WAR MISCELLANY

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 14, 16 January 1918, Page 4

WAR MISCELLANY

NGVEfc BANK IN TRAFAL-

GAfrSQUARE

THE SILVER BULLET TANK

Xfrosi our own correspondent.)

LONDON, 30th November.

All this week Trafalgar-square has been humming. It is always a busy spot, but its greatest crowds hitherto have congregated annually on Trafalgar Day. This week it has been the Mecca of the patriotic, who have been buying £5 war bonds from a male tank stationed there for the purpose, staffed by servants of the G-.P.0. This tank is going on service again so soon as its present four weeks' duty is up. It is not refusing any multiples of £5, neither does it'ob' ject to take charge of as many times 15s 6d as the smaller investor can manage to leave in its keeping. Large crowds ■gathered in the Square ow Saturday morning to watch the arrival of this novel bank, and the spectators were greatly interested in a tractor engine, drawing a 152 mm. Russian Howitzer gun to the plinth of the Nelson monument. This gun had originally been captured from the Russians by the Germans, and in turn had been taken by the British on the Somme. Then the tank itself came • grunting along, and a military guard had to protect it from the pressure of eager people. : Every War-Saving Certificate or War Bond bought from this, novel post office bears the impress of "Tank." The first subscriber was the Mayor of Westminister, who invested £50, and the takings of the first day— £8040—have increased dally, so that yesterday's total was £68,850. The investing public ' calmly -waits' its turn in the queue, and all classes of the community rub shoulder in eagerness to ob: tain a "Tank" security. The cost of a male tank as used on the Western front, together with armour and guns complete) is £5000.

KILLED IN THE RANKS.

Ever since 4th August x 1916, Percy Beauchamp Astley Cooper, private in the Buffs, has been missing. But his death is now established as having occurred on, that date on' active service. "Pte. Cooper" was in reality a retired lieuten-ant-commander, R.N., the eldest son of Major Lewis A6tley Cooper, 40 years of age. He entered the Navy as a cadet in 1890, and retired with the rank of lieutenant in 1908.

PETROL AND GAS-BAGS

All the World knows that of petrol there is great scarcity, and that the need for economy is always being- tallied about and enforced. Naturally, people deprived of their petrol-controlled motorcars, private and otherwise, have been turning their attention to the possibilities_ of the gae-bag control as an alternative. The conaequence, is that the owners are having their cars converted into gas-driven vehicles, until the pressure has beqom'e so great that orders are on hand for a period as far ahead as two year*. Now the Government is stepping in, contending that the men engaged' on the work of conversion are of a class whose s services are urgently needed for essential war work, and that the number of cars in for conversion are hot necessary. It ig not improbable that the use of gaa as a propellant will be forbidden to the owners <sfcall care to whom a 1 patrol licence has been refused. "V Fifty pounds was the amount of a fine imposed upon a taxi-cab driver, at Huntingdon Police..Court, for... conveying the coffin containing the remains of a dead pet dog,, from London to Molesworth, the Bench maintaining that the taxi man had connived with the owner of the dogLady Anderson—in putting sickly sentiment before patriotism. The charge was brought under the Motor Restriction Order, and Lady Anderson paid the fine. MOKE WAR WORK FOR WOMEN There is sure to be a demand among women to get into the R.N.A.S.,,as the. Admiralty have approved their employment on various duties on shore hitherto performed by naval ratings. The members are'to have a distinctive uniform, and the service will be confined to -women employed on .definite, duties directly connected with the.Royal Navy. It is not intended for the present to include those serving in the Admiralty Departments of the Royal dockyards or other civil establishments under the Admiralty. Dame 'Kath'erine Furse, G.8.E., has been appointed Director of the. W.R.N.S., and she will be.responsible, under the Second Sea Lord, for its administration and organisation, including the control of the members when ofj duty and the care of their general welfare. Dame Katherine Furse until lately vvae commander-in-chief of the Women's V.A.D., and in explaining the-.reason for her resignation of that position she said .her view was that "this splendid women's organisation should be controlled by women V.A.D. officers;" ■

THE SILVER BADGE,

Men discharged from the army unfit for active service wear a silver badge, and now a similar appreciation of services rendered is to be issued to .unfit men inthe Navy, men who have been on service since 4th August, 1914. There are two classes of euch :—(1) Those whose services have been terminated after service at sea or abroad on account of wounds of physical infirmity, for which they were not themselves responsible; (2) subject to their being over military age (as defined in the Military Service Acts)., or. certified-.as; permanently and to tally unfit under the Review of Exceptions* Act, those whose services have been terminated (a) after service atNhome only on account of medical uhfitness for which they were not themselves responsible ; (b) after service at sea, abroad or at home, on account of age or other cause not by own request or within their own control The award will include officers and men of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Naval Forces of the Dominions, Royal Fleet Reserve, Royal Naval Reserve, .Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, and Royal Naval Auxiliary Sick Berth Reeerve. Officers and men of the Mer- i cantile''Marine serving' under' special I naval engagements in H.M. ships and auxiliaries, members of the Queen Alexandra Royal Naval Nursing Service and Reserve, officiating ministers, civilian medical practitioners, 'and dential targeons, who have given whole-time service.

INTERESTING HEALTH DIS-

COVERIES.

Dr. Addison' (Minister of ■' Reconstruction) has come to the conclusion that health is a,very complex business. The time has passed when the people would be satisfied with a. dose of medicine Health consists of food, habit of life, hours of work, to mention only a • few points. There was no organised body to deal with these things/but*at the Ministry of Munitions he had set up a committee to investigate matters appertaining to'health. Some interesting discoveries had resulted. A set of women turnirig aluminium fuse tops were working 66 hours weekly with an hourly output, of 100; when doing 54.8 hours per week the hourly output was 134; and at 45.6 hours ijer. week it jumped up to 15U. Therefore it paid that factory to employ these women only 45 hoars a week. Similarly, taking a set of boys boring topcaps —72 hours a week resulted in an optput of 100 pcl 1 hour, 54 hours a week gave 117 per hour, and 119 resulted with a 63-hour week. A. reduction of-hours from 58 to 61 of men engaged op, heavy work increased thei?

hourly output- from 10Q to 139. Up to the present it had been nobody's business to find out these things-as a whole. Health was power, and one of the vital matters after the war was to increase the productive power of -the nation, and investigations of the Uind.wero of a singularly important and fundamental character Accurate information was necessary, and he was going to try 'and get it. At the moment^ there were no fewer than fourteen Government Departments more or less concerned in matters relating to health, and there were 1800 local authorities also concerned in administration. A central health authority, if established, should be concerned with matters affecting diseases, their origin, and their treatment, and housing was an essential detail

A RECORD JOURNEY.

Much interest was aroused when it was announced that on© of our aeroplanes had travelled in eight stages from England .to Constantinople,, and had bombed the Goeben and found the Turkish War Office, remaining at Constantinople for half an hour and dropping bombs' of lewt in -weight. Later details show that the machine wa-s a Handley» Page, with Rolls-Royce engines, carrying their baggage, bedding, spare parts, oil, bombs, machine guns, spare propellers. Tfie engines never faltered. SquadronCommander K. S. Savory was the pilot, and with him was Flight-Lt, H. MacClelland. Ebgineer-Lt. T. Rawlings was free to walk his narrow cabin and watch above and below from the machine-g^un platforms. From England they arrived at a base "somewhere near' Turkey,'.' and before the great adventure began the baggage and bedding and spare parts were left behind. A distance of 250 miles was covered in about three hours, and then beneath them the airmen saw the lights of Constantinople and of the vessels. After letting loose a salvo of bombs on the Goeben, they circled and dropped another salvo, and then made along the Bosphorus, where they sought out^the German headquarters' ship and paid! her some attention.

It is stated that recently a British aeroplane travelled to Franc© with a pilot, six passengers, and 7001b of luggage, doing the tnp froni Hendon to Paris in two hours. There are. hopes that some day' Berlin may have special attention paid, her* , *,