with a clump of trees in Leigham Court- Toad, and then with some chimney stacks. The machine crashed to the ground, and the petrol burst into flames. A soldier and a civilian pluckily extricated the airman, who Was severely burned. Among the first arrivals on the scene was his father, who lives only a few doors from where the machine descended. 1 Lieutenant Clark was in a critical condi- tion, and succumbed to his injuries on Sun. day night.

OBJECTORS ATTACKED. I A number of conscientious objectors were roughly handled at Lyme Regis by an infuriated crowd, which included a number of women and girls. The objectors, thirteen in number, have been engaged in tree-felling in the neighbourhood, and the attack was provoked by an allegation that they had jeered at some wounded soldiers. Some of the men were knocked down, despite the efforts of the police to protect them, and the crowd also laid siege to a restaurant, in which two men took shelter. The men, how- ever, escaped over a back wall.

THEIR SECOND MEETING. I When the record of Dolena Frances Mel- bourne, a woman of eighty-eight, charged with shoplifting, was produced at Maryle- bone Police-court on Saturday, Mr. Paul Taylor, the magistrate, recalled that he had defended the woman when she was charged with a similar offence in 1895.

THRILLING FIGHT OF TWO AGAINST FOURTEEN. In a dispatch to the "Daily Mail," Mr. Beach Thomas has something to say about our new fighting aeroplanes. He says: "We have never before hit the German so hard or so harassed him by day and night. A night or two ago our men broke up three trains near Douai, one after the other, with bombs dropped from a couple of hundred feet, and so terrified soldiers and officials with the rattle of machine-guns that the at- tackers escaped with scarcely an attempt at resistance. A day later two of our fighting planes which had sought the Germans in vain for several previous days, suddenly came upon a fleet of fourteen. Our pair hesitated M little as the destroyers Broke and Swift though they were struck with amazement at the spectacle, for the Germans had painted their machines every sort of colour. Apparently to add terror to the spectacle, some were scarlet and some picked out in fantastic patterns. Our pair charged this motley group, broke up the formation, and sent two crashing to the ground. "It is only men who return victorious who can tell the tale of their fights. What of the men who do not return? I can at least say this: that though our machines are all day busy in the air above the enemy's country they seek many more opponents than will face them, and the enemy's losses in purely fighting machines are enormously greater than ours. His plan when he attacks is to mass his planes against a single observer, knowing that most observing planes are no match for the fighter. "It is inevitable that such attacks should be the battles chiefly seen by infantry in our trenches. They do not see the sixty tons of bombs dropped at night miles over the enemy's lines; they seldom see our fighting men's pursuit of the German fighters or watch our triplanes towering and stooping and chasing. As soon as I saw one of these after me I thought it best to come down,' said a very d.shing German pilot who dodged our air patrols and got through miles behind our line, and down he came. "We hold again the mastery of the air. Whether we keep it depends, first and fore- most, on the activity of the factories at home."

FATAL CINEMA PANIC. I Four children were killed and ten injured in a panic which occurred at a matinee on Saturday afternoon at the Electric Palace, a cinema theatre in High-street, Deptford, S.E. The cause of the panic is a mystery; for there was presumably no fire, explosion, or accident of any kind. Some children as they were leaving the cinema were shouting playfully, and it is be- lieved that this attracted the passers-by in High-street. The older people got the im- prion that something was amiss, for they pressed forward into the theatre entrance, .Ftin?. ma?y of the children leaving. Confusion arose. Some person shouted "Fire!" and at once the cry was taken up, and there was a general stampede. Molly Ryan, aged four, and Sarah Johns- ton, aged nine, were suffocated, while two boys, a Edward Turrell, seven, and Edward Webster, seven, were crushed to death. Ten other children were injured. ———— 0 —————

FOR HER INTERNED HUSBAND. I Emily Watters, hotel cook, was sentenced to three months' hard labour at MarylebonS Police-court on Saturday for theft. A police officer said the woman had been stealing provisions on a large scale and sending them to her husband, an interned Austrian.

Lieut. Alexander Burns, R.F.C., died in hospital from injuries sustained while making a flight on the South Coast. His machine apparently got out of control and nose-dived to earth. Conscientious objectors, soldiers, and pos- siblv interned aliens are to be emploved under a new Order empowering the Waz Agricultural Committee to clear water- courses causing floods on agricultural hind. -u--